CHAPTER VI 



THE CATTLE PROBLEM OF INDIA 



"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a 

 thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the 

 wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would 

 not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will 

 I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Oflfer unto 

 God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows until the most High: And 

 call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou 

 Shalt glorify me." Ps. 50: 10-15. 



There are over 260,000,000 domestic horned cattle, in- 

 cluding 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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