CHAPTER VI 



THE CATTLE PROBLEM OF INDIA 



There are over 260,000,000 domesticated homed cattle, 

 including water buffaloes in India. This works out to 

 sixty-five head of cattle to every hundred of the popula- 

 tion. Hence in the densely populated areas there is a 

 very keen economic competition between the human be- 

 ings and the cattle for the produce of the soil. My ob- 

 servation leads me to believe that over ninety per cent, 

 of these cattle are an economic loss to the country, that 

 is, the cow does not pay her board in the milk and off- 

 spring which she gives, and the ox is of so little value 

 that it does not pay to raise him. Over ninety per cent, 

 of the cows of India give less than six hundred pounds of 

 milk a year. In most parts of India a three year old 

 ox can be bought for twenty dollars. The milk and food 

 he ate in his first year was worth more than this. I 

 estimate that the loss per animal per year for 225,000,- 

 000 head is ten dollars each, or a total aggregate loss per 

 year of $2,250,000,000. 



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