Breeding bulls for the public good!
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By, Prof. S Rajeshwaran
Breeders of the Indus valley civilization spread across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat practised meticulous breeding practices. They bred purebred animals over many generations and thus developed many indigenous cow and buffalo breeds. Their wisdom and knowledge have been passed down for centuries, influencing the practices of dairy farmers across India, till about 50 years ago.
What made them unique was their strict discipline in choosing and rearing the male breeding bull — all for the public good. This concept of a “temple bull” as a common property resource is an embodiment of community values, a sentiment of sharing with equal responsibility and accountability brought to life by the rearing of the fertile bull allocated to each village. The power and authority to select and allot the breeding bull was vested with the ruler who, in turn, relied on the experience and wisdom of animal breeders in every village who maintained highly productive and pedigreed stock. The ruler trusted these breeders because of their long-standing experience in breed development and the respect they had earned from people in their respective villages.
The ruler usually reserved the yet-to-be-born male calves from the elite female animals owned by such prominent breeders. Once born, such male calves were allotted to another village for use as a breeding bull. The selection of the male calf was based on the mother’s productivity and the physical traits and docility of the male calf. Once the identified male calf was born, it was reared with great care and pride by the owner; so much so that they came to maturity within 18–24 months of age! They were then given to the allotted village for breeding as a temple bull, free of cost. They freely roamed in the village and guided by their keen sense of smell, the bulls identified the females in estrus by the pheromone signals they emitted. Since the bull performed its duty of servicing all females in the village, each household cared for the bull and fed it small amounts of fodder.
The use of temple bulls is still prevalent in Kutch, Gujarat. Here, the breeding bull roams freely with the female buffaloes every day of the year, 24x7! The male pheromone continuously released by the bull has a positive effect on females; such that the age at first calving is less than 24 months and the inter-calving period is around 12 months. This traditional practice has allowed breeders to successfully and quickly develop the next generation of female calves which in turn benefitted all households in a village.
Thanks to such time-tested practices, India today holds one of the largest bio-diversified cow and buffalo populations in the world — 50 recognised cow breeds and 17 buffalo breeds. Each breed has been developed over hundreds if not thousands of years, keeping in mind the local context in terms of availability of resources, vegetation, crops grown, prevalent diseases, as well as the skills and aptitude of the local people.
These breeding practices were also used to develop new breeds that would suit certain environments. The most recent example is the development of the Banni buffalo breed in Kutch, Gujarat. Initially, livestock rearers in this area had successfully developed the Kankrej cow breed and had a good experience with breeding. Unfortunately, the 1816 earthquake changed the topography of Kutch from a fertile river delta to a dry parched sandy land. As a result, the Kankrej cow breed could not be bred in the way that had been done till then. The same animal breeders of Kutch then found that buffaloes were suitable for the dry area that Kutch had turned into. Accordingly, they developed the Banni breed from the Murrah and Mehsani breed of buffaloes brought in from the Punjab area. This is an interesting and unique case of cow breeders turning into buffalo breeders!
While breeders expertly selected and bred cattle and buffalo for thousands of years, the practice of rearing temple bulls and the community values attached to them have all but disappeared. Unfortunately, the ill-thought-out policies of the state government added fuel to this. Government veterinarians were given targets to castrate all indigenous bulls such that they do not service females of the same breed in their villages.
Further, this effectively stopped the bulls from producing the male pheromone which was absolutely necessary to bring the female animals into the estrus cycle as early as possible. As a result, their age at first calving and the inter-calving period has increased. And coupled with the introduction of exotic breeds and crossbreeding across the country through artificial insemination, the number of infertility cases has also increased. Consequently, the number of indigenous purebred cows in the country has sharply declined. We must strive to recognise and protect indigenous breeds across the country — lest the efforts of our ancestors in developing such a vast bio-diverse population of cows and buffaloes go in vain.
Prof. S Rajeshwaran is a veterinary doctor with post-graduation in rural management and a doctorate in Public Policy. He has nearly 40 years of work experience across the different verticals of the dairy value chain. He was with NDDB for 25 years working in 8 states in various capacities. He has managed dairy cooperatives as a CEO. He now teaches public policy, livelihood and collectives at the Development Management Institute, Patna.
