BUFFALO COUNTRY

In the soft green pastures of the Somerset Levels, you may be surprised to see an exotic creature quietly grazing. What are water buffalo doing here? Steph Wetherell investigates  

- Steph Wetherell

It's a sunny spring day in Somerset, with a hint of chill in the air. I'm on the Levels: 250 miles of coastal plain scattered with villages and farms, and one of England's dairy heartlands, home of the worldfamous Cheddar cheese. Cattle speckle its lush green pastures: from Devon reds and rare sheeted Somersets to the familiar black and white hides of the Holstein Friesian.

But here, between the A37 Roman Road and the winding banks of the Oakley Brook north of Yeovil, something exotic lurks behind the billowing hedgerows.

I turn a corner in the broad hedge and find myself a few metres away from her. She has a huge, sweeping pair of horns. Thick brown hair and a purple-blue tongue. She grunts deeply and chews, her eyes focused intently on mine. This is no cow. It's a water buffalo.

Once wild creatures of the swamps and rivers of India and Southeast Asia, Bubalus bubalis were first domesticated more than 6,000 years ago. They may be rare in the UK, but they are a vital food source across the world, with a global population estimated to exceed 130 million.

Water buffalo are now found across six continents, because they are so well suited to small-scale and peasant farming. In Europe, buffalo are widespread - in Italy for mozzarella production, and for meat and dairy in Germany, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe.

WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM

The 80 or so animals at Higher Oakley Farm certainly create an impression. While some are dairy buffaloes - smaller than those reared for meat - they are still intimidatingly large, but what adds to the effect is that you never see just one lone animal. Like their wild ancestors, they move as a herd; where one goes, the group follows.