The carabao is a swamp-type domestic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

found in the Philippines.[1] Water buffaloes were probably introduced to the

Philippines by Malay immigrants around 300 to 200 BC. It is considered as
the national animal of the Philippines.

ETHYMOLOGY
The word carabao is from Spanish, derived
from Visayan karabw.[3] Cognates include Tagalog kalabw, Malaykerbau,
and Indonesian Dutch karbouw. The female is called a caraballa.
CHARACTERISTICS
Carabaos have the low, wide, and heavy build of draught animals. They
vary in colour from light grey to slate grey. The horns are sickle-shaped or
curve backward toward the neck. Chevrons are common. Albinoids are
present in the proportion of about 3% of the buffalo population. Mature male
carabaos weigh 420500 kg (9301,100 lb), and females 400425 kg (882
937 lb). Height at withers of the male ranges from 127137 cm (5054 in), and of the female from 124129 cm
(4951 in).
Water buffaloes imported to the Philippines from Cambodia in the early 20th century are called "Cambodian
carabaos". They have white or yellowish hair on a pinkish skin, but the eyes, hooves, and mouth are dark, and
the skin may be speckled. They are slightly bigger and have larger horns. Males weigh on average 673 kg
(1,484 lb) and measure 141 cm (56 in) at the withers.
HUSBANDRY
Water buffaloes are well adapted to a hot and humid climate. Water availability is of high importance in hot
climates since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to reduce the heat load and thermal stress.[5] Swamp
buffaloes prefer to wallow in a mudhole that they make with the horns. Their objective is to acquire a thick
coating of mud. They thrive on manyaquatic plants and in time of flood will graze submerged, raising their heads
above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds, giant reeds, bulrush, sedges, water
hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening.
Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Trials in the Philippines showed that the carabao,
on poor-quality roughage, had a better feed conversion rate than cattle.
The carabao cools itself by lying in a waterhole or mud during the heat of the day. Mud, caked on to its body,
also protects it from bothersome insects. The carabao feeds mainly in the cool of the mornings and evenings. Its
lifespan is 18 to 20 years and the female carabao can deliver one calf each year.

CARABAO IN THE PHILIPPINES

Malay immigrants probably introduced water buffaloes in the period 300 to 200 BC. Later Chinese settlers also
brought water buffaloes that are sometimes referred to as "Shanghai buffaloes". Carabaos are widely distributed
in all the larger islands of the Philippine archipelago. Early in the 20th century, water buffaloes were imported
from Cambodia for work in sugarcane plantations; Cambodian carabaos are larger and have bigger
horns. Murrah buffaloes were first introduced fromIndia in 1917. A few representatives of the Nili breed have also
been acquired. The word carabao is now used for the imported river type buffaloes, as well as for the local
swamp buffaloes
Carabao hide was once used extensively to create a variety of products, including the armor of precolonial
Filipino warriors.
In 1993, the Philippine Carabao Center was established to conserve, propagate, and promote the carabao as a
source of draft animal power, meat, milk, and hide to benefit the rural farmers through
carabao genetic improvement, technology development and dissemination, and establishment of carabao-based
enterprises, thus ensuring higher income and better nutrition. The National Water Buffalo Gene Pool in
the Muoz, Nueva Ecija, is a facility for continuous selection, testing, and propagation of
superior breeds of dairy buffaloes.[6]
In 2003, 3.2 million carabao buffaloes were in the Philippines; 99% belonged to small farmers who have limited
resources, low income, and little access to other economic opportunities.[5]
One of the many reasons for the failure of the attempted Japanese pacification of the Philippines during their
1941-1945 occupation was their indifference to the basics of the Filipino economy. The carabaos provided the
necessary labor that allowed Filipino farmers to grow rice and other staples. Japanese army patrols would not
only confiscate the rice, but would also slaughter the carabaos for meat, thereby preventing the farmers from
growing enough rice to feed the large population. Before World War II, an estimated three million carabaos
inhabited the Philippines. By the end of the war, an estimated nearly 70% of them had been lost.[7]
The old payatak method of farming is still the method of
choice in Northern Samar. The soil of the rice paddy is first
softened with rainwater or diverted watershed, then the
farmer guides a group of carabaos in trampling the planting
area until it is soggy enough to receive the rice seedlings.
This time-consuming task produces lower yields and lower
income when compared with the advancement in irrigated
fields.[8] In the late 1980s, the carabao puppet character
Kardong Kalabaw became popular as a symbol of the
Filipino people's hard work and sense of industry.

Villa Escudero Plantations was founded in

1872 by Don Plcido Escudero and his wife
Doa Claudia Marasigan. Originally a sugar
cane plantation, the crop was converted
to coconut by their son, Don Arsenio
Escudero in the early 1900s. A
pioneering agriculture industrialist, he built
the countrys first working hydroelectric
plant 30ft. deep Labasin Dam - to supply his desiccated coconut factory and the
Escudero Plantation house, which he and his wife Doa Rosario Adap built in 1929.
The most famous feature is still the waterfall restaurant. The waterfall is so safe that
it can actually give you a pleasant massage should you decide to get completely wet
and lie against its wall. Still, if you wish to spend some time over a quiet dinner, you
might not want to come here. Even the guests sitting at remote handmade bamboo
tables are bound to get a little wet and the silence is out of the question due to the
waterfall roars and happy visitors cheers.