[1]

Water buffalo are now being imported into this country and former dairy farmers are using them to produce milk, cheese, yoghurt and ice cream. Buffalo milk is purportedly lower in cholesterol than cow's milk. There are no quotas (limits to the amount of milk produced by each farmer) and no cases of BSE recorded.

Buffalo are more docile than cows and eat a lot of crop residues. They are milked like dairy cows in the same parlours.

One producer told Farmers Weekly magazine that the buffalo took a long time to get used to the milking parlour suggesting this could be stressful for the animals.

Health and welfare problems are yet to be fully realised as this industry remains in its infancy in the UK.