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    Kuttanad Buffalo Breed

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    Jahangir Milton
    The Kuttanad buffaloes are a dwarf breed found only in the Kuttanad area of Kerala, comprising the districts of Kottayam and Alappuzha. They have grey or black coats and are distinguished by two white lines on the brisket region and upper neck. Kuttanad buffaloes are medium-sized and yield 1-2 liters of milk per day, with the milk mostly fed to male calves. They are primarily used for draft purposes in the marshy rice fields, where their swimming ability is advantageous. Conservation efforts aim to address the lack of quality bulls and preserve the remaining population of around 500 animals.

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    Kuttanad Buffalo Breed

    Uploaded by

    Jahangir Milton
    313 views3 pages
    The Kuttanad buffaloes are a dwarf breed found only in the Kuttanad area of Kerala, comprising the districts of Kottayam and Alappuzha. They have grey or black coats and are distinguished by two white lines on the brisket region and upper neck. Kuttanad buffaloes are medium-sized and yield 1-2 liters of milk per day, with the milk mostly fed to male calves. They are primarily used for draft purposes in the marshy rice fields, where their swimming ability is advantageous. Conservation efforts aim to address the lack of quality bulls and preserve the remaining population of around 500 animals.

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    The Kuttanad buffaloes are a dwarf breed found only in the Kuttanad area of Kerala, comprising the districts of Kottayam and Alappuzha. They have grey or black coats and are distinguished by two white lines on the brisket region and upper neck. Kuttanad buffaloes are medium-sized and yield 1-2 liters of milk per day, with the milk mostly fed to male calves. They are primarily used for draft purposes in the marshy rice fields, where their swimming ability is advantageous. Conservation efforts aim to address the lack of quality bulls and preserve the remaining population of around 500 animals.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    313 views3 pages

    Kuttanad Buffalo Breed

    Uploaded by

    Jahangir Milton
    The Kuttanad buffaloes are a dwarf breed found only in the Kuttanad area of Kerala, comprising the districts of Kottayam and Alappuzha. They have grey or black coats and are distinguished by two white lines on the brisket region and upper neck. Kuttanad buffaloes are medium-sized and yield 1-2 liters of milk per day, with the milk mostly fed to male calves. They are primarily used for draft purposes in the marshy rice fields, where their swimming ability is advantageous. Conservation efforts aim to address the lack of quality bulls and preserve the remaining population of around 500 animals.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Kuttanad Buffalo Breed

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    The Kuttanad buffaloes are found in Kuttanad area of Kerala, comprising two districts
    namely Kottayam and Alappuzha. It is a dwarf breed of buffaloes.
    Morphological characteristics
    Body: medium-sized
    Body colour: Grey but a few with black coloured coats
    Markings over body: The most important distinguishing character is the presence of
    two white lines, one at brisket region and the second seen in the upper part of ventral
    side of neck. The marking in the brisket region is large and extends between the two
    armpits. The marking at the upper neck area is short and is seen in the joining of neck
    with head. The farmers consider these white markings as the mark of purity of the
    animal.
    Morphometeric Traits
    Body weight: 150-200 kg.

    Height at withers: 109.020.78 cm.


    Body length: 111.011.12 cm.
    Heart girth: 162.321.18 cm.
    Production traits
    Milk production: Milk production in Kuttanad buffaloes is meagre, yielding 1 to 2 litres
    per day.
    Average milk fat: 6.100.55.
    Milk protein: 33.900.08%.
    Solid not fat: 11.300.33.
    These buffaloes are mainly reared for draft purpose. The Kuttanad buffaloes are used
    extensively for ploughing the marshy and deep paddy fields of Kuttanad where the
    heavy ones will drown. They are considered to be good swimmers. They are poor
    milkers and the female buffaloes are used only for producing the calves and most of the
    milk is fed to the male calves, which would become a good work bullock.
    References
    1. Anilkumar K., Mohan K.M.S., Ally K., and Sathian C.T., 2003, Composition and
    Mineral Levels of the Milk Kuttang Dwarf Buffaloes of Kerala, Buffalo Bulletin,
    22(3): 67-70.
    2. Anilkumar, K. and K. V. Raghunandanan. 2003. The dwarf cattle and buffalo of
    kerala. College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, KAU, Mannuthy, Thrissur.
    3. Jayan K. C. and Jayan J., 2010, Domestic Animal Diversity of Kerala and the
    Role of Vechur Conservation Trust, Proceedings of National Conference on
    Native Livestock Breeds and Their Sustainable Uses, Vechur Conservation Trust,
    Kerala, India.
    4. Tantia M.S., Vijh R.K., Bina Mishra, S. T. Bharani Kumar and Reena Arora, 2006,
    Multilocus Genotyping to Study Population Structure in Three Buffalo
    Populations of India, Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci., 19(8): 1071-1078.

    Kuttanad
    Kuttanad buffaloes are found only in Kuttanad area of Kerala, comprising two districts
    namely Kottayam and Alappuzha. The buffaloes are best workers in paddy field where use of
    tractors and tillers are difficult as the fields are mostly submerged in water and having
    thicker muddy layer (Anil Kumar, 2004). They are poor milkers and the buffalo cows are
    used only for producing the calves and most of the milk is fed to the male calves, which
    would become a good work bullock.
    Characteristics

    The coat colour of most of the Kuttanad buffaloes are described as grey; but a few
    with black coloured coats.
    The most important character which distinguishes Kuttanad buffaloes is the presence
    of two white lines, one at brisket region and the second seen in the upper part of ventral
    side of neck.
    The marking in the brisket region is large and extends between the two armpits.

    The marking at the upper neck area is short and is seen in the joining of neck with
    head. The farmers consider these white markings as the mark of purity of the animal.
    The buffaloes are mostly medium-sized.

    The average girth of the Kuttanad buffaloes was measured as 162.32 1.18 cm and
    height of the buffaloes averaged 109.02 0.78 cm. The average body length was
    111.01 1.12 cm.
    Production Performance

    .
    Milk production in Kuttanad buffaloes is meagre, yielding 1 to 2 litres per day. They are
    usually milked only once and major part of the milk is given to male calves, hence proper
    recording of milk is not possible.
    .

    Conservation Measures

    .
    One of the major constraints of the farmers is the non-availability of good quality bulls. The
    farmers practise castration of male buffalo calves and sell them as bullock to fetch more
    returns, instead of maintaining bulls. In some areas, the buffalo cows are bred with Murrah
    semen through Government agencies. Facilitating the supply of semen of Kuttanad buffaloes
    would save the purity of the germplasm. Further, the population of Kuttanad buffaloes is
    estimated to be around 500 in numbers. Hence, efforts are to be taken to conserve these
    animals. Conservation efforts are taken by the NGO, such as Vechur trust, who encourage
    the local farmers to keep these buffaloes in the purest form.

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