Udder Health Bangladesh team has completed its 2^nd visit to the collect milk sample from buffaloes of Subarnachar Upazila under Noakhali from 11th to 17th of October 2019. The team was led by Prof. Dr. Mizanur Rahman and other members of the team were Dr. Delower Hossain, Dr. Shuvo Singha, Dr. Ovirup Bhushan Paul, David Ericsson, and Dr. Sanjib Chandra Nath.

Milk samples and data were collected from three different rearing systems: Household buffaloes, bathan (free-ranging) and commercial farms. This was an objective opportunity for the UHB team to explore diverse types of buffalo rearing systems. Some people in the Subarnachar rear buffalo in-household system. Mostly they keep their buffaloes in the open field near their houses or in a high piece of land close water bodies and do not have separate shed for their animals. Buffaloes like fresh water to drink as the farmers opined but they can also tolerate saline environment. The buffaloes graze in the field and have access to wallow in the water whenever they want. Buffaloes remain in water 6-12 hours during summer whereas in winter they spend a very negligible period in water.  In a few commercial farms, buffalos are kept intensively in the shed. In intensive farms, the buffaloes are bathed twice/ thrice a day and supplied with straw, green grass and concentrates. We found that most of the farmers have indigenous and/ or cross-bred buffaloes that produce less milk but the milk quality is very good according to bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC). (The grading system of BMSCC proposed by UHB in Chattogram: <200,000 is super quality, 200,000- <400,000 is excellent, 400,000-<600,000 is very good, 600,000-<800,000 good and 800,000-100000 is fair). Some of the local buffaloes may produce up to up 4-5 liters (8-10 liters of milk in cows) of milk per day in the peak period if they have access to enough green grass.  But it was surprising that in the intensive commercial farms they had some good buffaloes having a milk production of 5 to 13 liters/day. We have visited Bathans of Shornadwip, which was the most exciting and new system for the team member experienced the field trip ever. The rearing system is totally different in Bathans. There are thousands of buffalo, cattle, and sheep in the Bathans. Farmers shift their animals in Bathans when there is a scarcity of food in the land. There are small houses in Bathan called “Killa”. In one Killa there are 5-10 herders (rakhal) who take care of the animals. Distance from one Killa to another varies from one to five kilometers. The buffalo owners live in the mainland and visit bathan sometimes to see the herd. In Swarnodip Buffaloes graze in the open grazing land but also enter into the nearby bushes. The pregnant buffalo cows in bathan give birth to calves from October to December and three to four months they are not milked and only suckled by young calves to make calves stronger. In this rearing system calves are more important than the milk. In February to July, the milking cows remain in the mainland where there is more green grass in lands after harvesting paddy.

From October to January milk amount is very low in bathan. The reason behind this is the prevailed shortage of grasses in the bathan during this period. All the milk collected from Bathans is transported to the local market by boat (troller). Transportation from islands to the local market is, time-consuming and costly. Moreover, there is no facility of treatment in the islands. If animals get sick, they sent to the land by boat which is also very costly and difficult to manage.

In Noakhali District, traditionally people like buffalo curd and there are buffalo curd shops in local markets that we have seen in Shubarnochar and Kobirhat Upazila. The milk from Swarnodip, Thangar char (Vashan char), Islam char are brought to different local markets to make curd or as to sale as raw milk for local consumption. There is a lot of scopes to enhance the milk and curd safety in these areas.   

Contact with the farmers was not an easy task for the UHB team as there were no valid lists and contacts of the buffalo farmers. It was difficult to go to Shornadwip and moving from one Bathan to another takes lots of time because there is no vehicle, the only way to move was by walking. In spite of the slow communication system, the trip was completed successfully. The farmers in the households, as well as the bathan, was very much co-operative and UHB team was welcomed wholeheartedly.

We want to thank all the field veterinarians, field staff, Sagarika Shomaj Unnaon Sonshta, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and especially to the buffalo farmers who helped us to successfully accomplish the field trip.