Piddig, Ilocos Norte—Carabao, or water buffalo, was once a
farmer’s best friend in Ilocos Norte. Farming families highly depended on it
for draft. But as heavy infrastructure developments and agricultural
modernization took place, the carabao industry has waned over the years.
In Piddig town, the local
government unit here is trying to save water buffalo from extinction.
Recognizing its potential as
a local source of milk and meat, Piddig mayor Georgina Salazar-Guillen believes
the need to develop and conserve water buffalo production.
“We need carabaos, not just
to help farmers to plow the land but they also give us milk and meat. They exist to balance our ecosystem,” Ms. Guillen said in an interview.
As baby steps to revive the
industry, the Piddig local government moved to conduct an inventory of the
remaining water buffalo in every rural village here.
Under the animal health
program here, the local government unit will focus on the health welfare of
water buffalo by ensuring that they get proper nutrition.
Based on the carabao
situation report published by the Philippine Carabao Center in its website, the
Philippine carabao has a total of 2.88 million heads as of July 1, 2017.
Compared with the stocks of the same period in previous year, it decreased by
0.18 percent. Commercial stocks also decreased by 5.50 percent while inventory
in backyard farms decreased by 0.16 percent.
Ms. Guillen also urged local
farmers here to help in revitalizing the carabao industry and increase production.
Water buffaloes according to the PCC have inherently longer gestation
period than any other domesticated farm animal. The average gestation length is
310 to 315 days.
Given a post-partum service
period of 60 to 90 days, yearly production of calf is not achievable even under
the best conditions. This characteristic has a major effect on the measure of
the overall reproduction efficiency over a given period. (Leilanie
G. Adriano)
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