Description of Four Dual-Purpose River Buffalo (Bubalis bubalis) Production Systems in Tropical Wetlands of Mexico. Part 2: Sanitary Management, Milking, Zootechnical and Economic Indicators

Abstract

The aim is to elucidate other key aspects of these dual-purpose systems in wetland areas, including labor, markets, the conditions of facilities, machinery and equipment indices, and zootechnical indicators. The health management values determined for production units (PU) PU2, 3, and 4 were similar (50%) but higher at PU1 (75%). Three scheduled milkings once a day (1x), but PU3 performed it twice a day (2x). Most workers are permanent, but PU1 and PU2 hire temporary laborers. The average workday was 7.69 ± 2.84 hours/animal unit at a mean wage of $11.43 ± $1.27. Unit prices per kg of meat from fattening animals and liter of milk were $1.83 ± $0.03 and $0.51 ± $0.08, respectively. Production variables showed an average calving interval of 371.25 ± 7.50 days, a mean parturition index of 89% ± 1%, and mean mortality of 1.8% ± 0.5% and 0.6% ± 0.8% for young and adult animals, respectively. Milk production per lactation was 1240 ± 211.66 liters. The mean daily production for sale was 5.17 ± 0.88 liters. Individual calves consumed 2.13 ± 0.63 liters of milk per day on average. Mean productive life was 17 ± 2.45 years. Average scores on the facilities conditions and machinery and equipment indices were 68% ± 14% and 57% ± 26%, respectively.

Behavioral, productive, and reproductive aspects of the water buffalo in Mexico

“…During the first lactation and milking of female buffaloes, the calf is often present during manual milking due to its somatosensorial stimulation of the dam that is necessary for releasing oxytocin into the bloodstream during milk ejection. In this activity, the calf impacts its mother in several ways -visual, tactile, auditory, olfactory-to contribute to emptying the alveolar milk and mammary gland (MG) (Napolitano et al 2013(Napolitano et al , 2022aMora-Medina et al 2018a;Costa et al 2020;Bertoni et al 2022c;Rodríguez-González et al 2022a). The presence of the calf during manual milking also reduces the stimulation time required for milk ejection and, therefore, total milking time (the activity that requires the largest time investment in water buffalo production units).…”

A Review of the Nutritional Aspects and Composition of the Meat, Liver and Fat of Buffaloes in the Amazon

“…Still, in relation to food security, the supply and consumption of food of animal origin increasingly require an increase in the production and breeding of animals in order to meet the food demand of the population. Thus, raising buffaloes for commercial purposes and for human consumption can be a viable alternative to supply human consumption, especially in regions with low agricultural potential [ 21 , 22 ].…”