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I think, be an accepted fact that there is more need for improving the cattle of
the Deccan than in any other part of the Presidency; and yet any attempt would
be worse than useless unless the natural conditions of the district could be so
changed that an adequate supply of fodder could be procured in bad as well as
good years. In the Central Division and in those parts of the Southern Division
where the rainfall is moderate (the districts of heavy rainfall may be left out as
unsuitable for breeding), the ordinary cultivator feeds his cattle almost entirely
upon the fodder derived from his cultivated land. Here and there strips of
country may be found where the villagers enjoy grazing rights and where horse-
breeding is making some progress; but throughout the greater part of the
Deccan where natural grazing exists, it is within forest limits and the grass is
annually sold by auction and transported to military cantonments or large towns.
Grass not worth cutting goes to waste as the admission of cattle into forest
reserves tends to harm the trees. Few villages, now-a-days, have grazing
grounds, and it would be interesting to know the amount of grass that grows on
the common grazing ground of a Deccan village. You will, however, see plenty
of cattle herded by two or three small boys grazing round each village. No man
owns more than half a dozen breeding animals; consequently it would not pay
him to herd them separately, and the result is that they run together and pro-
miscuous breeding from immature parents follows. Under these conditions the
mating of animals cannot be controlled and is never likely to be controlled in
the Deccan, as the district is not a cattle-breeding one in the true sense of the
word. A Deccan ryot keeps a cow or two because his family likes the milk,
and the male offspring may, but most probably will not live to re-place his worn-
out work bullocks. He is also a poor man living from hand to mouth, who, in
a favourable season, sells his superfluous fodder. A season, however, of scant
rainfall and scarcity comes at least once in five years, and a great many cattle,
mostly the old work oxen and young calves, die on these occasions, and it is
certain that almost all would die if the indigenous breed were not small,
active, and exceptionally hardy. They have acquired these characteristics owing
to the natural conditions of the districts where they are bred ; and as these
natural conditions are unchangeable, it would, in my opinion, be disastrous to
increase the size of the small cattle of a poor district or to change their cha-
racter in any way except by using the best males of their own class, and as I have
already pointed out this is almost impossible as mating cannot be controlled.
In the Deccan we find well-to-do cultivators owning good work cattle. These,
however, are not bred in the district, as the Deccan Kunbi knows full well he
can buy cheaper than he can breed owing to the conditions already explained.
The requirements of the well-to-do cultivators are met by an annual im-
portation of large droves of Malvi and Khillari cattle, brought from Native
State territory, north of Khándesh, where there is ample grazing, water, and
natural shelter in the districts where these cattle are bred. The droves brought
to the Deccan arrive generally about December and January, and are composed
of bulls 4 or 5 years old. The cattle when sold to the cultivator are castrated
before being broken to work, and may, therefore, be left out of count as having
exerted any considerable influence in changing the characters of the indigenous
breed. I have referred to the Malvi and Khillari cattle, because they are two
separate and distinct breeds, although bred in the same district. They do not
resemble each other except that they are both of medium size and evidently bred
with a view of meeting the requirements of the well-to-do Deccan cultivator,
who prefers them to any other breed, because they are spirited, active, strong, and
equally good on the road and in the field. The breeds of cattle found through-
out India are commonly supposed to be the result of haphazard breeding. This
is not so; as every pure breed has a distinctive type and family likeness which
only could be produced by careful breeding and by maintaining the pristine
purity of the breed for many generations. The characteristics which distin-
guish the Malvi and Khillari cattle from each other are so peculiar and so
constant that they must have existed for generations. The same remark applies
to the other pure breeds of the Presidency, especially to the massive cattle of the
Krishna valley, to the Gir-breed of Káthiáwár (famed as a milk breed), to the
heavy cattle bred in the Kachi hills and to those of Northern Gujárat; the two
latter perhaps unsurpassed by any of the large breeds of India for transport
B
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