The carabao is a swamp-type domestic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

found in the Philippines.[1] Water buffaloes were probably introduced to the

Philippines by Malay immigrants around 300 to 200 BC. It is considered as

the national animal of the Philippines.

ETHYMOLOGY

The word carabao is from Spanish, derived

from Visayan karabw.[3] Cognates include Tagalog kalabw, Malaykerbau,

and Indonesian Dutch karbouw. The female is called a caraballa.

CHARACTERISTICS

Carabaos have the low, wide, and heavy build of draught animals. They

vary in colour from light grey to slate grey. The horns are sickle-shaped or

curve backward toward the neck. Chevrons are common. Albinoids are

present in the proportion of about 3% of the buffalo population. Mature male

carabaos weigh 420500 kg (9301,100 lb), and females 400425 kg (882

937 lb). Height at withers of the male ranges from 127137 cm (5054 in), and of the female from 124129 cm

(4951 in).

Water buffaloes imported to the Philippines from Cambodia in the early 20th century are called "Cambodian

carabaos". They have white or yellowish hair on a pinkish skin, but the eyes, hooves, and mouth are dark, and

the skin may be speckled. They are slightly bigger and have larger horns. Males weigh on average 673 kg

(1,484 lb) and measure 141 cm (56 in) at the withers.

HUSBANDRY

Water buffaloes are well adapted to a hot and humid climate. Water availability is of high importance in hot

climates since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to reduce the heat load and thermal stress.[5] Swamp

buffaloes prefer to wallow in a mudhole that they make with the horns. Their objective is to acquire a thick

coating of mud. They thrive on manyaquatic plants and in time of flood will graze submerged, raising their heads

above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds, giant reeds, bulrush, sedges, water

hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening.

Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Trials in the Philippines showed that the carabao,

on poor-quality roughage, had a better feed conversion rate than cattle.

The carabao cools itself by lying in a waterhole or mud during the heat of the day. Mud, caked on to its body,

also protects it from bothersome insects. The carabao feeds mainly in the cool of the mornings and evenings. Its

lifespan is 18 to 20 years and the female carabao can deliver one calf each year.

CARABAO IN THE PHILIPPINES

Malay immigrants probably introduced water buffaloes in the period 300 to 200 BC. Later Chinese settlers also

brought water buffaloes that are sometimes referred to as "Shanghai buffaloes". Carabaos are widely distributed

in all the larger islands of the Philippine archipelago. Early in the 20th century, water buffaloes were imported

from Cambodia for work in sugarcane plantations; Cambodian carabaos are larger and have bigger

horns. Murrah buffaloes were first introduced fromIndia in 1917. A few representatives of the Nili breed have also

been acquired. The word carabao is now used for the imported river type buffaloes, as well as for the local

swamp buffaloes

Carabao hide was once used extensively to create a variety of products, including the armor of precolonial

Filipino warriors.

In 1993, the Philippine Carabao Center was established to conserve, propagate, and promote the carabao as a

source of draft animal power, meat, milk, and hide to benefit the rural farmers through

carabao genetic improvement, technology development and dissemination, and establishment of carabao-based

enterprises, thus ensuring higher income and better nutrition. The National Water Buffalo Gene Pool in

the Muoz, Nueva Ecija, is a facility for continuous selection, testing, and propagation of

superior breeds of dairy buffaloes.[6]

In 2003, 3.2 million carabao buffaloes were in the Philippines; 99% belonged to small farmers who have limited

resources, low income, and little access to other economic opportunities.[5]

One of the many reasons for the failure of the attempted Japanese pacification of the Philippines during their

1941-1945 occupation was their indifference to the basics of the Filipino economy. The carabaos provided the

necessary labor that allowed Filipino farmers to grow rice and other staples. Japanese army patrols would not

only confiscate the rice, but would also slaughter the carabaos for meat, thereby preventing the farmers from

growing enough rice to feed the large population. Before World War II, an estimated three million carabaos

inhabited the Philippines. By the end of the war, an estimated nearly 70% of them had been lost.[7]

The old payatak method of farming is still the method of

choice in Northern Samar. The soil of the rice paddy is first

softened with rainwater or diverted watershed, then the

farmer guides a group of carabaos in trampling the planting

area until it is soggy enough to receive the rice seedlings.

This time-consuming task produces lower yields and lower

income when compared with the advancement in irrigated

fields.[8] In the late 1980s, the carabao puppet character

Kardong Kalabaw became popular as a symbol of the

Filipino people's hard work and sense of industry.

Villa Escudero Plantations was founded in

1872 by Don Plcido Escudero and his wife

Doa Claudia Marasigan. Originally a sugar

cane plantation, the crop was converted

to coconut by their son, Don Arsenio

Escudero in the early 1900s. A

pioneering agriculture industrialist, he built

the countrys first working hydroelectric

plant 30ft. deep Labasin Dam - to supply his desiccated coconut factory and the

Escudero Plantation house, which he and his wife Doa Rosario Adap built in 1929.

The most famous feature is still the waterfall restaurant. The waterfall is so safe that

it can actually give you a pleasant massage should you decide to get completely wet

and lie against its wall. Still, if you wish to spend some time over a quiet dinner, you

might not want to come here. Even the guests sitting at remote handmade bamboo

tables are bound to get a little wet and the silence is out of the question due to the

waterfall roars and happy visitors cheers.