Every year in Thailand and in the Malanar Region in Kerala, India, there are water buffalo races.

However, recently in Madhepura, India, water buffalo competed in another area; the area of beauty.

Water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis) are heavy creatures and can be quite threatening. Some have horns that are up to a foot in length. They are large bovines which live in South America, North Africa, Southern Europe and Asia.

There are about 160 million water buffalo in the world.

Water buffalo are sometimes used as pack animals but they are usually found pulling ploughs or lumber or providing power for devices used in agriculture.

They provide 30% of the power needed on farms in Asia.

Their dung is used as fertilizer and when dried, is also used as a fuel.

They supply milk and meat; in fact, their milk is higher in fat and protein than cow’s milk and is used to make butter and cheese in some areas. Milk from water buffalo accounts for 5% of the milk consumed worldwide.

Sometimes buffalo are not properly fed and this results in a decrease in milk production.

The contest that was held recently aimed to improve the treatment of the livestock.

The animals-125 of them-were heavily made up and decorated with colorful cloths and ornaments. Owners-many of whom earn their living by selling buffalo milk- were educated on issues including proper feeding and disease prevention.

Though all the buffalo received lots of cheers and encouragement form the crowd, there could be only one winner. That buffalo was Radha. She and her owner earned 470 rupees in prize money.

This site has great pictures of life with water buffalo:

http://www.permaculture.org.au/2009/07/30/hooray-for-the-water-buffalo

Image via Wikipedia