Carabaos are not disappearing

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

Provincial officials of Pangasinan need not be worried that the carabao may soon disappear from Philippine farms.  On the contrary, the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), the national agency responsible for the development of the Philippine carabao both as a draft animal and a source of meat and milk, declares that the disappearance of this animal from the country’s farms is farfetched.

Unknown to many, three regional gene pools have been established already.  Some of the best male native carabaos in the country have been identified and included in four separate gene pools in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.  The semen of these carabulls are collected and conserved in a semen laboratory at the national PCC headquarters at the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, according to Dr. Libertado C. Cruz, PCC executive director.

PCC geneticists revealed that a gene pool for the Philippine carabao was initially established in the Piatt campus of the Cagayan State University (CSU) to conserve the best animals in the population.  At the same time, the PCC adopted as a satellite another Philippine carabao gene bank established by the Isabela State University (ISU) on its own initiative.

As an institution, ISU wanted to maintain its identity as a conservation center for the Philippine carabao and, hence, is invested on a gene bank. PCC supported the gene bank by providing some money for maintenance, operation, and other expenses.  PCC also provided some native carabaos for the gene bank.

Later, PCC officials started to think that there may be genetic diversity among the carabao populations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.  Thus, plans were made to consolidate the best animals in the Visayas and Mindanao and put them together in separate gene banks.  PCC at La Carlota Stock Farm in Negros was made the gene bank for the Visayas, while PCC at Mindanao Livestock Production Center in Kalawit, Zamboanga del Norte was made the gene bank for Mindanao.

By the middle of year 2000, the assignment of the three PCC centers to undertake long term selection and propagation of the Philippine carabao for draft purposes was already fixed.  In 2002, some 234 pure Philippine carabaos were already undergoing performance testing in the three PCC centers.  At the end of 2005, exactly 102 pure Philippine carabaos were currently undergoing performance testing at the PCC at CSU.

Right now, the ISU gene bank has a total of 60 pure Philippine carabaos – 40 cows, 19 calves, and one bull.

To conserve the native germplasm, semen from the top performing native carabao bulls is collected and stored in frozen form for in-vitro conservation.  Some of the semen is available for use in the national AI [artificial insemination] program as an option for interested farmers.  In this case, semen from pure Philippine carabao is used instead of semen from Murrah buffalos, which is commonly used for the upgrading of Philippine carabaos.

Along the conservation of the Philippine carabao, the Carabao Island in San Jose,  Romblon has been established as a sanctuary for the Philippine carabao.  This isolated farming community, currently using and will still use carabaos for many years, is intended as part of the country’s genetic conservation efforts.

A memorandum of agreement between PCC and the Romblon local government unit has been signed, assigning the Carabao Island as the sanctuary of the Philippine carabao.  No exotic (foreign) breed is allowed to enter the island, while the Philippine carabao from other provinces could be brought in anytime.

If one is interested in sourcing upgraded carabaos, these could be sourced out in San Agustin, Isabela, a rather remote municipality already near the boundary of Quirino province.  The Philippine carabao in this town has been greatly improved through artificial insemination using semen from Murrah buffalos.  At anytime, more than 500 upgraded carabaos could be assembled in this municipality, which was once a barangay in the town of Jones, which was also carved earlier from the town of Echague.

San Agustin farmers are very much satisfied with the growth and draft performance of their upgraded carabaos. They claim that the upgraded carabaos work faster and longer than the pure Philippine carabao. Likewise, the upgraded carabaos are a lot bigger and heavier than the native carabaos.  In fact, the farmers said they would like to continue upgrading their carabaos so that these could be an excellent source of draft power as well as milk and meat.

I was told that the best time to buy these animals is before and at the end of the school year when the farmers need money for their children.

(Readers may reach columnist at spablico@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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