For the past three decades, buffaloes have gone out of fashion in the farming world at an alarming rate, replaced by the e-tan, the "iron buffalo". In the 1970s there were an estimated six million buffaloes in Thailand. It is a sign of the times that there are now special buffalo villages for tourists to gawk at. Farmers used to regard their buffaloes as almost part of the family, giving them nicknames like Lek and Noi and never considered eating them. But these days you are more likely to meet a buffalo on a dinner plate than in a field.

Source: Bangkok Post March 18, 2017 21:24 UTC