| Murrah Water Buffalo | |
|---|---|
| Murrah buffaloes in the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) at its Central Mindanao University (CMU) facility in Maramag, Bukidnon. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Bovinae |
| Tribe: | Bovini |
| Genus: | Bubalus |
| Species: | B. bubalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Bubalus bubalis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
|
The Murrah breed of Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a breed of domestic water buffalo kept for dairy production. It is originally from Punjab and Haryana states of India and Punjab province of Pakistan, but has been used to improve the milk production of dairy buffalo in other countries, such as Italy, Bulgaria and Egypt. In Italy, it is the basis of Mozzarella cheese production, and therefore Italian Pizza. By Italian law, Mozzarella may only be made from buffalo milk, which is preferred for its very high butterfat content, up to 16% compared with 4% for European (Bos taurus) dairy breeds such as Jersey cattle and 8% for Zebu (Bos indicus) breeds such as Sahiwal.
Jet black in colour, sometimes with white markings on face or legs. Bulls weigh 550 kg and cows 450 kg[1].
In Brazil this breed of buffalo is very used for production of meat and also milk. They are docile and productive animals.