SYLVIA, Kan. (AP) - On a recent afternoon, 91-year-old Charles Dealy stepped over a hot wire into his pasture of cows and bulls, coaxing one over to him with loving affection.
He began to rub its side.
“See; they’re gentle,” he said happily.
Yet, with their coarse black hair and their horns curving upward above their heads, it’s evident they’re not beef cattle.
The Hutchinson News (https://bit.ly/2n7MH0t ) reports it might be far from the rivers of North Africa and Iran and the swamps of Asia, but here, on Reno County prairie near Sylvia, the water buffalo roam.
They’ve grazed on the Dealy land for nearly 25 years. Most mornings, Charles and his son, Charley, are out feeding or checking their herd of 70 head. They butcher a few for meat every year, selling it to family as well as those who want a leaner alternative to beef.
But watching the longtime water buffalo rancher step into the field, calling a few by name, it’s evident these animals are more than a business.
It’s a passion. The Dealys know the animals’ routine, their mannerisms. In fact, they are part of the herd.
“They’re friendly when their tail comes up,” Charles said, adding, “They will talk to you if you listen.”
Water buffalo are a unique sight in a state where more than 6 million head of cattle graze. There are a few people with one or two head, but the Dealys don’t know of anyone else in Kansas with a larger herd than theirs.
There are about 168 million water buffalo worldwide, with a majority of them in Asia, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. They are used for both meat and milk production, with the milk the ingredient for true mozzarella cheese.
But in the United States, the industry has been a little slower to catch on - especially in the Midwest. The animals haven’t been here long. They were first imported into the U.S. for commercial farming in 1978, according to the National Research Council.
Today, there are at least 2,500 animals, according to the National Water Buffalo Association.
Charles has always had his hand in agriculture, growing up on a farm near Hutchinson. He figured he’d be a farmer, but it didn’t work out. To provide for his wife, Sylvia, and their growing family, he worked to build Kansas Highway 61, then took a job in the pipeline industry, which he had for 55 years, retiring when he was 79.
Between jobs he would work on the family farm with his father.
“Back then, they were still milking cows, too,” son Charley said.
Charley said it was in the early 1990s, when his dad was still working in the pipeline industry, that he and his mother and brothers read an article about water buffalo. It talked about the fledgling industry and the livestock’s lean-meat qualities. The rancher featured was trying to get water buffalo meat in heart hospitals.
“People with bad hearts can’t eat a lot of fatty meat, and he was trying to inform the doctors about it,” Charley said. “We thought it would be good to try.”
After researching water buffalo for a few years, the family bought a half-dozen from a rancher in Arkansas and put them on the family pastures near their farmstead near Sylvia.
In Texas, Dr. Kevin Owen has 300 head of water buffalo, selling the livestock to other producers. He sees the industry continuing to grow.
“I get more and more calls every year,” Owen said.
A fifth-generation cattle producer and a veterinarian, he started raising water buffalo in 1990 to do something different. At that time, he said, consumers were beginning to look for lean, healthy products.
Water buffalo are as lean as - or leaner than - deer. Also, water buffalo contain more protein, more water, and have 92 percent less fat and 45 percent fewer calories, than beef, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Moreover, said Owen, the livestock are resilient. “I’ve delivered thousands of calves,” he said, adding that with water buffalo, “I never give antibiotics or vaccinations and I don’t have to pull a calf.”
Water buffalo are also highly intelligent creatures, said Owen. They are creatures of habit, sticking to a routine. They follow the same paths every day.
“They are addicting and fascinating creatures,” he said. “I can sit and watch them for hours.”
Water buffalo also can be skittish toward strangers. However, for Charles and his family, they are considered part of the herd. He recalled being gone for weeks with his job and coming home to welcoming livestock.
They don’t necessarily need a lot of water to wade in, but they do get hot and like mud to keep cool. They also create their own sloughs and clean the ponds, including unwanted vegetation. They can close their nostrils and graze underwater, Charley said.
On this afternoon, Charles looks for a family favorite, Pet Me Cow, as he wanders through the field that the buffalo are grazing. There is also Patches, named for the white spot on his head. He’s one of the last of the original bulls. In another field, a newborn water buffalo - born the week before - sucks milk for its mother.
Mostly, for the past 25 years, the Dealys have lived on water buffalo, Charles says.
They don’t eat a lot of beef. They have water buffalo chili, hamburgers, steaks, summer sausage and more.
“The nice part about it: It doesn’t make your fingers greasy,” said Charley.
“I just eat water buffalo,” he said. “I can’t eat a McDonald’s hamburger anymore.”
Maybe their menu of water buffalo is why he is so healthy and spry at age 91, said Charles.
“I don’t go to the doctor; they’ll mess you up,” he said with a chuckle. “Why fool with the doctor?”
Sylvia, however, attributes it to a little more than just good eating.
“We have good genetics,” she said.
It’s been an interesting experience, Charley said.
“It’s unique,” he said. “They are a different animal. You don’t see them every day.”
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Information from: The Hutchinson (Kan.) News, https://www.hutchnews.com
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