BREEDS OF CATTLE IN INDIA

December 23, 2020

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INDIAN BREEDS OF CATTLE

INDIGENOUS BREED
Indigenous Breeds are classified under three groups based on utility / purpose.
a) Milch breeds / Milk breeds
b) Dual Purpose breeds
c) Draught breeds

Milch Breeds / Milk Breeds:
The cows of these breeds are high milk yields and the male animals are slow or poor work animals. The examples of Indian milch breeds are shahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir and Deoni The milk production of milk breeds is on the average more than 1600 kg per lactation

Dual Purpose Breeds:
The cows in these breeds are average milk yielder and male animals are very useful for work. Their milk production per lactation is 500 kg to 150 kg. The example of this group is Ongole, Hariana, Kankrej, Tharparker, Krishna valley, Rathi and Goalo Mewathi.

Draught Breeds:
The male animals are good for work and Cows are poor milk yielder are their milk yield as an average is less than 500 kg per lactation. They are usually white in color. A pair of bullocks can haul 1000 kg. Net with an iron typed cart on a good road at walking speed of 5 to 7 km per hour and cover a distance of 30 – 40 km per day. Twice as much weight can be pulled on pneumatic rubber tube carts. The example of this group Kangayam, Umblacherry, Amritmahal, Hallikar.

Exotic breed – Milch – Jersey, Holstein Friesian

Milch Breed:

Red Sindhi

Hailing from the Kohistan, Sindh province in present Pakistan, this breed is one of the most distinctive cattle breeds of india.
Mainly available in Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa.
Under good management conditions the Red Sindhi averages over 1700 kg of milk after suckling their calves but under optimum conditions there have been milk yields of over 3400 kg per lactation.

Red Sindhi

Sahiwal

Originally Belonging to the Montgomery district of Present Pakistan
Mainly found in Punjab, Haryana, U.P, Delhi, Bihar and M.P.
Milk yield – Under village condition :1350 kg
Milk yield – Under commercial farms: 2100 kg
Age at first calving -32-36 months
Calving interval – 15 month

Sahiwal

Gir

Mainly found in Gir forest areas of South Kathiawar
Gir Cows are good Milk – yielder
Milk yield – Under village condition : 900 kg
Milk yield – Under commercial farms: 1600 kg

Gir

Deoni

Mainly found in North western and western parts of A.P.
Cows are good milk producers and bullocks are good for work

Milch and Draught breeds :

Hariana

Mainly found in Karnal, Hisar and Gurgaon district of Haryana, Delhi and Western M.P Milk yield –1140 -4500 kgs
Bullocks are powerful for road transport and rapid ploughing

Hariana

Tharparkar

Mainly found in Jodhpur, Kutch and Jaisalmer
Milk yield – Under village condition :1660 kg
Milk yield – Under commercial farms: 2500 kg

Tharparkar

Kankrej

Mainly found in Gujarat
Milk yield – Under village condition :1300 kg
Milk yield– Under commercial farms : 3600 kg
Age at first calving -36 to 42 months
Calving interval – 15 to 16 months
Bullocks are fast, active and strong. Good for plough and cart purpose

Kankrej

Draught Breeds:
Kangayam

This breed, in its native area, is also known by other names of Kanganad and Kongu though the name Kangayam is well-known. These cattle are bred in the southern and southeastern area of the Erode district of Tamilnadu in India.
Mainly found in Coimbatore, Erode, Namakkal, Karur and Dindigul districts of Tamil Nadu.
Best suited for ploughing and transport. Withstands hardy conditions.

Kangayam

Amritmahal

Mainly found in Karnataka.
Best suitable for ploughing and transport.

Amritmahal

Hallikar

Mainly found in Tumkur, Hassan and Mysore districts of Karnataka
Bullocks are strong, well spirited, quick and steady in the field as well as on road.

Hallikar

Umblacherry

Origin: Tanjore district in Tamilnadu.

Distinguishing characters:

This breed has similar characters as kangayam.
Bulls are fearly temperament. They are used for ploughing in Thanjore delta area.
Calves are red in colour when born and become grey in colour after 6 months of age.
Cows are poor milker with average milk yield of 300 kg/lactation.
Male animals are good for hard work.

Umblacherry

EXOTIC BREEDS

Jersey

Origin: This breed was developed from the island of jersey in the English channel off the coast of France.

Distinguishing Characters:

The Jersey is one of the oldest dairy breeds, having been reported by authorities as being purebred for nearly six centuries
The color in Jerseys may vary from a very light gray or mouse color to a very dark fawn or a shade that is almost black. Both the bulls and females are
commonly darker about the hips and about the head and shoulders than on the body.
Age at first calving : 26-30 months
Intercalving – 13-14 months
Milk yield – 5000-8000 kg
Dairy milk yield is found to be 20 liter whereas cross bred jersey, cow gives 8-10 liter per day.
In India this breed has acclimatized well especially in the hot and humid areas

Jersey

Holstein Friesian

Origin: This breed is originated in Holland.

Distinguishing Characters:

Holsteins are large, stylish animals with color patterns of black and white or red and white.
Holstein heifers can be bred at 15 months of age, when they weigh about 800 pounds. It is desirable to have Holstein females calve for the first time between 24 and 27 months of age.
Milk yield – 7200-9000 kg.
This is by far the best diary breed among exotic cattle regarding milk yield. On an average it gives 25 liter of milk per day, whereas a cross breed H.F. cow gives 10 – 15 liter per day.
It can perform well in coastal and delta areas.

Holstein Friesian

CROSS BREEDING:
It is mating of animals of different breeds. Cross breeding is followed for breeding animals for milk production and meat production. In India zebu breeds of cows and nondescript cows are crossed with exotic breeds like Holstein Friesian, Brown Swiss and Jersey bulls or their semen, to enhance the milk production potential of the progeny.

As selection is a slow process of genetic improvement cross breeding has been taken up as the national breeding for improving milk production in India . Cross breeding word was initiated at NDRI Bangalore, Live Stock farm and Allahabad Agricultural Institute. At present cross breeding work is going on at Military dairy farms, NDRI Karnal, All India coordinated Research project son Cattle, Collaboration projects like Indo-Swiss, Indo Australian, Indo-Danish, projects and also in the field in farmer’s he. The feeding and management of the crosses would be better, to enable them to express their production potential.
In general the cross breeds were found to have higher birth weight, faster growth rate, earlier age at first calving, higher weight ; at first calving, higher lactation yield, longer lactation period) shorter service period, dry period and milk production and breeding efficiency.
There are several exotic breeds being used in cross breeding programme, namely Holstein Friesian, Jersey, Brown Swiss and Reddane Holstein Friesian is found to be best suited for fluid milk supply in cities, and where higher feed inputs can be provided and where the temperature is temperate or sub-tropical. In contrast Jersey crosses are ideal when the milk is meant for product manufacture and where feed inputs are limited and the climate is trop.

Advantage:

The desirable characters of the exotic parent are transmitted to the progeny which the indigenous parent does not have.
In India Cross-breeding and cows is done by using the exotic bulls and the progeny inherit the desirable characters of the parent like high milk yield early maturity, higher birth weigh of calves, better growth rates, better reproductive efficiency and indigenous parents characters like, heat tolerance, disease resistance ability to thrive on scanty feeding and coarse fodder etc.
In pairs the way to evolve new breeds with desirable characters. Hybrid vigour is made use of in the progency.
Results are seen more quickly in characters like milk yield in the crossbred progeny.

Disadvantages:

The breeding merit of cross breed animals may be slightly reduced.
Cross breeding requires maintenance of two or more pure breeds inorder to product the cross breeds.

Cross-breed cattle
The crossbreeds are having exotic inheritance from Jersey, Brown Swiss or Holstein Friesian or a combination of these different breeds. Jersey breed is known for the milk fat percent and Holstein for the high quantity of milk.

Cross-breed cattle in India

	S. No	Name of the Breed	Native breed	Specific region	Assembling centre	Remarks
1	Brown Swiss	Switzerland	–	India, Pakistan & other Asian countries	Dairy breed
2	Holstein Friesian	Holland	Province of North Holland and West Friesland	Throughout the country (crossbreds)	Dairy breed
3	Jersey	British Isles	Island of Jersey	Crossbreds available in all states.	Dairy breed

Indigenous cattle of India

S. No.	Breed	Habitat/Main State	Breeding Tract Districts	Assembling Center	Areas of demand	Remarks
1	Hallikar	Karnataka	Tumkur, Hassan & Mysore	Dodbalapur, Chickballapur, Harikar, Devargudda, Chikkuvalli, Karuvalli, Chittavadgi (T.N.) North Arcot (T.N.) Hindupur, Somaghatta, Anantpur (A.P.)	Dharwar, North Kanara, Bellary (KT) Anantur & Chittur (A.P.), Coimbatore North Arcot, Salem (T.N.)	Draught breed
2	Kangayam	Tamil Nadu	Erode	Avanashi, Tirppur, Kannauram, Madurai Athicombu	Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu	Draught breed
3	Red Sindhi	Pakistan All parts of India	–	–	–	Dairy breed
4	Tharparkar	Pakistan(sind)	Umarkot, Naukot, Dhoro Naro Chor	Balotra (Jodhpur), Puskar (Ajmer), Gujarat State	–	Dairy breed
5	Vechur	Kerala	–	Vaikom, Mannuthy (Kerala State)	–	–