Jere Breese has been ranching most of his life. Before him, his great-great grandfather was a rancher and on down the line.

Now, the 40-year-old has taken his family’s tradition and is trying something new.

“I do believe I can safely say I’m the first one with water buffaloes,” he said.

Breese has about 250 water buffalo on his ranch in Crook County. For the past month, truckload by truckload of the buffalo have been transported from the other side of the Cascade Mountains to Breese’s Central Oregon ranch. Terry Emmert, a businessman in Clackamas County, had too many water buffalo and not enough space. Breese wasn’t on the hunt for the animal. But he was on the lookout for new opportunities and ways to boost business.

“(Emmert) needed land, and we needed help finding a different revenue source. I’m hoping putting the two together is going to help both of us together,” he said.

Crook County resident Seth Crawford said he’s family friends with Emmert and knew he was trying to get rid of some of the buffalo.

“Anything we can do to help out the economy in Crook County, we need to bring it over here,” said Crawford, who is a commissioner candidate.

Because water buffalo aren’t a common species in the U.S., there’s a learning curve. Breese said he’s heard they are more loyal than cows and if raised by hand can end up being calm and friendly. But right now, they look intimidating to the cattle rancher.

“They have a different look to them,” he said.

He’s noticed they seem more curious than the cows. And they don’t have the same fight-or-flight response as his cattle. Instead, when they are spooked, they huddle up together.

Despite their name, the species do fine without water to wallow in, although they do enjoy it, according to Barbi Riggs, a livestock agent with the Crook County Oregon State University Extension Service. Technically the animals aren’t livestock, but classified as an exotic species. Historically, they were used in Asia as a labor animal, to help plow fields.

Breese said their meat is lean and tastes similar to his grass-fed beef. He has immediate plans to sell the animal’s meat. If all goes well, he has bigger hopes of making ice cream using their milk and opening up a ice-cream parlor on his ranch. The animal’s milk is known for making rich ice cream and used to make mozzarella cheese. Maybe, if the human-raised water buffaloes turn out to be friendly, he could open a petting zoo.

Right now, he’s in the process of building a new corral for the animals.

“It’s a big experiment,” Breese said of the entire process.