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of Malvi and Khillari cattle that are bred on the Sátpura range and brought
annually to the Deccan for sale, and that any attempt to breed working cattle is
done at a loss.
52. To regulate the breeding of cattle in a district of this sort would
necessitate the entire change of the present system of village cattle management,
and the expenses attending the production of young stock would be considerably
increased. Village cattle are herded together, attended by two or three small
boys. They are separated by their owners at night, but all run promiscuously
together during the day. It is the custom of the district not to castrate young
bulls until they are nearly full grown, and these cover the best cows, such as
they are, before the owner knows that they are in season. Under these condi-
tions an owner can have no possible idea when his particular cow is in season,
and if he had, the expenses incurred by taking her to a special bull would not
repay him, as the offspring when mature, say at 5 years old, would not be
worth Rs. 10 more than the ordinary village cattle. To gain this small advan-
tage he must forego all the advantages of cheap herding, he must tend and feed
his cattle separately, castrate his young bulls and be certain that his cow has
had the services of a superior bull. Will he take this trouble and set aside the
custom of generations, or fight against natural conditions which from time im-
memorial had proved to him as unsuitable for cattle breeding? More especially
when he finds that his wants can be supplied by superior animals at a cheaper
rate than he can breed himself. I have not thought it necessary to go into
minute details, but have given the broad facts with reference to the totally
opposite conditions from a cattle-breeding point of view which exist in this
Presidency and which will require careful consideration before formulating any
plan for improving the various breeds. It is most essential that the scheme
should be one when it is possible to get a continuity of action and when the
breeder can be shown that by adopting the method recommended his stock
become more valuable in the market.
53. That any plan to be successful must be worked on broad and general
lines and the placing of a few selected bulls amongst the millions of cattle in this
country can have no appreciable or permanent effect. The establishment of
Government farms, where only the very best cattle would be bred, would only
be sufficient to meet special requirements, and in no case, without very great
expense, is the output likely to meet the demands of a vast country like India.
Moreover, owing to the conditions of the country in which these farms many be
situated, it will only be possible to breed the particular class of bull suitable to
that particular locality. It is a well-known fact that any attempt to move the
cattle or sheep of one part of India to another is fatal, and experience condemns
any attempt at working on these lines, so that, if any system of Government
supply of bulls is contemplated, it will be necessary to establish farms in several
parts of India so as to meet the requirements of each district with its own
particular breed of cattle.
54. I take it that the main object of the whole scheme is to improve each
indigenous breed without attempting any violent outcross or the introduction of
blood that would be unsuitable for the district, and in which no possible chance
of permanency could be hoped for.
55. That each district possesses its own particular breed of cattle in which
a certain percentage of good bulls can be found, there can be no doubt, and it is
by the careful selection of the best bulls in each district that a permanent and
general improvement throughout the various breeds can be brought about; but
before any such improvement can possibly be hoped for, it will be necessary
that steps should be taken to enforce the cumpulsory castration of all young
bulls not required for stud purposes. There should be no difficulty whatever
in adopting this measure throughout India, as the large majority of bull calves
are at some period of their lives either castrated or mulled by their owners.
The only necessity would be to ensure it being done at a certain age and not
delayed, as it is in most districts of India, until the bulls are 2 or 3 years old
and have done incalculable harm.
56. By adopting this measure we at once get to the root of the present
evil and commence on the sure basis from which all successful stock breeding