Breeds of Dairy Animals

Dairying is the production and marketing of milk and its by-products, resting on proper cattle maintenance and the collection and processing of milk. India recognises 26 distinct cattle breeds and 6 buffalo breeds, classified into three groups by the purpose they serve: dairy (milch) breeds, high milk yielders with an extended lactation period, such as Sindhi, Gir, Sahiwal, Jersey, Brown Swiss and Holstein; draught-purpose breeds, whose bullocks are valued for pulling power, such as Kangayam and Malvi; and dual-purpose breeds, where cows yield good milk and bullocks serve draught purposes, such as Ongole and Hariana. India is the world's largest milk producer, and alongside these major breeds it has many prominent indigenous ones — Gir, Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, Hallikar, Amritmahal, Khillari, Kangayam, Bargur, Umblachery, Pulikulam, Alambadi, Tharparkar, Haryana, Kankrej, Ongole, Krishna Valley and Deoni — while goats are also widely kept to supplement milk supply, and breeds like Jamunapari, Beetal and Bar-bari are valued milkers in their own regions. A healthy animal eats, drinks and sleeps well, looks bright, alert and active, and has a shiny coat; sick cattle instead appear dull and restless, change posture frequently, and show a drop in milk yield — common cattle diseases include rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, cow pox, haemorrhagic fever and anthrax. Dairy products carry real economic and nutritional value: milk, an emulsion of fat and lactose containing enzymes (destroyed by pasteurization) and rich in vitamins A, B1 and B2 (though deficient in vitamin C), serves as a near-complete infant food and is processed into yoghurt, cheese, butte …