Increasing the breeding of buffaloes for the production of meat and milk is one of the priorities of the Delegation of Agriculture in the province of Las Tunas, which has the Triunfo de la Revolución basic unit for cooperative production (UBPC) as its main support for this purpose.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- In this UBPC of the provincial capital, the development of the species began in 2013, when its workers, with some misgivings and prejudices due to all that was said about buffaloes, began their work with 83 heifers. Today, they have more than 765 heads, despite having slaughtered all the males between 18 and 20 months of age, because they are pure mass and that is a rule, some of them weighing 460 kilograms.
According to Leonel Ávila Acosta, the president of the UBPC, they are the promoters of buffalo breeding, and although there is a lot of resistance to their breeding, it has more advantages than bovines For example, the speed with which they increase for slaughter because everything they eat is quickly converted into live weight; milk production is the same as cattle, with the difference that three liters make one pound of cheese, and in the case of cattle, five are required; in addition to their nobility as an animal.
"They indeed demand more food, but they assimilate what is given to them. For example, we grind cane and they accept it very well, something that is not the case of cattle, and since they are wild animals, they do not get sick ", Leonel says.
"Right now, we produce around 700 liters of milk every day, which is used for the production of yogurt and cheese; and in terms of profits, some workers have earned up to 12,000 pesos in a month, in the case of milk, and "we intend to achieve the same in fattening. In this sense, we sold 50 young females for a cost of almost one million pesos and a single stallion has a price of 30,000.”
The final objective of the group of workers of the Triunfo de la Revolución basic unit for cooperative production is to sell the meat to the people at a reasonable price, which does not exceed 180.00 pesos per pound, and also market cheese and milk.
