From Farm to Fame: Thailand's Water Buffalo Beauty Pageants Transform Rural Traditions

The festival featured an exciting buffalo race with jockeys riding the powerful animals. (Representational)

Chonburi:

Five-year-old Tod made his beauty pageant debut, his striking red ear interior contrasting beautifully with his glossy black fur.

Tod, the prized stud belonging to food vendor and farmer Thawatchai Daeng-Ngam, was among many contestants at Monday's annual water buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, located about an hour's drive from Bangkok.

Water buffaloes in Thailand have undergone a remarkable transformation from humble working animals to prestigious show specimens. This festival, held at the conclusion of the 11th lunar month, celebrates the harvest season's beginning while highlighting these animals that were once fundamental to Thai agricultural practices.

In modern Thailand, tractors have largely replaced water buffaloes, which were previously valued for their strength in plowing fields and carrying heavy loads. Today, buffaloes not participating in competitive shows are typically sold for meat.

The Chonburi fair began with a spectacular parade featuring students performing traditional Thai dances. Many buffaloes wore decorative flower crowns while pulling traditional wooden carriages with massive 2-meter (6.5 feet) wheels, carrying their owners alongside women dressed in traditional Thai costumes.

Another highlight of the festival was an intense race where jockeys rode buffaloes along a 100-meter (328-foot) track.

Pitun Rassamee brought his 3-year-old white-furred buffalo to compete. The albino, named Lookaew (meaning "marble" in Thai), had already won local competitions, and Pitun hoped for a top-five placement.

Such optimism was well-founded, considering another albino Thai buffalo sold for 18 million baht ($672,000) in 2024 after winning multiple pageants.

The transition from farm workhorses to prestigious symbols has occurred gradually alongside farming mechanization. Thailand's water buffalo population had been declining for years.

However, these competitions have sparked renewed interest in the animals and created a new industry with government backing. Since 2017, the Thai government has officially designated a Thai Buffalo Conservation Day, and local authorities now provide breeding assistance to farmers.

Thawatchai, Tod's owner, considers raising competition buffaloes merely a hobby. He allows Tod to roam freely on his family farm and attended the festival simply to compare his buffalo with others.

On larger commercial farms, these animals receive daily baths and consume specialized diets including corn, soybeans, bran, and vitamins, explained Kijchai Angkhanawin, a professional caretaker for show buffaloes.

At the festival, Kijchai splashed water on his buffaloes, which stood noticeably taller and bulkier than many competitors. Judges evaluate contestants based on horn size, hoof smoothness, and overall physique.

According to Papada Srisophon, an assistant to a village chief near a livestock education center, these buffalo-centered events in Chonburi have a long tradition.

"Each year it has become bigger and bigger," Papada explained, noting that the contests motivate farmers to continue raising these animals. "Without this activity, they won't know what to do with their buffaloes, and they won't be motivated to keep their buffaloes."

During the Chonburi beauty pageant, owners and caretakers waited with their buffaloes in shaded pens. Fire trucks provided water for the animals while festival visitors took photos with the largest buffaloes and families gathered in the viewing stands.

Caretakers then guided the massive animals into a judging area where experts wearing bolo ties and cowboy hats carefully evaluated each contestant.

Many buffalo owners participating in the competition shared that they had grown up alongside these gentle animals and still cherished them, despite their diminished agricultural utility.

"Although buffaloes can still work in the field, they cannot compete with machines," reflected Thawatchai, whose family maintains 30 buffaloes including Tod. "Buffaloes are still important to me. It's like what they said: 'People raise buffaloes, and buffaloes raise people.' It's like a family member."