LIVE STOCK 



Buffaloes 



THE OXEN AND BUFFALOES 



Bulls Starved or 

 Killed. 



Transmission 

 of Milking 

 Property. 



Buffalo- 

 horn. 



Curved. 



Straight. 



Delhi. 



Surat. 



Straight Horns. 



Jafferabad. 



Massive 

 Short Horns. 



Hill (dun- 

 coloured). 



Burma 

 and Assam. 



Long, Straight 

 Horns. 



skins. Some have white markings and a few are grey, light dun or white. 

 Their lowing differs from that of kine and they have no hump. Most 

 writers allude to the fact that it is difficult to get a good buffalo-bull, owing 

 to its being less valuable than the buffalo-cow. The bulls are not often 

 reared, but are either purposely starved or killed. They attain maturity 

 at 3J years and are used for stud purposes for not more than 7 or 8 years. 

 " It is just as essential when starting a dairy, to get a good bull as to get 

 good cows, for many authorities now hold that it is from the sire, and 

 not so much from the dam, that a heifer inherits her milking powers." 

 Middleton, who has kindly perused this review of Indian information, 

 observes that the milking properties may be transmitted by either 

 sex equally, but in England bulls are usually more carefully bred than cows 

 and may so transmit properties with greater certainty. 



Considerable commercial interest is taken in the shape of the buffalo- 

 horn, the straight forms being of greater value than the curved. From 

 the standpoint of the dairy farm, the breeds with curved horns are ap- 

 parently the most highly appreciated. The following are mentioned by 

 authors as the characteristics by which the chief breeds of buffaloes may 

 be classified : those with horns approaching a circle (the spi-rocem* of 

 Hodgson), and those with the horns long, straight, the tips only arching 

 forward (the unacrocems of Hodgson). 



1. Delhi. The breeds of the United Provinces, the Panjab and Sind are often 

 collectively designated " Delhi Buffaloes." The horns are short, thick at the base, 

 sharply angled, and rise from the head in a backward and upward course, then 

 become completely curled up like the horns of a ram. According to Meagher 

 and Vaughan (I.e. 47-8) the best buffaloes of this kind are the murrah, procured 

 in Hansi-Hissar, Rohtak, Jhind and Nabha. The name given to them is derived 

 from murna ( to turn), and is an allusion to the form of the horns. They are 

 sometimes also called kundi, and cross-breeds with this and the inferior village 

 buffalo (with straight horns) are called dogla. [Pease, Agri. Ledg., 1895, No. 22, 

 408 ; Hadi, Agri. Ledg., 1895, No. 12, 206-8.] 



2. Surat and Deccan. The buffaloes of Surat and the Deccan are very different. 

 They both have what are called straight horns. That is to say, in the Surat 

 animal they extend along the side of the neck, then turn up near the shoulder 

 with an inward graceful curve ; and in the Deccan breed are even straighter, and 

 extend backwards to the shoulders before becoming arched. 



3. Jafferabad. In the Jafferabad (Kathiawar) buffalo the horn is very 

 massive and coarse. It is flat and broad below, developed at first downwards 

 and backwards, then curved forwards, thus forming three-quarters of a 

 circle, placed on either side of the head. But there is still another peculiarity. 

 The frontal bone becomes greatly developed until it causes the horns to appear 

 united across the forehead. This is a very large, clumsy animal with unusually 

 long legs and large spreading feet. 



4. Dun-coloured Buffaloes. Here and there all over India, more especially 

 in hilly districts, remote from swampy country, a dun-coloured buffalo is met 

 with that seems very distinct from the other breeds. This has by zoologists 

 been regarded as possibly a distinct variety, and has received the name of 

 B. iHtitaiuH. mi: fiiinut. Meagher and Vaughan say these dun or brown 

 buffaloes generally start well but end badly. They are not as a rule heavy milkers 

 for any length of time. 



5. Burma and Assam. Varthema (Travels, 1510 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 200-1) 

 speaks of the breeds of Tenasserim as very " misshapen." Many subsequent 

 writers have incidentally mentioned the buffaloes of Burma, but no one apparently 

 has studied them comparatively with the breeds of India. Evans (Agri. Ledg., 

 1895, No. 10, 165-72 ; 1896, No. 10) gives, however, many particulars of the 

 Burmese breeds. They would seem to have long, so-called straight horns, like 

 those of Surat. They give very little milk. The buffaloes of Assam have been 

 discussed in some detail by Darrah (Agri. Ledg., 1894, No. 14). He tells us 

 that though the stock is regularly imported from Bengal, the animals soon 

 improve on the rich pastures of the Brahmaputra valley. 



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