Live Stock. 1 



This seems more allied to the African 

 species, and freely inter-breeds with 

 the straight-horned Indian variety. As 

 the buffalo is indigenous, the use of the 

 wild buffalo for breeding should be taken 

 up in a systematic way by the Govern- 

 ment, and not left to the casual meeting 

 of the wild and tame herds. Every 

 effort should be made to preserve the 

 latter which are becoming yearly 

 smaller, and wilder, being driven into 

 wilder parts, and Nepal. The destruc- 

 tion of these animals by villagers, 

 during heavy floods, while the cows are 

 in calf, or with very small calves, is 

 a disgrace to any civilised nation ! 

 If measures are not taken to make 

 sanctuaries for these splendid cattle, 

 we will soon find, like the Americans 

 with their bison that the animals will 

 be practically extinct. Breeding depdts 

 should be placed in all localities where 

 wild buffalo herds now exist. Every 

 effort should be made to, not only breed 

 and domesticate the wild ones, but se- 

 lected domesticated cow buffaloes should 

 be brought from other districts to breed 

 with the wild ones. To improve stock 

 and prevent inter-breeding, the first 

 young cows could be exchanged with 

 those of another district's dep6t, and 

 the young half-bred bulls, fiom one 

 district depot could be sent to another 

 district's villages to improve the domesti- 

 cated herds, while the young half-bred 

 cows could be bred back in still another 

 depot.making three-quarter bred animals 

 and so on till they become practically 

 pure wild stock domesticated. There 

 should be sanctuaries for about 10 miles 

 round each d6pdt for the wild buffalo, 

 and no one should be allowed to shoot 

 or molest these animals. 



The bison ( Gaveous Frontalis and 

 Mithari), is already partially domesti- 

 cated by the wild tribes of Assam, and 

 is used largely for milk and flesh, though 

 so far it has not been utilised to culti- 

 vate the land. This is another magni- 

 ficent wild animal over 10 hands high, 

 and even more powerful and thickset 

 than the buffalo, which could be used 

 in the same way as the buffalo for 

 improving domestic stock and breeding. 



We next come to the Gaveous Gaurus 

 Bison, this is the king of all the Bos, 

 the largest and the most symmetrically 



I [February, 1910. 



built bull in the world. It is said that 

 the animal cannot be domesticated. If 

 that be so, still the Government could 

 easily wire in quietly large areas of 

 forest and drive in herds and by de- 

 grees get them familiar with man, and 

 use them for breeding. This animal is 

 considered very shy, and pines away 

 from the forest, so its domestication 

 would be very much more difficult than 

 any of the previous animals mentioned. 

 But, no doubt, if persistent efforts were 

 made to domesticate the bison it could 

 be done, although it might take a few 

 generations. The result would be worth 

 the trouble. India would then have 

 cattle 17 to 18 hands high, an enormous 

 meat-producing animal, and one that 

 would be worth his keep in a dairy. 

 In Burma, there is the Tsaing Bos 

 Soondacious, this is a similar animal to 

 the bison. In many parts of Northern 

 Burma the cattle look as if they origi- 

 nated from this stock. No doubt, this 

 beast could be used to improve the 

 domestic cattle there. 



The yak (Bos Grunniens) is domesti- 

 cated and is used for carrying stores, 

 and for milk. This animal would only 

 affect the higher elevations and would 

 not be suitable to the plains of India. 



Turning to sheep and goats, these, 

 especially the sheep, are only to be found 

 in the higher elevation, and if used to 

 benefit the sheep generally in India 

 could only be done by crossing with 

 the low land ewes and sending the 

 ewes back to the plains. With goats 

 the same applies to most of the varieties, 

 except the Nilgherry wild goat which 

 inhabits elevations 4,000 to 6,000 feet. 

 There is no doubt that India and its 

 boundaries contain the finest sheep in 

 the world. It would be a great shame 

 if these splendid animals were extermi- 

 nated. It behoves the Government care- 

 fully to look into the question of the 

 domestic cattle and their wild congeners, 

 and make efforts to preserve them, as 

 these animals are not only rare, but 

 are an asset that can be utilised at 

 any time for the benefit of the agri- 

 cultural classes. At some future time 

 Indian wild cattle domesticated may 

 be exported to renew the blood for 

 inter-bred and effete cattle elsewhere. 



