Buffalo and Cattle as Meat Sources in India

India is home to the world’s largest bovine population – yet it has emerged as one of the globe’s biggest exporters of bovine meat. This apparent paradox makes perfect sense once you understand how cattle and buffalo fit into India’s agricultural economy. Both animals are raised primarily for dairy and draught purposes, with meat production playing a secondary – and often incidental – role. Still, the meat that does come from these animals, particularly from buffalo, feeds both domestic demand and a significant international trade. Here’s a clear look at how cattle and buffalo function as meat sources in India, and what makes this sector as complex as it is commercially significant.

The primary role of cattle and buffalo in India 🔗

In India, cattle (both Bos taurus and Bos indicus) and the Asian domestic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) are not reared for slaughter. Their primary value lies in dairy production – cattle for milk, buffalo for their high-fat milk used to make ghee, paneer, and products like Italian mozzarella cheese. Buffalo also have a long history of use as draught animals, given their muscular build and ability to work in difficult conditions.

According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, the water buffalo herd in India is the world’s largest, and it is prized overwhelmingly for dairy rather than meat. This means the animals that eventually enter the meat supply are, in most cases, those that have reached the end of their productive lives – old milch cows, spent draught bullocks, or unproductive bulls. Meat is, effectively, a by-product of the dairy economy.

Religious and legal restrictions on cattle slaughter 🔗

The cow holds sacred status in Hinduism, which is practised by approximately 80% of India’s population. This cultural reverence directly shapes the legal landscape around cattle slaughter. Legislation against cattle slaughter is in place throughout most states and union territories of India, with 20 out of 28 states having enacted laws that regulate or prohibit the slaughter and sale of beef from cattle.

The legal framework is complex and varies by state. Some states impose a complete ban on cow slaughter; others permit it only when animals are certified as old, injured, or permanently incapacitated. Eight states, including Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, and several northeastern states, have no restrictions on the slaughter of any cattle. Where cattle slaughter is permitted, it typically requires a “fit-for-slaughter” certificate, usually granted only when an animal is over 15 years old or permanently unfit for work or breeding.

Buffalo, however, occupy a different legal and religious position. They are not considered sacred under Hinduism, and buffalo slaughter is legal throughout India. This distinction is the single most important factor that has enabled India’s buffalo meat trade to flourish where cattle beef trade cannot.

Buffalo meat: the dominant meat product 🔗

Because of these restrictions, buffalo meat – commercially known as carabeef – is the primary bovine meat product in India. Buffalo meat does not possess any religious taboo against its consumption and is emerging as an important red meat source across many parts of the world.

The animals that supply most of this meat are spent dairy buffalo – females that no longer produce commercially viable quantities of milk. Farmers typically sell these animals once they stop milking, often after the monsoon season when the animals are heavier. Availability is inconsistent, as farmers typically sell buffalo only after they cease milking, usually after the rainy season, when the animals are heavier and yield better profits, according to market sources.

Dressing percentage and carcass quality 🔗

The dressing percentage refers to the proportion of an animal’s live weight that becomes usable carcass after slaughter. This is a key indicator of the meat yield an animal provides. The dressing percentage varies with age and type of animal: old and unproductive buffaloes yield 43-57%, while young animals reared under better feeding conditions can reach 55-59%. Buffalo veal – the meat from very young male calves – yields a notably higher dressing percentage of around 61-64%.

A dressing percentage of 50 to 55% has been reported for buffaloes and is similar to beef cattle. Buffalo carcasses have rounder ribs, a higher proportion of muscle, and a lower proportion of bone and fat compared to cattle beef. The standard export cuts from Indian buffaloes include chuck, brisket, blade, shin and shank from the forequarter, and topside, silverside, knuckle, rump, and tenderloin from the hindquarter.

Nutritional profile: how buffalo meat compares to beef 🔗

Buffalo meat compares very favourably to cattle beef, and in several respects outperforms it nutritionally. Compared to beef, buffalo meat has 40% less cholesterol, 12 times less fat, 55% fewer calories, and 11% more protein. This makes it one of the leanest red meats available.

Buffalo fat is always white and the meat is darker in colour than beef due to more pigmentation and less intramuscular fat – around 2-3% in buffalo versus 3-4% in beef. This absence of marbling also means the fat on the outer surface of buffalo meat is easily separated from the lean portion at the time of consumption, which is an advantage for health-conscious consumers. Buffalo meat is almost similar to beef in terms of composition, quality, and organoleptic characteristics and has an added advantage of less fat, cholesterol, and calories.

Calves as meat sources: buffalo veal 🔗

Male buffalo calves that are not needed as dairy herd replacements represent a specific category of meat production. Since male calves cannot produce milk, they hold limited economic value in a dairy-focused system. Historically, many were left to die from neglect. Increasingly, however, they are being used for meat.

Buffalo veal is the term for meat from young male buffalo calves, and it is considered a delicacy – calves are usually slaughtered between 3 and 4 weeks of age, with a dressed weight of 59-66% of live weight. Buffalo broilers are calves reared exclusively on milk and slaughtered at a defined age and weight for tender, high-quality meat. Male calves at 8 to 10 months can be purchased from farmers and fed a high-protein, high-energy diet to gain an additional 120 kg in four months, making them commercially viable for the meat market.

Young buffalo reared up to 24 months and fed on milk produce high-quality, tender meat. When buffalo are reared up to 24 months and fed with milk, their meat is of high quality – lean and rich in protein and less fatty than beef. There is also evidence that buffalo retain meat tenderness at a more advanced age than cattle, since connective tissue hardens later in buffalo than in bovines.

Cattle beef: limited but not absent 🔗

While buffalo dominates, cattle meat is not entirely absent from India’s meat supply. Where state laws permit it, cattle are slaughtered under strict conditions – typically older animals with a valid “fit-for-slaughter” certificate. The relatively low price of Indian beef reflects perceived quality differences: it is produced primarily from culled dairy animals and cannot meet the stricter sanitary standards common in more advanced markets.

Cattle beef in India is consumed domestically in states where it is legally available. Beef is considered a staple part of the diet by many Muslims, Christians, tribal communities, and Dalits – communities for whom it is both culturally significant and an affordable protein source. However, unlike buffalo meat, cattle beef from India is not exported, as export of cattle beef is prohibited.

Buffalo meat in domestic and international markets 🔗

India has built a substantial buffalo meat export industry almost as a side effect of its dairy economy. Buffalo meat exports from India reached 1.24 million metric tonnes in 2024, with a total valuation of $3.91 billion – a 9.5% increase on the year. USDA projections estimate India’s carabeef exports will grow nearly 4% year-over-year in 2025, reaching approximately 1.65 million metric tonnes.

The major export destinations for Indian buffalo meat include Vietnam, Egypt, Malaysia, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Uttar Pradesh is the leading producing state, accounting for 40.2% of total meat production and housing the majority of standalone slaughterhouses and meat processing units in the country.

Domestically, buffalo meat is consumed across India, particularly among non-Hindu communities. India’s buffalo meat mostly ends up on plates in Asia and the Middle East, where rising wealth is spurring demand among diners for animal protein. A portion also moves informally across borders – for example, significant quantities shipped to Vietnam are believed to then cross into China, a market that doesn’t fully appear in official statistics.

Despite this trade success, structural challenges remain. The government does not have policies that support bovine animal rearing for slaughter – all programs are focused on strengthening dairy production. This means the buffalo meat sector operates largely without dedicated government support, relying on the surplus of dairy animals rather than a purpose-built meat production system.

Quality standards and processing infrastructure 🔗

India’s export-oriented buffalo meat industry operates under rigorous quality standards. All export-oriented buffalo slaughter units have mandatory requirements of accreditation with HACCP and ISO standards to ensure quality and safety. Most buffalo meat-exporting plants hold ISO 9001 certification, and all animals are slaughtered through the halal system under the supervision of religious authorities – a requirement that directly serves the large Muslim-majority markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The leading producing states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana – house the bulk of India’s standalone slaughter and meat processing capacity. Buffalo meat is the major item of Indian animal product export, and adequate nutrition and improved levels of hygiene at meat handling will enable India a quantum jump in meat production by better utilising the existing pool of surplus male calves and spent animals.

What do you think? Given that India’s entire buffalo meat export industry is built on animals originally raised for dairy rather than meat, does this make the system more sustainable – or does it reflect an underinvestment in dedicated meat animal husbandry? And with buffalo meat offering a leaner, lower-cholesterol alternative to beef, do you think it has the potential to gain wider consumer acceptance in global markets that currently prefer conventional cattle beef?

References

1. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2016/july/india-emerges-as-a-major-beef-exporter
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_slaughter_in_India
3. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/11/falqs-beef-bans-in-india/
4. https://buffalopedianew.cirb.res.in/buffalo-meat/
5. https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/agriculture/073125-indian-buffalo-meat-exports-show-resilience-amid-supply-challenges
6. https://academic.oup.com/af/article/4/4/18/4638806
7. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11171311/
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/buffalo-meat
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_meat
10. https://apeda.gov.in/BuffaloMeat
11. https://money.cnn.com/2015/08/05/news/economy/india-beef-exports-buffalo/
12. https://www.primescholarslibrary.org/articles/buffalo-prospective-and-healthier-food-animal.pdf