DOMESTICATING THE BUFFALO.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2303, 4 August 1880, Page 3

DOMESTICATING THE BUFFALO.

Colonel Ezra Miller, of Railway, N. J, Las been making some experiments which have led him to the conclusion that it will pay to breed buffaloes, both pure and crossed, with American domestic cattle. Relating his experience with these animals lately, the colonel said : “ I have proved to my own satisfaction several points. First, that buffaloes can be tamed. Second, that it does not cost one-half as much to keep a buffalo as it does to keep an ordinary cow. Third, they can be fattened as quickly as ordinary beeves, and on half the food, and their meat is just as good. Fourth, they arc just as good milkers as our Alclerneys; and fifth, they are good butter-makers. The milkof the buffalo is a little yellower than of the Alderney, but very sweet and rich, and there is more cream than in the Alderney milk. As to the quantity of milk given by the buffalo cows, they will' average with the average milker. The udder of the buffalo cow is very small indeed, but the milk veins are immense. This is a provision whereby nature enables them to run faster than if encumbered by a large udder, lam of opinion that the most desirable cross is with big Dutch cattle that have such big udders. I think that crossing them with our shorthorns will give remarkably good beef. But the beef from our buffaloes more than met my expectations. It was sweet, and juicy, and tender, not at all like the meat of the buffalo of the plains. Now, in drawing the balance between the buffalo and the ordinary cow, I find these facts : The buffalo can he kept at one-half the cost of the cow ; that’s one point for the buffalo. Wo will assume, to give the cow a fair show, that she yields more milk and butter. That balances the account so far. The buffalo is fully equal to our stock in the quality of meat. So they arc still on even terms : but its hide is worth four times, so it comes out far ahead in the last heat, as horsemen say. The hide from my bull was a beautiful specimen. It was better than a twenty-live dollar robe I bought to compare with it. The fur ■was longer and finer, the result of good feed, I think.”