Attractive "Buffalo Prince" contest in Ngoc Chien

Within the framework of the New Rice Festival 2025 in Ngoc Chien commune, a buffalo worship ceremony and a "Buffalo Prince" contest took place at the Muong Chien II stadium on August 31 morning.

This year, 17 big, strong buffaloes from 13 hamlets competed at the contest.

The "Buffalo Prince" contest held at the New Rice Festival 2025 in Ngoc Chien commune.

The contest is held to honour the animal, which has a strong, long-standing connection with farmers, and aims to create a unique community tourism product for visitors when coming to Ngoc Chien.

Performing the buffalo worship ritual.

Before the contest took place, the organising board held the buffalo worship ritual which bears the cultural imprint of wet rice agriculture, imbued with the Thai ethnic identity in Ngoc Chien.

Buffaloes with good body shape indexes participate in the contest.

A buffalo from Muong Chien hamlet with a pair of beautiful horns.

Before participating in the contest, the buffaloes were selected, carefully cared for, fed and trained to have the best performance in the contest.

The judges measure the physical parameters of the buffaloes.

Each buffalo is judged for its physical appearance.

The main scoring criteria are body shape, length, height, broad chest, long horns, and strong legs. The buffalo with the best body shape indexes will win the title of "Buffalo Prince".

The contest attracts a large number of local people and tourists.

The judges measure the buffaloes' chest circumference.

Currently, Ngoc Chien has over 5,000 buffaloes, each weighing from 500 - 1,000 kg or more and worth from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of VND. Mechanised agricultural production makes buffaloes no longer have to serve plowing and harrowing, but they still bring in high economic value, helping people here get rid of poverty with the economic model of raising buffaloes in cages towards commodity production.

The buffalo of Ca Van On's family in Muong Chien II hamlet wins the "Buffalo Prince" title in 2025.

In the final result, the title of "Buffalo Prince" belongs to the buffalo of Ca Van On's family in Muong Chien II hamlet. It is 1m58 tall, 2m35 in chest size, and 2.6m long, and weighs 997kg. Meanwhile, the second prize went to a buffalo from Giang Phong hamlet; and the two third prizes went to buffaloes from Long Cang and Dong Xuong hamlets.

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