Indian Indigenous Cattle

The 1,000-odd years old cattle mela at Kannapuram, near Kangayam, featuring genetically pure Kangayam cattle, which came to a close this week, is yet another wake up call for the different stakeholders to reformulate the strategies to save the breed from extinction. This year, nearly 14,700 Kangayam cattle, which include 3,400 cows and remaining bulls/ oxen/ calves, were traded at the fair. “It is a bit disappointing to hear the figures as nearly 1,00,000 cattle used to be traded about 15 years ago at this same event. It shows that the breeding has come down. However, a good sign is that the farmers who brought the cattle got prices as high as Rs. 1.37 lakh for a pair of oxen showing that the breed still has the potential to fetch premium value,” K.S.M. Karthikeya, managing trustee of Senapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation, which is involved in in-situ breeding of Kangayam cattle for six decades, told The Hindu . According to Mr. Karthikeya, the ban on...

While appreciating the initiatives of Animal Husbandry Department to motivate preservation and propagation of indigenous breeds of cattle, rearers of Bargur variety say they have reason to be sceptic about increasing its headcount. Restrictions imposed by the Forest Department on grazing in forest land in Tamil Nadu have a direct bearing on the fall in numbers. The rearers, who have been taking their herds to Karnataka side of the border, have, of late, been finding the going tough since they are unwelcome there now, as local politicians there have allegedly started making an issue of the herds being brought in from Tamil Nadu, notwithstanding the fact that the cattle-owners belong to Kannada-speaking Lingayat community, according to Madhan, owner of two cows and an ox. “The number of pure Bargur breed cattle on the hills does not exceed 3,000. Unlike decades ago when rearers used to own herds of 50 to 100 cows, the number has fallen to just two or three, due to g...

As usual, the month of April has made the tiny and otherwise calm Kannapuram hamlet near Kangayam sprightly with farmers/breeders of ‘genetically pure’ Kangayam cattle bringing their animals for trade and display at the cattle festival that began on Tuesday. The week-long cattle fair is held traditionally for more than 1,000 years on the sidelines of the temple car festival of the three-century old Arulmigu Mariamman temple situated in the area. According to legend, the cattle fair became a permanent fixture after the visitors who come from far off places to attend the temple car festival started showing interest to buy the animal because they got impressed by the arrival of local people in carts pulled by sturdy Kangayam bulls. Apart from using to pull carts, the urine and dung of Kangayam cattle are used by local people for organic farming. “Based on interests shown by visitors to buy Kangayam cattle, the local farmers/breeders then started the mela on th...

After postponement for nearly a month, the Bargur cattle exhibition, keenly anticipated by rearers on the hills, will take place on April 26. Animal Husbandry Minister T.K.M. Chinnayya will inaugurate the exhibition in the presence of Environment Minister Thoppu N.D. Venkatachalam, senior officials, and the District Collector S. Prabakar, official sources said. Indefinite postponement of the event scheduled earlier on March 29 was announced in view of the national mourning in honour of Singapore's founding father late Lee Kuan Yew. The rearers have been looking forward to the second edition of the event for which the prize-money has been doubled. There has been some progress in the proposal for establishment of Bargur Cattle Research Station on the hills. The announcement was made by Mr. Chinnayya at the time of the maiden exhibition during 2014. The Revenue Department is on the verge of fulfilling the land transfer formalities for handing over 50 acre...