{{Short description|Italian breed of water buffalo}} {{Use list-defined references|date=July 2014}} {{Use British English|date=March 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox water buffalo breed | name = Italian Mediterranean buffalo | image = Bufale - Tenuta Vannulo - Capaccio 05.jpg | image_caption = | status = {{ubl|FAO (2007): not listed{{r|barb}}|DAD-IS (2022): not at risk{{r|dad2}}}} | altname = | country = Italy | distribution = {{nowrap|Throughout Italy, principally Campania}} | use = Dairy, meat; formerly draught | maleweight = {{ubl|average {{convert|500–600|kg}} {{right|up to {{convert|800|kg}}}}}} | femaleweight = {{ubl|average {{convert|300–450|kg}} {{right|up to {{convert|650|kg}}}}}} | maleheight = average {{convert|143|cm}} | femaleheight = average {{convert|135|cm}} | coat = Black | skincolour = Dark slate-grey | type = River | note = }}
The '''Italian Mediterranean buffalo''' is an Italian breed of water buffalo.{{r|dad}} 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.{{r|bigi|p=94}} A herd-book was opened in 1980, and the breed was officially recognised in 2000.
==History== [[File:Draught water buffalo in the Foro Romano, 1900.jpg|thumb|Draught water buffalo in the Roman Forum, 1900; on the left there are the three columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux.]] [[File:Bufala Agro Pontino.JPG|thumb|Cow in the Agro Pontino]] There are conflicting hypotheses 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 the extinct European wild species ''Bubalus murrensis''; others believe that water buffalo were brought to Europe in Roman times, or in the sixth and seventh centuries by invading peoples such as the Pannonian Avars, or later, by crusaders returning from Mesopotamia.{{r|cabi|page=967}} A genomic study in 2020 gave some support to the first hypothesis.{{r|fig|p=2}}
In 1979, a national association of buffalo breeders, the {{lang|it|Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Specie Bufalina|italic=no}}, was formed, and a genealogical herd-book for the buffalo was opened in the following year.{{r|bigi|p=94}} The Italian Mediterranean buffalo breed was officially recognised in 2000.{{r|anasb}}
In 1953, the total number of buffalo in Italy was estimated at {{val|40,000}} head.{{r|bigi|p=94}} The numbers of buffalo reported by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2012{{r|istat4}} and 2013{{r|istat5}} were, by region: {| class="wikitable" |- ! style="width: 120pt;" | Region !! style="width: 60pt;" | 2012 !! style="width: 60pt;" | 2013 |- | Basilicata || style="text-align:right;"|626 || style="text-align:right;"|430 |- | Calabria || style="text-align:right;"|778 || style="text-align:right;"| 271 |- | <!---please don't link this, already linked higher up the page--->Campania || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|260,153}} || style="text-align:right;"| {{val|266,236}} |- | Emilia–Romagna || style="text-align:right;"|158 || style="text-align:right;"|409 |- | Friuli-Venezia Giulia || style="text-align:right;"|80 || style="text-align:right;"|39 |- | Lazio || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|66,546}} || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|69,244}} |- | Lombardy || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|3,394}} || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|3,542}} |- | Marche || style="text-align:right;"| – || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|49,709}} |- | Molise || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|1,912}} || style="text-align:right;"|745 |- | Piedmont || style="text-align:right;"|795 || style="text-align:right;"|49 |- | Puglia || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|7,470}} || style="text-align:right;"| {{val|5,999}} |- | Sardinia || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|5,139}} || style="text-align:right;"| {{val|2,507}} |- | Sicily || style="text-align:right;"|768 || style="text-align:right;"| {{val|2,454}} |- | Trentino–Alto Adige || style="text-align:right;"|8 || style="text-align:right;"| – |- | Tuscany || style="text-align:right;"|110 || style="text-align:right;"|48 |- | Umbria || style="text-align:right;"|29 || style="text-align:right;"|20 |- | Veneto || style="text-align:right;"|895 || style="text-align:right;"|957 |- | '''Total''' || style="text-align:right;"|{{val|348,861}} || style="text-align:right;"| {{val|402,659}} |}
The largest numbers are reared in the provinces of Caserta and of Salerno, Campania, followed by those of Frosinone and of Latina, which although in Lazio fall within the area of production of the ''mozzarella di bufala campana''.{{r|fao|p=26}}
==Characteristics== The Italian Mediterranean buffalo is black, with dark slate-grey skin and black hooves. White markings may be present on the head, on the lower legs or on the switch of the tail.{{r|bigi|p=95}} Total albinism may occur, but is much less common than in the buffaloes of Asia, where the incidence of albinism is in the range {{val|5|–|8|u=%}}.{{r|bigi|p=95}}
Bulls commonly stand about {{convert|143|cm}} at the withers, with a weight of some {{convert|500–600|kg}}; they may reach weights of up to {{convert|800|kg}}. Sexual dimorphism is less marked in domestic buffalo than in cattle; cows stand about {{convert|138|cm}}, with weights in the range {{convert|300–450|kg}}.{{r|bigi|p=95}}
==Use== thumb|Feeding 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.{{r|consorzio}}
The Italian Mediterranean buffalo 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 protected designation of origin (PDO) status.{{r|bigi|p=95}} Other dairy products including burrata, ''caciotta di bufala'', ''ricotta di bufala'', ''scamorza di bufala'', ''stracchino di bufala'', ''stracciatella di bufala'', and yogurt are also made from the milk. Lactation lasts on average 277 days, and usually yields {{convert|1600–1800|kg}} of milk; yields of {{convert|2000–3000|kg}} per lactation are not uncommon,{{r|bigi|p=95}} and yields of more than {{convert|5000|kg}} have been recorded.{{r|fao|p=26}} In 2012, a total of {{convert|192,455,300|kg}} of buffalo milk was produced in Italy, about 1.7% of total milk production in that year;{{r|istat2}} the fat content was an average of 7.92%.{{r|istat3}}
Some are butchered, either for fresh meat or for preserved meat products such as ''bresaola di bufalo''.{{r|bigi|p=95}} In 2012, a total of 118,653 buffalo were slaughtered in Italy, for a total live weight of {{convert|47,416,700|kg}}, approximately 2.7% of the total weight of bovines slaughtered that year. The average carcass yield was 50.6%.{{r|istat}}
In the past, the buffalo were left to forage on poor or marshy ground.{{r|bigi|p=96}} In the 21st century, management is invariably intensive: the dairy herd may be stabled or kept in an enclosure close to the milking parlour, and is fed a protein- and energy-rich diet.{{r|fao|p=26}} In 2005, the median herd size was approximately 90; by 2023 it had risen to above {{val|210}}.{{r|fao|p=26|dad2}}
==See also== {{Commons category-inline}} {{Portal|Italy}} * Mozzarella * Buffalo mozzarella
==References== {{reflist|45em|refs=
<ref name=anasb>[http://www.anasb.it/home1.htm Home] (in Italian). Associazione nazionale allevatori specie bufalina. Accessed February 2014.</ref>
<ref name=barb>Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20200623201209/http://www.fao.org/3/a1250e/annexes/List%20of%20breeds%20documented%20in%20the%20Global%20Databank%20for%20Animal%20Genetic%20Resources/List_breeds.pdf List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources], annex to [https://web.archive.org/web/20170110125634/http://www.fao.org/3/a-a1250e.pdf ''The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture'']. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. {{ISBN|9789251057629}}. Archived 23 June 2020.</ref>
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<ref name=cabi>Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). [https://books.google.it/books?id=2UEJDAAAQBAJ&hl=en ''Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding''] (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. {{ISBN|9781780647944}}.</ref>
<ref name=consorzio>[http://www.mozzarelladop.it/index.php?section=animale&subsection=passato&subtype_index=1&index=5 Un animale straordinario: Passato] (in Italian). Consorzio di Tutela della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana. Accessed February 2014.</ref>
<ref name=dad>[http://dad.fao.org/cgi-bin/EfabisWeb.cgi?sid=00000000000000000000000000000000,reportsreport8a_175000025 Breed data sheet: Bufala mediterranea italiana]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2013.</ref>
<ref name=dad2>[https://dadis-breed-datasheet-ext-ws.firebaseapp.com/?country=ITA&specie=Buffalo&breed=Bufala%20Mediterranea%20Italiana&lang=en Breed data sheet: Bufala Mediterranea Italiana / Italy (Buffalo)]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed July 2022.</ref>
<ref name=fao>Antonio Borghese, Marco Mazzi (2005). [https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/c5804237-9e3a-4118-9044-67cc212cd9ba/content Buffalo Population and Strategies in the World]. In: Antonio Borghese (editor) (2005). [https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/75cb6b11-8131-5068-bcbc-bcd990fb8c75/ ''Buffalo Production and Research'']. REU Technical Series 67, pages 1–39. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.</ref>
<ref name=fig>Antonia Noce, Saber Qanbari, Rayner González-Prendes, Julia Brenmoehl, María Gracia Luigi-Sierra, Michael Theerkorn, Marc-André Fiege, Heike Pilz, Adrian Bota, Livia Vidu, Csaba Horwath, László Haraszthy, Pencho Penchev, Yordanka Ilieva, Tzonka Peeva, Wolfgang Lüpcke, René Krawczynski, Klaus Wimmers, Manfred Thiele, Andreas Hoeflich (2020). [https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.610353/pdf Genetic Diversity of ''Bubalus bubalis'' in Germany and Global Relations of Its Genetic Background]. ''Frontiers in Genetics''. '''11''': article 610353. {{doi|10.3389/fgene.2020.610353|doi-access=free}}. .</ref>
<ref name=istat>[http://agri.istat.it/jsp/dawinci.jsp?q=plAMR0000010000010000&an=2012&ig=1&ct=603&id=10A%7C71A Tavola AMR13 - Bestiame macellato a carni rosse - (Gennaio - Dicembre) - Anno 2012] (in Italian). Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. Accessed February 2014.</ref>
<ref name=istat2>[http://agri.istat.it/jsp/dawinci.jsp?q=plL020000010000011000&an=2012&ig=1&ct=155&id=8A|11A Tavola L02 - Latte raccolto presso le aziende agricole dall'industria lattiero-casearia per tipo (quantità in quintali) . Dettaglio per ripartizione geografica - Anno 2012] (in Italian). Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. Accessed February 2014.</ref>
<ref name=istat3>[http://agri.istat.it/jsp/dawinci.jsp?q=plL040000010000010000&an=2012&ig=1&ct=217&id=8A|11A Tavola L04 - Quantità di latte e crema a disposizione dell' industria lattiero-casearia, per specie animale (quantità in quintali) - Anno 2012] (in Italian). Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. Accessed February 2014.</ref>
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<ref name=istat5>[http://agri.istat.it/jsp/dawinci.jsp?q=plB010000010000012000&an=2013&ig=1&ct=201&id=8A%7C9A Tavola B01B - Consistenza del bestiame bovino e bufalino al 1° dicembre. Bovini di 2 anni e più, bufalini e totali (numero di capi). Dettaglio per regione - Anno 2013] (in Italian). Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. Accessed July 2014.</ref> }}
{{Water buffalo breeds}}
Category:Mammals of Europe Category:Water buffalo breeds originating in Italy