Milking Buffalo in Laos – Laos Buffalo Diary Farm, Luang Prabang

The Laos Buffalo Diary is an exciting socially-responsible business established in 2016 consisting of a commercial dairy and production facility. The first in Laos! They make products such as yogurt, cheese and ice cream for local and overseas customers.

The hunger for cheese

In 2014 two families travelled to Sri Lanka and loved the Buffalo curd available so when they arrived in Laos on holiday in 2014, they were surprised that in a country also full of buffalo, a dairy industry was non-existent. So ready for a change in lifestyle, after a min mid-life crisis, they decided to move to Laos and set up a Buffalo dairy farm.

Sustainability is key

The venture is not only exciting but has a big social enterprise element. The dairy cooperates with local villages by renting their buffalo, which provides the families with a regular income stream from an underutilized resource (female buffalo). It wasn’t an easy road.   “It took us 18 months before the farmers trusted we weren’t going to barbecue or sterilize their buffalo,” Susie explains. A buffalo is worth an average annual salary so there was some hesitation in the beginning, however, with local farmers now receiving a new source of revenue (approximately $45,000 USD per annum) these is now a strong sense of trust with the foreign farm operators. The farm creates jobs for approx 30 people as well.

The farm is expanding. Approximately 200 buffalo, will be rented from villages, milked daily for about 6 months and then returned to the village until they are ready to calve again and the process starts over again.