Indian Indigenous Cattle

NEW DELHI: Climate change is spurring something positive for India: growing overseas demand for indigenous cattle, which the government is keen to support. Markets from Australia to Brazil are seeking India's cattle for their resilient qualities such as tick resistance, heat tolerance and the ability to flourish even with inadequate feeds. "There is demand for Indian cattle in the international market. Brazil and Australian want Indian breeds," agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said. "Climate change will reduce productivity in all cattle. Drop in milk yield will be maximum in exotic breeds, not so in local Indian cattle." The germplasm — genetic material including sperm and embryos — of cows from Gujarat's Gir to Andhra Pradesh's Ongole are some of the varieties that are in demand for their superior milk producing ability. The minister said government support could help to improve the quality of local breeds of cattle and incr...

About 200 bulls that tested the adrenaline rush and guts of youth at the famous Alanganallur Jallikattu will be brought to Narasipuram—about 30 km from the city—home for the rest of their lives. Managing Trustee of the Velliangiri Goshala, Narasipuram, P. Siva said that a few days before Pongal he came to know that prize bulls worth Rs. 2 lakh, when they raced down Jallikattu tracks, were sold for about Rs. 40,000 for slaughtering as the owners of the bulls were disappointed after the sport was banned. “Since then our team camped at villages around Madurai and studied the ways and means to protect the bulls and to prevent them from being sold for meat’’,” he said and added that four such methods met with failure. He said that the villagers and bull owners were surprised when the trust offered to buy the animals and nurture them at their centre in Coimbatore. He said that president of the Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Peravai P. Rajasekaran played an important rol...