As he lay in hospital nursing horrific injuries after being repeatedly gored and trampled, it’s entirely possible that farmer Steve Mitchell may have wondered whether introducing water buffalo to his Fife farm was the best idea. 

They don’t look the friendliest of beasts, after all. With their viciously sharp, curved horns, rather angry scowl and considerable girth, it’s probably best to give them a wide berth. 

Yet despite what he describes as having been “duffed up” by his stampeding herd, his water buffalo appear to hold the key to what must be Scotland’s most inventive case of farm diversification yet.

And if his plan to create the first Scottish-made buffalo mozzarella reach fruition, herds of the beasts – which he insists are far more gentle than they may look – could eventually replace fields of more familiar grazing Friesians, supplying the creamy milk for his cheese and low fat, low cholesterol meat. 

Mr Mitchell, who runs Scotland’s first buffalo farm, recently spent the day before the birth of his first child launching a major crowdfunding effort aimed at inspiring an ambitious £800,000 of investment to produce Scotland’s first home-produced buffalo mozzarella. 

The funding would go towards building a manufacturing facility, milking parlour and slurry store to complement the Fife farm’s existing buffalo beef production, farm shops, event catering and café. 

It could see a Fife version of traditional southern Italian buffalo mozzarella – which must be made using milk from buffalos - land on supermarket shelves; Aldi has already expressed interest in adding it to its stores. 

The mozzarella dream is now taking shape. However, dramatic events of one day in 2012, when Mr Mitchell became the first Scottish farmer to be trampled by a herd of water buffalo, could have put it on ice before it even started.

“I was five weeks in hospital,” he recalls. “It was a case of ‘silly me’. I got in between a cow and a protective mum. 

“I realised it wasn’t good when the mum let out a war cry. That meant the herd got jumpy and I got duffed up.”

With a herd of 300 startled buffalo to contend with, is it possible he’s underplaying it slightly? “Well, it was more like being gored a little bit. Well, actually a big bit,” he concedes. 

The frightened herd dragged him 50 metres across a field and through a pond before a witness drove a pick-up truck across the field, desperately blaring the horn to scatter the beasts. It saved his life in the process.

Mr Mitchell was left bleeding, bruised, with puncture wounds on his lower body and several weeks in hospital. 

He was, however, undaunted. Indeed, one of the farm’s larger specimens - a one-ton angry-looking infertile bull with vicious arm-length curved horns and dubbed 007 despite, as Mr Mitchell points out, “firing blanks” - has become its mascot and is known for rolling on its side and having its belly tickled. 

It transpires that not only is he Scotland’s first water buffalo farmer, and the first to survive a buffalo stampede, he is also the first to have a buffalo bull as a pet. 

He may be breaking new ground in farming, yet he is the sixth generation of his family to farm the land at Clemtrie near Kirkcaldy. His father died in a farming accident when he was a toddler, and he grew up watching his uncle keep the business going by rearing large white Duroc pigs and creating an award-winning pork and bacon business. 

Inspired, Mr Mitchell used his inheritance in 2005 to invest in the country’s first water buffalo herd, bought from a Welsh farm and imported from Romania.

“It suited my skill set,” he explains. “My passion is cattle, but lots of people are selling beef at farmers’ markets. One of the first things you learn about farming is that you must find a way to diversify, and you need a unique selling point. 
“Buffalo provides healthy meat, has low cholesterol, low saturated fat and they produce amazing, rich, creamy milk.”

Paired with lush Scottish grass, and the result, he says, is an even better quality product with the potential of creating Scottish buffalo mozzarella that could even beat traditional Italian-made competitors. 

Indeed, an Irish farm’s buffalo mozzarella pearls, produced in West Cork using milk from its herd, was rated among the best in the by a panel of 250 experts at the World Cheese Awards, beating 3000 cheeses from 30 different countries.

It’s a success that Mr Mitchell believes can be replicated here. And he’s hopeful that other dairy farmers who have faced a decade of low milk prices and falling demand, might join him on Scotland’s own buffalo trail. 

Buffalo milk, he points out, also makes deliciously creamy ice cream and is commonly drunk around the world. It also has less cholesterol than dairy cow milk, has 10% more protein and has extra potassium which is said to help lower blood pressure. 

“They are robust, they will breed and continue to produce milk for three times as long as a normal dairy beast in conventional farming,” he adds.

And while the cows provide the milk, there is the potential to rear the male calves for beef – supplying rising demand from professional kitchens for buffalo steak, burgers, sausages and even a potential rival for Desperate Dan’s cow pie, buffalo steak pie. 

As a result, the familiar sight of typical grazing dairy herds could soon be replaced by distinctive black water buffalo.

“A big part of my objective is to try to encourage farmers to produce buffalo milk in the future which can help us reach our goals,” adds Mr Mitchell. 

“There is a current UK market of £79 million and a 12 per cent year on year growth within the mozzarella market. 

“And I strongly believe that Scotland needs a quality home produced alternative to imported mozzarella.”