April, 1912.J 



335 



Live Stbck. 



stition. The Indian cattle breeder has 

 inherited from his ancestors a great 

 wealth of useful cattle lore, but a good 

 many sensible practices have been gradu- 

 ally transformed into senseless super- 

 stitions. Based originally on sound 

 economic considerations, several of these 

 practices are now merely encased in the 

 empty shell of sentiment, and as such 

 they serve no useful purpose whatever. 

 We have in the dedication of Brahmini 

 bulls to Hindu temples a striking illus- 

 tration of the degeneracy into useless 

 and empty emotionalism of a practice 

 which, there is good reason for believing, 

 was inculcated by the early Aryan 

 Hindus as a measure of selective breed- 

 ing the importance of good, healthy 

 cattle as an essential aid to the agricul- 

 tural industry, having even in those 

 early times impressed itself upon the 

 observant ancieDts. Brahmini bulls are 

 still to be met with in most typical 

 Hindu villages, but they play practically 

 no part whatever in keeping the indi- 

 genous breeds of cattle healthy and 

 efficient. In olden times these bulls 

 used to be both carefully selected and 

 carefully looked after, and Indian cattle 

 were famed for their great strength as 

 well as their beauty. The robustness of 

 their cattle of old is well indicated by 

 the mythological story that the bull was 

 the animal used by Siva for riding. At 

 the present day, none of the essential 

 conditions requisite to the profitable 

 maintenance of Brahmini bulls are 

 attended to. One very common mistake 

 is to select bulls simply because of their 

 strength and handsomeness. The fact is 

 either ignored or unknown that bulls 

 imported from other localities may not 

 make good sires, although they may 

 have high intrinsic merits. The best 

 course is to select good bulls from the 

 indigenous stock, as these would be 

 accustomed to the climate, locality and 

 general local conditions, and would thus 

 exist under favourable and familiar 

 environments. 



In Southern India, perhaps the most 

 celebrated breed of cattle is that raised 

 in the Nellore District. The Nellore 

 bulls and cows are undoubtedly among 



the finest and most powerful to be seen 

 in any part of the world, and, within 

 recent years, their fame has extended so 

 widely that breeders have come from 

 such distant countries as the Straits 

 Settlements, Australia, North and South 

 America, the United Kingdom and the 

 continent of Europe to buy Nellore bulls 

 and cows at the annual cattle shows, and 

 magnificent prices have sometimes been 

 paid for really splendid animals. The 

 Western cattle breeder doubtless suc- 

 ceeds in improving the quality of his 

 stock through the agency of these 

 Nellore cattle, but that is because, in 

 the West, cattle breeding has been 

 raised to the high level of a science. 

 This is not the case as yet in India, 

 where the methods of cattle raising are 

 still largely crude and empirical, and we 

 are aware of several instances in which 

 Nellore bulls, taken to distances from 

 their native habitat.have rapidly deteri- 

 orated and disappointed the expectations 

 of those who aimed at stock improve- 

 ment. So, one point which must be 

 firmly insisted upon, if Indian cattle are 

 to be really improved, is that breeding 

 bulls should be selected with due regard 

 to their fitness for local conditions, and 

 the most advisable course is to select the 

 best bulls out of strictly local breeds. 

 Where good local bulls are not procur- 

 able, and it is necessary to import, care 

 should be taken to see that the import- 

 ations possess local characteristics as far 

 as possible, for experience has shown 

 that the mixing of widely different 

 breeds of cattle has not been at all 

 satisfactory. Having secured suitable 

 breeding bulls, only the initial condition 

 requisite to the improvement of indi- 

 genous stock has been fulfilled, and after 

 this a great deal would still have to be 

 attended to. 



The breeding bulls must be well looked 

 after, and, if possible, handed over to 

 the charge of intelligent and influential 

 villagers, who may be expected to care 

 for them constantly and well. It is 

 necessary that useless bulls in the herd 

 should be removed, and that useless and 

 desirable cows should be removed also. 

 What we commonly find at the present 



