R. L.
KAURA
133
FIG. 1. Distribution of common cattle feeds in India
FIG. 2. Distribution of important breeds of cattle in India
It is a well-known fact that in the rice growing
tracts and flooded areas of Assam, Bengal, Bihar,
Orissa, Madras, Travancore, etc. cattle are gene-
rally found to be greatly deteriorated, both as
regards their physical development and capacity
for work and milk production. They are also
more prone to diseases, and reproductive defects
are common in them. It is also a common ex-
perience in these tracts that when foreign animals
of any breed are introduced for the grading up of
local cattle they deteriorate rapidly. In other
scattered rice growing areas like Kangra district
in the Punjab, Gorakhpur district in the United
Provinces, Malabar coast of Madras, Chhattisgarh
district in the Central Provinces, a similar type of
deteriorated cattle is found. In these areas the
cattle being inefficient, the number of cattle
required for agricultural purposes and for milk pro-
duction is necessarily larger, even three to four
times as compared to that of other areas where
good cattle exist. The larger number of cattle
causes greater strain on the available pastures
which results in their further deterioration, thus
producing a vicious circle.
In the States of Travancore and Cochin where
the cattle are of a mongrel, non-descript type and
where there are no recognized breeds, cows are
notoriously poor milkers, the yield obtained being
not more than that of a good goat elsewhere.
The bullocks are puny and weak and on this
account the ryot is generally unable to adopt and
make use of modern, efficient and labour-saving
implements. To improve the agricultural prac-
tices and provide more milk for the people the
Travancore Agricultural Department imported
bulls from the adjoining British Indian districts
and Indian States, with a view to grade up local
cattle. The Ongole, the Kangayam and the
Amritmahal were the chief among these breeds.
These carefully selected bulls were stationed at the
Government Cattle Farms to serve the farm cows as
well as the cows belonging to the local public, but
the bulls did not thrive well and soon deteriorated.
The calves born to them were also not satis-
factory. They were, therefore, discarded. Yet
another attempt was made and bulls from upper
India belonging to the Sahiwal, the Sindhi and
English cross-breds were imported and tested.
Of all these breeds, the Sindhi, a medium sized
breed, has fared the best and appears able to with-
stand the local conditions admirably.
The United Provinces has been divided into
five definite tracts according to the types of cattle
found:
(i) The dry western tract (rainfall 20-30 inches)
which includes the area west of the Ganges, stretch-
ing from Cawnpore to Saharanpur, including 14
districts which form part of the Agra, Meerut and
Allahabad Divisions. In this tract good types
of cattle, sheep and goats are to be found, and the
soil and climatic conditions of the tract lend them-
selves to improvement being effected in the
existing types.
(ii) The central humid tract (rainfall 30.45
inches) consisting of the highly cultivated areas
of parts of the Rohilkhand, Lucknow and Fyzabad
Divisions. In this tract only animals of moderate
size and mediocre efficiency in draft and milk are
produced and better classes of animals, if intro-
duced, tend to degenerate.
(iii) The tarai tract, situated at the foot of the
Himalayas (rainfall 45-65 inches). This tract
includes areas where grazing is in abundance, but
only small types of draft cattle can be raised.
This tract has no cattle or buffaloes of milk type
and better types of cattle degenerate rapidly.