Yes they are kept and fed like cattle, ours are outdoor reared, so eat pasture all year round, we only bring them in if the weather is too bad, plus they get feed during the winter, like cattle. We milk them and make cheese, but there is also a market for buffalo beef. Buffalo meat is low in cholesterol and has more flavour than normal beef. We sell our bull calves for someone else to fatten up and kill, however any bull calves from our cows now will be kept for us to fatten up and kill, only the ones with the best genetics are kept as breeding bulls. For our buffalo calves we expect £300-400 each, for 4 mnth old calves.. If you keep them for beef, as long as you have a market, you can make quite a decent income off them. They're slower growing than cows though. The milk is a lot more expensive than cows milk, because they produce significantly less than your average cow. Also the milk is group A2 milk which is good for people who are allergic to cows milk, sheep, goats and some cows milk [like guernsey] are also A2. I am asking £1500 each for the in calf heifers, £1250 for the cow and £1000 each for the two young heifers. The cow and in calf heifers are in calf to a top Italian bull, the two younger heifers have been running with the bull, so I won't know till they're PD'd. Our buffaloes are handled every day and love attention, the calves are handled from birth. Our buffaloes have good temperaments, we breed them not only for milk yields, but also temperament. Keeping buffaloes you won't make an absolute fortune, but the turnover won't be too bad.
I hope this helps