Indian Indigenous Cattle

A water buffalo in India was sold for a record price of 2.5 million rupees (about $41,200), at least ten times the normal price. The prized animal, named Lakshmi (after the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity and beauty), belonged to Kapoor Singh, a farmer in the northern Indian state of Haryana, who sold it to another farmer in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Lakshmi is a Murrah buffalo, a breed highly coveted for its high milk yield. For the price that Singh -- who lives in the village of Singhwa Khas in the Hisar district -- received, he could have purchased a small luxury automobile. He also made a huge profit on Lakshmi, since he initially purchased the buffalo for 250,000 rupees only two years ago. "I didn't want to sell [Lakshmi], but the new owner offered me the price I asked for,” Singh told BBC. “[The other farmer] had come last year and offered me 190,000 rupees, but I refused. He liked the buffalo so much that he made a video film [of]...

India is the world’s largest producer of milk. But in 10 years, we will be forced to start importing it. And the Indian cow will no longer exist. Jay Mazoomdaar investigates a looming disaster Photo: Vijay Pandey MILK IN INDIA , is not just a drink, it is an elixir. For almost every Indian — rich or poor — the idea of a daily glass of milk holds a potent and emotional charge. It speaks of parental devotion, well-being and health. This faith in the power of milk is well-grounded: it is the primary nutrient for the young and the old. Nearly 63 percent of animal protein in the Indian diet comes from dairy products. For vegetarians, there is simply no alternative. The idea of the cow, of course, is also emotively charged because of its mythical place in Hindu iconography, religion and culture: it is quite literally worshipped as goddess Kamdhenu: the cow of plenty. Premchand famously captured its centrality to Indian village life with his memorable tablea...

NEW DELHI: Some famous cow breeds of the Americas, including the iconic Texas Longhorn, have descended from Indian ancestors, a new genetic study reveals. Indian cows traveled to East Africa, then mixed with local cattle populations up to the North African coast. From there they were picked up and continued to intermingle with Spanish cattle. In 1493, Christopher Columbus took these Indian variants to the Caribbean on his second voyage. Then they spread to Mexico and Texas. The study by scientists of the universities of Texas (Austin) and Missouri (Columbia) was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week. This bizarre journey of the Indian cow's genes is a reflection of human migration as cows have practically coexisted with human society. Cows were domesticated around 10,000 years ago in two regions - Turkey and India - from a wild species called aurochs which were up to two times larger than current ...

Owner of the buffalo, Kapoor Singh, a farmer invited over 2000 guests from across the state to attend the function at Singhwa Khas village in Hisar district. CHANDIGARH: A Haryana village is all decked up to give a grand farewell to a buffalo, which was recently sold for Rs 25 lakh to a farmer from Andhra Pradesh. Owner of the buffalo, Kapoor Singh , a farmer invited over 2000 guests from across the state to attend the function at Singhwa Khas village in Hisar district. The farewell party is expected to cost him around Rs 2 lakh. According to Singh, farmer Rajiv Sarpanch from Andhra Pradesh who bought the buffalo on Tuesday would arrive on Sunday to take the animal home. Sarpanch had spotted her at Muktsar cattle fair in Punjab. Special silver ornaments worth Rs 25,000 have also been bought to deck up Lakshmi, which was the show-stopper buffalo at the Murrah catwalk in Jind two years ago. Senior government functionaries, including director g...