Buffalo production and performance in Vietnam

The total buffalo population in Vietnam is currently around three millions. Traditionally Vietnamese farmers raise Swamp buffaloes for working in the rice fields. Today they are still raised for work, but also for meat and other sources of income such as manure and biogas. However, Murrah buffaloes and their crossbreeds (Swamp x Murrah) are fed for milk and meat. Vietnam produces and consumes more buffalo meat than beef. Recently, the buffalo population has decreased in some areas, such as the Mekong Delta and Hong River Delta due to a reduction of grazing lands, increased agricultural mechanization, etc. The performance of buffalo in Vietnam is quite potential for further improvement with average live weight of the swamp buffaloes is from 360-460 kg for the females and 420-500 kg for the males. The largest Swamp buffaloes are located in Dong Thap province, having 600 kg live weight for females and 700 kg for males. Carcass percentage of the Swamp buffaloes is from 43.6 to 47.8% under village feeding conditions. Murrah buffaloes give from 1000-1500 kg milk per lactation with some high producers that can produce more than 2000 kg of milk per lactation. The 171 crossbreeds have shown good performances for meat production and working capacity, and fertility has not been a problem. Artificial insemination and embryo transfer techniques for buffaloes have been developed successfully, however, their application has been very limited. There have been many good results obtained from the buffalo research and development in Vietnam, although performance recording systems are rare and buffalo development has slowed down in recent years due to limitations of resources for research and extension. Consequently performance improvements of buffaloes have been poor in recent years. There is, therefore, a need for international co-operation in financial and technical support to improve the situation.