PART II—PROVINCIAL REPORT.
V.—CATTLE BREEDING, &c.
336. The progress which has been made under this head during the year has
been but slight. It is found impossible to take any active measures for the
improvement of the breeds of cattle in the country at present owing to our im-
perfect knowledge of the conditions which bear on the subject. We are in
fact only just entering on the stage of enquiry and endeavouring to collect such
information as will allow of an opinion being formed regarding the measures
most suitable, and until we are in possession of the necessary facts we cannot
take any action which is likely to yield good results. The desired information
is connected briefly with the following points :—
1st—The suitability of various tracts for cattle breeding and rearing.
2nd.—The class of cattle indigenous to the tracts.
3rd.—General management of the cattle.
4th.—The distribution and suitability of the local bred bulls.
Endeavours have been made to obtain this information, but owing to the
insufficiency of the agency employed in the Department progress has been
slow. Many of the Superintendents have intimated their inability to deal with
the subject of cattle owing to the amount of work which horse breeding entails.
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, North-Western Provinces
and Oudh, remarks :—
"I very much regret that under this head I am unable to give any information as my time
has been altogether taken up with horse breeding, consequently I am unable to take up the subject
of cattle. In a large district like the North-Western Provinces it is absolutely impossible for one
officer to do both effectually."
The Superintendent, South Punjab, says :—
" On the subject of cattle breeding little more can be said than last year."
The Superintendent, North Punjab, gives no information on the subject;
nor do the Superintendents, Madras and Central Provinces and Berar.
The officer in charge, Civil Veterinary Department, Hyderabad Assigned
Districts, remarks:—
" There is nothing whatever to report under this heading, there are no stud bulls in the
province."
Madras.
337. The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, states with regard
to this subject that no cattle breeding is carried on in the Province by Govern-
ment.
The necessity for increasing the agency employed in this work must be
evident, and unless this is done no rapid progress can be made. At least one
Veterinary Officer in each province is required for the cattle portion of the
work alone.
Information on the points mentioned has been collected in the North-
Western Provinces by the Assistant Director of Agriculture, and detailed reports
on the districts of Mathura, Kheri, and Bahraich have been received. From
these reports it appears that all these three districts are well suited for cattle
breeding.
A report has also been submitted by me on the Harriana tract comprising
the districts on Rohtak and Hissar, the most celebrated breeding tract in the
Punjab. Reports on the cattle of the Derajat have also been received, but
they are very incomplete, as are also reports received from Bengal.
We are now in possession of information regarding cattle in Burma,
Assam, Mysore, Mathura, Bahraich, Kheri, Rohtak and Hissar, so that, con-
sidering the departmental agency employed, a very fair advance in our know-
ledge has taken place.
Brittany Cattle.
338. With regard to this subject the Manager of the Doonagiri Tea Estate
remarks :—" All the whole bred calves born since arrival are dead; they do not
seem to do well, and are delicate."
The Manager of the Kousani Tea Estate remarks:—" In my opinion this
breed is unsuited to the rough and ready keep of this country, and the male
whole or half bred are not fancied by the people."