Facing the vast field full of fresh grass, Trung, 60, shouted “Cui! Cui! Lai day” (Cui, Cui, come here). From afar, a buffalo jumped up.

It pushed down the grass and headed towards the place from which it heard the sound. When the buffalo appeared from the thick grass, people gave a gasp in surprise. Unlike other buffaloes, Cui, the name of the buffalo, has unique horns.

Its horns do not bend and grow towards the back of its head like other buffaloes. Instead, they grow long, straight toward the ground. From a distance, Cui's horns look like an upside-down V.

Trung said he has not seen any other buffalo which has such odd horns in Long An and all the Mekong Delta’s provinces.

Trung bought the buffalo 20 years ago. At that moment, adult buffaloes were very expensive and unaffordable.

Beautiful and strong buffaloes were worth VND30 million or higher.

One day, he saw a buffalo with a pair of strange horns. In his eyes, the buffalo was very special, not just because of horns, but also because its was very gentle. 

“I had never met it before, but when I came closer to it, I saw it lower its head and put its snout towards me,” Trung recalled. And he decided to buy the buffalo at VND13.5 million.

Trung was happy because he could buy a buffalo though other people warned that the buffalo might bring bad luck. Since then, he has been raising Cui to sell calves.

Trung and the buffalo have been living in peace. It is gentle and obedient. Cui only eats the grass in the area it is brought to, while it never enters locals’ rice fields. It is also healthy and Trung doesn’t have to spend time and money to raise it. It never contracts diseases.

Every morning, Trung takes it out to the grass field to graze. In the afternoon, he leads it back to the pond near his house so he can sleep to avoid mosquitoes.

Cui is fertile. It gives birth to a calf every two years. All the calves are strong and beautiful. To date, it has given birth to over 10 calves which Trung sells after 5-6 months of raising.

Trung thinks Cui is nearly 30 years old, while the buffalo average life expectancy is 20-22 years.

Phan Dau