Grazing a buffalo makes him rich and famous !

Most references to it are derogatory – the animals are often remarked to be slow and non-caring;’ non-responsive whether it hot Sun or raining heavily  – they also say ‘it does not wander from the marsh where it was born’ … in Olden days, when students were faring poorly, the parents would derisively say ‘fit only for rearing them’ !! –

The color is jet black. Rarely white markings on face and leg extremities may be there, but are not preferred. It has short, characteristic tightly curled horns, turning backward and upward and finally spirally curving inward. Eyes are black, active and prominent in females; Udders are fully developed, drooping with equally distributed teats over the udder. Teats are long, and places uniformly wide apart but hind teats are longer than fore teats.  

It is the buffalo – at  Triplicane and some other parts of Chennai,  it is a common scene – cattle freely roaming in the narrow streets – cows are more aggressive – while buffaloes docile.  The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large buffalo. It is stated that water buffaloes were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago.

Surprisingly there are beauty pageants for them too….. and all the media have allotted so much space for not the animal that fetched high price in auction, but more of an animal that its Owner refused to sell, even when offered an astronomical Rs. 9 Crore as today’s TOI report states.

The man who is famous grazing buffaloes is -  Mr Karamveer Singh, who runs a farmn in Kurukshetra, Haryana.  His prized possession stands five feet nine inches tall from hoof to shoulder, stretches 14 feet from his mouth to tail, and weighs a whopping 3100 pounds.  Named  Yuvraj [translates to Young Prince], the Murrah Buffalo is among the most expensive bovines on the planet. Yuvraj is perhaps superseded only by Miss Missy, a white Holstein Cow which was sold for, believe it or not, $1.2 million!

The Murrah, a basic native of the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and Punjab state of Pakistan, is a Water buffalo breed (Bubalus bubalis) and is considered as the foremost milking buffalo.  For improving the milk productivity of dairy buffaloes, Murrah bulls are widely used in countries like Bulgaria, Italy and Egypt. Its website claims that Karamveer Dairy Farms has long been practicing Murrah Buffalo and Bull Breeding with the intent of improving Murrah breed’s genetic potential.   The Murrah buffalo breed is considered as the “Asian tractor”. Yuvraj has been  in news for many years now  when some Press reports speculated on its value to be more than 2 crores.  It reportedly is capable of earning from selling semen of bull  over Rs. 40 lakh per annum as there is a great demand for semen of this special bull  in several states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.  The murra buffaloes are capable of giving 4,000 litres of milk per lactation as against the 2,000-2,200 litres of milk given by a mixed breed buffaloes,” dairy expert say and hence the demand. 

The man close to 50, Karamveer’s passion for buffaloes has made him reach these heights.  Years ago,he bought a 7 month bull for Rs. 54000/- named the bull Yograj, who, together with a milch buffalo named Ganga, did make Karamveer famous ! The two buffaloes changed Karamveer’s fate: from a young farmer tucked away in a nondescript corner of Haryana— albeit a prosperous farmer—he is today an avid businessman whose name has spread far and wide.  People from far and wide visit his farm in Sunarion village in Kurukshetra, Haryana where the owner has state-of-the-art facilities to collect semen and store it safely.   The prized possession is reportedly fed with balanced diet from  100 apples, 25 liters of milk, 3 types of crops (5 kg each) and pulses along with dry fruits.  It also  gets mustard oil massage twice a day and his hair are removed every week. Besides, ten people take care of Yuvraj everyday. To maintain its fitness, Yuvraj goes for running daily.

The super bull was the eye of all attraction in recently conducted Gramodaya Mela, Chitrakoot, on the border of UP and MP , organised by the Union government at Surendra Pal Gramodaya Field, Deendayal Campus. “People know me as the owner of Yuvraj. A South African company contacted me last year and apprised me about its actual value,“ said Karamveer.

How good were you in your studies and if you are in your middle ages – look back to find what your class toppers are doing now ?

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

27^th Feb 2017

Photos credit : FB page of Mr Karamveer