This section contains:


Buffaloes

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Products: Meat, leather, milk and mozzarella cheese

Synopsis – Australian Industry


Year

Gross value of Prod’n
$ ‘000

Exports
$ ‘000

Imports
$ ‘000

Number of Farms

2006-2007

4 972

4 774

0

67

 

The first buffaloes in Australia were introduced to the Northern Territory in the early 19th century. A large feral buffalo population soon became established, peaking in the 1980s at around 350,000 before strict eradication measures against bovine tuberculosis in the early 1990s.  The NT buffalo population was declared free of this disease in 1997.  Currently the feral population is estimated to be around 60,000 with a domesticated herd of around 12,000 on 30 farms in the NT.  There are also small buffalo herds in all other states.  In 2006, there were 67 buffalo farms in Australia with an estimated total number of 13,559 buffaloes.

 The value of the buffalo industry in 2006-2007 was nearly $5 million, mainly contributed by live exports from the NT.  The closure of the only export accredited buffalo abattoir in the NT in 2003 has meant no Territory buffalo slaughter for export since then.  The main market for live exports of Australian buffalo is Indonesia following the signing of an animal health protocol with Australia in October 2005.

Licenses are required within NSW to keep buffalo or camels. Link below gives more information on this.

Background

There are three broad types of domesticated buffalo throughout the world:  The River Type, the milking animal of the Indian subcontinent; the Swamp type, widely used through southeast Asia as a draught animal; and the Mediterranean type, used for food and dairy purposes.

Annual world exports of buffalo meat have averaged 351,000 tonnes in the three years to 2005, more than 90% of which are sourced from India. Over the same period, an average 79,000 live buffaloes a year were also traded internationally.  Buffalo meat is used for human and pet food, with the hides as a valuable side product.  Buffaloes are also an important source of milk in some countries, with the additional production of mozzarella cheese originating from buffalo milk.

Buffalo meat is claimed to be leaner and lower in cholesterol than beef.  To assist marketing, the Australian buffalo industry has introduced a label called TenderBuff for buffalo meat that meets its quality standards for the restaurant trade.  Estimated production for the restaurant trade in 2006 was 29 tonnes.

Links