Bid to reclaim land for Umbalacherry breed
Bid to reclaim land for Umbalacherry breed
The Hindu
Umbalacherry cattle in its home tract at Thalainayar in Nagapattinam. Photo: B. Velankanni Raj
“When my cows die, I bury them like I would a family
member. I can never sell them,” says Balashanmugam, distantly looking at
his fenced cattle. For him, the possibility of sold cows changing hands
to slaughter houses in Kerala is the biggest fear.
Balashanmugam
literally waits till the cows come home. The 68-year-old farmer, with a
family strength of three, owns over 50 Umbalacherry cattle. And he
waits for the cows to return from grazing.
Like him,
an entire panchayat waits for the cows to come home. Welcome to
Umbalacherry panchayat — the home tract of Umbalacherry breed of cattle,
here in Thalainayar.
Often seen as the pride of
Tamil Nadu, the draught cattle is a boon to marshy soils due to its
sturdiness and ability to labour for long hours, with little feed. And
here, each of the 690 households of Umbalacherry panchayat own not less
than two cows; and some as many as 25 and 50.
“For
us, it is important not to borrow even cow dung. And therefore, we have
at least one or two cows in our homes, says J. Selvaraj, a resident. Mr.
Selvaraj, of course owns 25 of Umbalacherry breed.
Largely
called Umbalacherry, the cattle come under different family trees, with
interesting names like “Ganapathy iyer maadu,” “Suryankaadu maadu,”
“Aatukaari maadu,” “Maariyapillai maadu,” and “Vannaan maadu.” These
names were possibly derived from the early breeders, and have sustained
many moons.
There is a sing-a-song tone to the
morphological description of the breed. Its “Venkozhumbu (white
stockings), Nethipottu (white diamond on the forehead) and Vidivaal
(tufted tail end)” is the trademark of the cattle breed, says Mr.
Selvaraj.
A few km from Umbalacherry is the
government cattle farm in Korkai in the neighbouring Tiruvarur district
where a few thousand Umbalacherry cattle are bred. The farm holds
auctions for bulk buyers. But, this is a serious concern for the
traditional Umbalacherry cattle breeders.
“During the
last such auction, some buyers from Kerala had purchased the cattle. We
intervened, recovered the cattle and handed them over to a Goshala in
Mayiladuturai,” says V. Deenadayalan, General Secretary, Umbalacherry
parampariya Kaalnadai Valarppu Sangam (Umbalacherry traditional cattle
breeders association).
The government farm at Korkai
is severely understaffed, and they could just about manage the breed. We
have been demanding that auctions be shelved and individual cows and
bulls be sold to farmers. This would make it affordable, says Mr.
Deenadayalan.
Apart from draught purposes,
Umbalacherry cow produces top quality milk even if it does not exceed
2.5 litres per day. This is at no maintenance. The cattle do not require
any special feed and the grazed fodder is enough for it to sustain
through the day, says Mr. Balashanmugam.
Today, it
has become increasingly difficult to breed in the absence of grazing
lands. Umbalacherry panchayat was allotted over 107 acres as exclusive
grazing grounds during the British rule. However, the grazing lands fell
under encroachment by way of marginal farming. Though a court order was
sought and orders eventually passed to vacate the encroachments, no
action has been taken yet.
The cattle hold the
consciousness of the people here. The beauty of the Umbalacherry cattle
is that it resembles a deer calf, and is reddish brown in colour until
few months after birth. Heifers onwards, the cattle change colour to
dark shades of grey, says Mr. Deenadayalan.
For the
people here, who walk the last mile to graze their cattle, a subsidy
assistance, and retrieval of grazing lands would go a long way in
reclaiming that lost space for the special Umbalacherry cattle in their
own home tract. http://www.samachar.com/bid-to-reclaim-lspace-for-umbalacherry-breed-nk2iKTebhbb.html
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