Italian Mediterranean buffalo


The Italian Mediterranean Buffalo is an Italian breed of water buffalo. It is of the River sub-type of water buffalo and is similar to the buffalo breeds of Hungary, Romania and the Balkan countries. It is the only indigenous water buffalo breed in Italy. A herd-book was opened in 1980, and the breed was officially recognised in 2000.

History

There are conflicting theories concerning the origins of the European water buffalo: one, based on fossil bones found in the valleys of the Elbe and the Rhine, is that it descends from an extinct European wild species; others believe that water buffalo were brought to Europe in the sixth and seventh centuries by invading peoples such as the Pannonian Avars, or later, by crusaders returning from Mesopotamia. Detailed studies of the DNA of European buffalo have not been made.
The buffalo may have been introduced into Italy in Roman times, or during the Barbarian invasions of the Italian peninsula.
In 1979 a national association of buffalo breeders, the Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Specie Bufalina, was formed, and a genealogical herd-book for the buffalo was opened in the following year. The Mediterranea Italiana breed was officially recognised in 2000.

Use

In the past the buffalo was widely used as a draught animal. Buffalo also kept waterways and drainage channels clear of weed, swimming in the deeper parts and wading in the shallows.
The Mediterranea Italiana is now raised and selectively bred principally for the production of the buffalo milk used to make buffalo mozzarella, notably the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana of Campania, which has Denominazione di origine protetta status. Other dairy products including burrata, caciotta di bufala, ricotta di bufala, scamorza di bufala, stracchino di bufala, stracciatella di bufala and yoghurt are also made from the milk. Lactation lasts on average 277 days, and usually yields of milk; yields of per lactation are not uncommon. In 2012 a total of of buffalo milk was produced in Italy, about 1.7% of total milk production in that year; the fat content was an average of 7.92%.
Buffalo are butchered both for fresh meat and for preserved meat products such as bresaola di bufalo. In 2012 a total of 118,653 buffalo were slaughtered in Italy, for a total live weight of, approximately 2.7% of the total weight of bovines slaughtered that year. The average carcass yield was 50.6%.

Population

In 1953 the total number of buffalo in Italy was estimated at 40,000 head. The numbers of buffalo reported by the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica in 2012 and 2013 were, by region:
Region20122013
Basilicata626430
Calabria778271
Campania260,153266,236
Emilia–Romagna158409
Friuli–Venezia Giulia8039
Lazio66,54669,244
Lombardy3,3943,542
Marche–49,709
Molise1,912745
Piedmont79549
Puglia7,4705,999
Sardinia5,1392,507
Sicily7682,454
Trentino–Alto Adige8–
Tuscany11048
Umbria2920
Veneto895957
Total