Murrah Buffalo In Limbang, Sarawak

Recommended fodder for feedlotting is Taiwan Napier. The protein contain up to 18% is sufficient.

Murrah Buffalo

The Murrah breed of Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a breed of domestic water buffalo kept for dairy production. It is originally from Punjab and Haryana states of India and Punjab province of Pakistan, but has been used to improve the milk production of dairy buffalo in other countries, such as Italy, Bulgaria and Egypt.

In Italy, it is the basis of Mozzarella cheese production, and therefore Italian Pizza. By Italian law, Mozzarella may only be made from buffalo milk, which is preferred for its very high butterfat content, up to 10% compared with 4% for European (Bos taurus) dairy breeds such as Jersey cattle and 6% for Zebu (Bos indicus) breeds such as Sahiwal.

Murrah breed of buffalo, the pride of Haryana, is a milk type animal. The home tract of Murrah buffalo is Rohtak, Jind and Hisar districts of Haryana (India). It is also found in Nabha and Patiala districts of Punjab (India) and around Delhi .

The Murrah buffalo is good milk producer, not only in India but also probably in the world. The bulls of this breed are extensively used to upgrade the non-descript buffalo stock. Graded Murrah buffaloes are also usually available in various parts of India.

How To Integrate Cattle With Oil Palm Plantation

In this blog, I will spell out one by one on how to gain maximum benefit from cattle integration with oil palm. Beside improvement on soil fertility, cost of weeding were greatly reduce up to 70%.
1. Recommended area to start with minimum of 10 ha for 10 heads of Brahman cattle if you are a smallholder oil palm planter (1 male to 10 females)
2. Age of palm minimum 5 years to avoid cattle feeding on palm frond.
3. An electric fencing for rotational grazing
4. A simple cattle shed for deworming and treatment
5. Potable water tank for providing clean water
6. Mineral lick for mineral supplement.

Cattle Integration With Oil Palm Trees

This is one of the cattle integration project undertaken by SALCRA, Sarawak in Mongkos.

According to the farm manager, a reduction of 40% on weeding cost was recorded for the past 10 years since the project started.

With the annual sales of over 100 heads of cattle per year, this project able to contribute more than RM500,000 in revenue.

Pictures below shows a herd of Brahman cattle grazing under 20 years old oil palm with electric fencing covering an area of 2 hectares as a method to control movement of animal.