Farmer in Thailand puts buffalo up for sale for US$1.5 million

A farmer in Thailand put a giant water buffalo up for sale for 50 million baht (US$1.45 million) yesterday.

Forget a pool villa in Phuket, for the same price you could bag yourself one of the biggest buffaloes Thailand has ever seen. “Petch Lamkhong,” a three year and five month old water buffalo (“kwai“) from “Big Ice Farm” in Phitsanulok, weighed in at a whopping 1.4 tonnes at the 6th Phitsanulok Giant Buffalo Contest yesterday.

Buffaloes competing in the contest – a late celebration of Thai Buffalo Conservation Day on May 14 – must weigh at least 1 tonne to enter. But all of the other contestants looked miniature compared to Petch Lamkong, who towers over his owner, Sombat Thamelae.

Sombat, the owner of Big Ice Farm in Phitsanulok, said he bought Petch Lamkhong for 7 million baht from a farm in Bueng Kan province, northeast Thailand, in mid-2022. He has won several awards in his pageant career so far.

He said that Petch Lamkhong is in his prime. The animal’s genetically-favourable semen sells for millions of baht, said Sombat. The farmer said he’s not in any rush to sell the giant kwai because he has a lot more growing to do and will be “beautiful” for many more years to come.

However, if someone is really serious about buying Petch Lamkhong, Sombat will accept no less than 50 million baht for the textbook Thai water buffalo, making him the most expensive in Thailand.

In January, a farmer from Kalasin made headlines when he claimed he made 1 million baht every month selling the semen of “Big Billion,” another award-winning kwai worth 30 million baht.

Breeders around the kingdom pay high prices for the semen of strong water buffaloes in the hopes of starting a new generation of money-making, pageant-winning kwai.

In March last year, an albino water buffalo sold for 2.5 million baht (US$72,600) at the 10th Uthai Thani Buffalo Festival in northeast Thailand.