Conservation and development of indigenous cattle- A socio-economic appraisal

Cattle occupy a unique role in human history. There is vast diversity of Indian cattle in the form of different breeds. This valuable genetic pool needs to be exploited to meet the demand of animal protein for increasing human population, whose food habits are based on milk and milk products. The purpose of this paper is to appraise the socio-economic importance of indigenous cattle and to discuss different aspects for their conservation and development. Nature has bestowed upon us with several breeds of Indian cattle with special adaptive traits like disease resistance, climatic tolerance, ability to survive and produce on poor quality feed. Mechanization in agriculture and the pursuit of higher production targets have led to greater reliance on buffaloes and a few cattle breeds and the consequent neglect of other breeds. Conservation without profitability does not seem to be feasible. The Indian breeds of cattle can produce more milk provided they are properly bred and adequately fed. Concerted efforts are required for the conservation and development of indigenous cattle to meet the demand of future generations. Improvement in production potential of indigenous breeds of cattle through selective breeding should be done i.e. mating with the best within same breed. Only those animals that are high producing and best fit to our local environmental conditions should be allowed to breed for future generations and low producers should be restricted for further propagation.