It was 5-year-old Tod’s first time competing in a beauty pageant and the bright red interior of his ears turned out and popped against his black fur.
The main stud for his owner, food vendor and farmer Thawatchai Daeng-Ngam, Tod was one of the competitors Monday at the annual water buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, a city about an hour drive from Bangkok.
Formerly considered humble draft animals, water buffaloes have become prized show animals in Thailand. They are celebrated at the festival, held at the end of the 11th lunar month to celebrate the beginning of the harvest season and put a spotlight on the animals that once were vital to Thai agriculture.
These days tractors have replaced buffaloes, once prized for their strength and ability to plow fields and transport heavy loads. If the animals are not competing in shows, they are sold for meat.
Buffaloes were the main attraction at the fair in Chonburi, which kicked off with a parade featuring students performing traditional Thai dance. Some of the buffaloes wore flower crowns as they pulled traditional wooden carriages with wheels 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall carrying their owners and women dressed in traditional Thai garb.
The festival also featured a race with buffaloes ridden by jockeys sprinting down a 100-meter (328-foot) track.
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