Mela serves as eye-opener on dwindling Kangayam cattle population
This year, nearly 14,700 Kangayam cattle, which include 3,400 cows and remaining bulls/ oxen/ calves, were traded at the fair.
Dwindling population and sale of genetically pure Kangayam cattle are becoming a cause for worry. —Photo: R. VIMAL KUMAR
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 jallikattu and rekla race brought down the demand for Kangayam cattle.
“On
the breeding front, the decrease in the acreage of ‘Korangadu’, a
typical grazing area of Kangayam cattle, which contain about 29 species
of trees and shrubs, and lack of adequate incentives to breed the native
cattle species are causing the population to come down,” some of the
cattle farmers opined.
Conservationists like Mr.
Karthikeya were of the opinion that the government should try to support
marketing of milk from Kangayam cows separately through the network of
Aavin and encourage zero budget farming using dung and urine of the
cattle which could act as organic manure. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/mela-serves-as-eyeopener-on-dwindling-kangayam-cattle-population/article7156316.ece
Indian cows looks fat and meaty.. here in indonesia the cow are skinny with less meat.. india can start exporting cows to indonesia and other asean countries because demand for fresh beef is very strong here. Locally we dont have enough beef to feed everyone.
ReplyDeleteIndian cows looks fat and meaty.. here in indonesia the cow are skinny with less meat.. india can start exporting cows to indonesia and other asean countries because demand for fresh beef is very strong here. Locally we dont have enough beef to feed everyone.
ReplyDeleteTanpa Nama, this blog is not about export of beef but about the conservation of our cattle
ReplyDeleteDear Mr.Marimuthu,
ReplyDeleteYou blog is very informative, keep updating more.
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