Due to the improper government policies in the late 1970s, greed of individuals and misplaced interest, we as a country started loosing one of our most valuable asset – “The Native Cows”, and now we have come to a point where many of our native breed cows have become extinct and just handful are only left.
Originally, there were over 120 breeds were native to India for several centuries. Unfortunately, this number has reduced drastically to only about 28 today. Of this, only five types of native breeds exists in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The typical characteristics of native breed cows include a hump on the back, horns, loosely falling skin under the neck, low maintenance costs and very high levels of immunity. These have high utility in agriculture, dairy farming and transportation. Cow dung and urine form the key components of a cow-based economy followed by bullock energy and finally milk yield.
However, wrong policies have given milk yield the highest priority at the cost of giving up on our native breeds and promoting cross-breed cows which produce high quantities of milk which is not necessarily healthy. The milk produced by native breed cows is the most healthy (type A2) for human consumption as compared to that of exotic and crossbreed cows – mostly type A1 which is the cause of a number of major diseases including diabetes.
Further, it is the cowdung and urine of native breed cows that is suitable for use in agriculture. Panchagavya prepared from Indian breed cows only have high medicinal value. However, this breed is becoming extinct at a fast pace.
In the western world , the main reason for cross breeding a cow with other animals is for consumption of beef. In India, these cross-breeds have very low levels of immunity and are unsuitable for farming and transportation.