Milk Production Management & Dairy Development

Lesson 2. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS OF INDIAN AND EXOTIC CATTLE (PART -1)

Module 2. Breeds of cattle and buffaloes

Lesson2
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS OF INDIAN AND EXOTIC CATTLE

2.1 Introduction

A breed is a sufficiently large group of animals, which have a common ancestry and possess similar morphological, physiological and economical characters that are inherited more, are less firmly.

2.2 Classification of Indian cattle breeds

Indian cattle known as Zebu cattle are characterized by presence of hump, long face, upright horns, drooping ears, a large dewlap and slender legs. The basal metabolic rate is low and hence they have better capacity for heat dissipation through cutaneous evaporation. They have good adaptation to tropical heat and resistance to diseases specially tick borne diseases than Bos Taurus cattle. In US, Zebu cattle are called Brahman cattle. Zebus are believed to have been brought to India through northern passes between 2200-1500 B.C. These were imported by USA, South America and Australia for developing tropically adapted Dairy/Beef cattle breeds.

There are 26 Indian cattle breeds and are classified as milch breeds, draught breeds and general utility breeds or dual-purpose breeds based on utility (Table 2.1).

Milch purpose (1000-1500kg/lactation)	Dual purpose (500-1000 kg/lactation)	Draft purpose (<500 kg/lactation)
Sahiwal	Ongole	Amritmahal
Redsindhi	Haryana	Nagori
Gir	Kankrej	Killari
Deoni	Gaoao	Kangayam
	Tharparkar	Hallikar
	Mewati	Malvi
	Ratti	Khanketha
	Dangi	Siri
	Nimadi	Purnea
		Alambadi
		Ponwar
		Bargur

They are also classified based on physical features as below:

1) Group-I : Lyre horned grey cattle with wide forehead, flat/dished face, lyre shaped horns.

Ex: Kankrej, Hissar, Khenkalha, Malvi, Tharparkar

2) Group-II: White (or) light grey cattle with Coffin shaped skull

Ex: Ongole, Gaolao, Hariana, Krishna valley, Mewati, Nagori, Ratti, Bachaur

3) Group-III : Animals with heavy build & curled horns

Ex: Most milch breeds – Gir, Deoni, Red sindhi, Sahiwal, Dangi

4) Group-IV: Mysore breeds with prominent forehead & long horns

Ex: Hallikar, Alambadi, Amritmahal, Bargur, Killari, Kangayam

5) Group-V (Hill Type): Small black, red colored with large patches of white found in hill tract in North India

Ex: Siri in Darjeeling and Ponwar in UP

6) Group VI : Medium sized draught breeds, tight naval flap and dewlap, red and white color

Ex: Dhani breed of Pakistan.