A buffalo beauty pageant marked the start of Thailand's annual buffalo racing festival.

The muscular bovines were dressed in colourful costumes and jewels for the show in Chonburi province, which includes high-octane buffalo races.

Many of the well-bred bovines wore handmade head-dresses, coats and ankle bracelets. One buffalo even had a coronavirus theme costume with surgical face masks and decorative bottles of hand sanitizers.

Locals have been holding the festival for more than 150 years as a way to show reverence to the farm animals, which are used across the country.

Crowds were smaller at this year's event due to the impact of the coronavirus on travel and tourism - but organisers continued with the show and races.

The buffalo pulled wooden carts in a parade with floats, dancers and young women dressed in traditional Thai costumes.

It marks the end of the Buddhist lent period and the beginning of the rice planting season.