Agri - Kaleidoscope - Cattle Genetic Resources of NEH region

The total cattle population of NEH region including the eight states is about 11.49 millions out of which only 8.13% constitute the crossbreds. The remaining cattle are mostly of non-descript type except in Sikkim where the indigenous Siri cattle breed is found. Among the eight states of NEH region, Assam possesses 73.46% of the total cattle population followed by Meghalaya (6.67%) and Tripura (6.61%). Mizoram is found to have the lowest cattle population with only 36,000 heads. The trend in the cattle population dynamics from 1997 to 2003 is generally towards positive growth excepting Manipur and Tripura where the total cattle population decreased by 17.72% and 38.19% respectively. Cross breeding is gaining popularity in the region with increase in the population of crossbreds in six out of the eight states. In most of the states, either the crossbreds are fast replacing the indigenous cattle or the growth of the crossbreds being far ahead of that of indigenous cattle.

Siri cattle

Habitat and Distribution

Siri is a small sized zebu cattle of NEH region distributed in Sikkim and Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Siri is said to be the native of Bhutan where it is called as “Nublang”. The population of Siri cattle is found to be declining due to crossbreeding with Jersey cattle.

Physical Characteristics

Animals are either black with white patches or brown with white patches. Animals with complete black or brown coat colour are also available. Skin is grey and muzzle and eyelids are black. Forehead is convex, wedge shaped with white patches. Horns are of medium size and curved outward, forward, slightly upward and inward with prominent hairy poll. Ears are of medium size and horizontal. Hump is located cervico-thoracically and is the only Indian cattle breed with cervico-thoracic type of hump. Hump is covered with a tuft of long coarse hair. Udder is of small size with firm attachments. Teats are centrally placed and cylindrical in shape with rounded tips.

Management Practices

In East Sikkim, the herd size was found to be 10-30 while it was 1-3 in West Sikkim. Animals are mostly taken for grazing in forests or in fields. Animals graze on steep slopes in thick forests. Cows are given concentrates at the time of milking. Animals are housed on the slope of the gills in open houses, which are small in size and have galvanized iron sheet roofings.

Utility

Milk yield of Siri cattle varied from two to six kg per day with a fat content of 2.8 to 5.5%. The lactation length of Siri cattle varied from about 7 to 9 months while the calving interval ranged between 420 to 490 days.