12
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 8 APRIL, 2018
“There was a long-held assumption
that water buffaloes
were supposed to be resistant to diseases such as tuberculosis.
When I did post-mortems on waterbuffaloes that had died,
I found that contrary to unfounded beliefs, the water
buffaloes did have tuberculosis. I decided to develop a TB
eradication programme. I had done this type of work the
year before I graduated from college. I worked for the State
of Washington in the west coast of the United States. I was
doing TB testing and also drawing blood for the control of
Brucellosis. I did that job for three months so I was fully
aware of what I was doing, and the benefits derived from
doing it. When I tested the water buffalo herd for the first
time I found that over 33% of the herd were infected with
TB. This finding necessitated changes in procedures. I
suggested that the pens in which these animals were kept
had to have a concrete floor, and not a mud floor. Secondly,
that all feed fed to the herd had to be off the ground [raised]
and be fed inmangers or in “racks” and that clean water had
to be available 24 hours a day, if there was going to be any
hope to develop a TB-free herd. In other words, I could
not slaughter 33% of the herd because the company needed
these animals for pulling the carts during the harvest season.
Disease control was imperative, but had to be pursued with
common sense to be able to keep the operations ongoing.
All animals, however, that were positive to TB, were put in
one isolated pen and I started to test them every 6 months.
The testing procedure was really a rodeo in itself. I had no
facilities whatsoever. I needed to be innovative. I had to
starve the infected buffaloes to be tested for two days. After
the starving regimen, the herdsman would bring feed and
put it in mangers for them to eat.
While they were eating I would have an assistant
cleaning the tails off with alcohol, which I used as an
antiseptic, and I would just come along and start injecting
them with tuberculin for the TB test.
When I started to work at Caroni, no one knew
anything about the management of large cattle herds and
husbandry in general. I had to train whoever was working
with me. It took me 10 years to eradicate TB from the water
buffalo herd. I used the following policies – any animal that
Buffalypso’s Last Stand
SPECIAL REPORT
BY VANEISA BAKSH
The Jour
BUFF
was positive for TB in the herd went to the abattoir or the
slaughterhouse and if the infected animal showed evidence
of “generalized” TB, it was condemned and destroyed. For
animals infected with localized lesions, the part(s) were
condemned and the rest of the carcass went to market.
As a veterinarian with a passion for improving livestock
agriculture inmy island, I was truly convinced of the benefits
of the water buffalo to the agricultural economy.The animals
were hardy and could adapt to just about anything. I figured
that if they could thrive under adverse conditions that they
have got to be special and I was determined to improve their
genetic traits. There was very little published about them
at that time, because water buffaloes were predominantly
raised in underdeveloped countries where little research is
conducted. There were two “breeds” that I was interested
in – one was the Asiatic or Swamp buffalo, and the other was
the Indian or Riverine buffalo. India at that time had half
the world’s water buffalo population, approximating about
60 million head. The Indians were eating the meat because
they were not cattle and were not prohibited by religious
decree. In India, Hindus do not eat meat from cattle because
the animal is sacred and revered. I started to modify the
water buffalo for tropical meat production. These animals
were so hardy and able to adjust to varying environments
and resistant to diseases that they became the logical choice
and an important part of my life’s work.
A company started tomake beer inTrinidad, later called
Carib – a popular beverage for beer lovers throughout the
Caribbean. The residuals from beer-making were usually
discarded. I began to take that left-over residual and feed
it to the water buffaloes; they thrived well on this feed
supplementation. I was convinced that I was on the right
track.This was the initiation into the development of a beef-
type water buffalo. I was encouraged by the nutritional gains
made to help transform these animals to look like traditional
beef cattle. My college courses at Guelph, where I majored
in animal husbandry, included a lot of judging of beef cattle
that finally paid off.
I began to build an image of water buffaloes and
promote them as beef-type animals. That was unheard of
Dr. Steve Bennett wrote an acc
“Singing Steven”
when h
Here are some excerpts fro
“Changing the water bu
Water Buffalo from India had b
which were being deci
because it did not fit the traditional pattern and use of water
buffaloes. The first quarters (withers) of the water buffalo
was very high and there was somewhat of a hammock back
and when you got to the hook bone they sloped right down
severely onto the thin bones where the tail is located. I tried
to straighten that up because once I accomplished that trait
over the years genetically, there would be much more good
meat on the rump. The feat I was able to achieve over the
years by selective breeding and some of the water buffaloes
that I developedwere approaching an ideal beef-type animal.
In the process I made mistakes, but I was able to
straighten them out in time. Interestingly, the whole herd
that I was working with was completely inbred because
no buffaloes were imported into Trinidad after the last
lot in 1948.The choice pieces of beef are loins and are
in demand by customers. I also selected other traits to
improve characteristics into the buffalypso herd. When we
compared the Jamaican Red, the Zebu, the Jamaican black
