Deoni
Deoni ( Marathi देवनि , Kannada ದೇವನಿ ) or Dongari is a Zebu cattle breed from South India.
Characteristics
The Deoni breed was bred in southern India by crossing the Gir and Dangi breeds and local cattle over the past two centuries . Deoni cattle are externally similar to Gir cattle. They are medium-sized, sturdy, sturdy-looking and have black and white spotted fur. The head shape is convex with large, protruding horns curved to the side and usually also slightly backwards, as they are also typical for Gir cattle. The ears are large and mobile, but do not have the oval leaf shape as in the gir cattle. The adult cows weigh about 300 kg with a height at the withers of about 130 cm, while the bulls come to 150 cm height at the withers and a body weight of more than 500 kg.
Deoni cattle were bred primarily as work animals. Their original home is the Dekkan plateau , where they were used in the hilly terrain as draft animals in agriculture and as draft animals on the often unpaved roads. Milk production was also important. The former Indian state of Hyderabad , dissolved in 1956, maintained a breeding farm for Deoni cattle to improve the livestock quality (work performance, milk yield) of the Deoni breed. The Deoni cows on this breeding farm had an average milk yield of around 755 liters with a lactation period of 306 days. Individual cows came to more than 1000 liters (a later survey - see below - in the years 1996 to 1999 came to an average of 850 liters). The mean calving interval was 447 days. The age at the time of first calving was 3 years and 10 months.
Deoni cattle are typically kept in semi-intensive conditions and graze outdoors during the day. They are well adapted to the semi-arid climate and relatively little susceptible to disease.
For 1956, the World Food Organization estimated the number of Deoni cattle in southern India to be around 650,000. In recent times, the cattle have been kept mainly in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra ( Latur district and neighboring regions of Parbhani , Nanded and Osmanabad districts ). A statistical survey between 1996 and 1999 estimated the number of Deoni cattle at around 120,000, with a downward trend. In October 2016, the number of Deoni cattle was estimated at around 10,000 (in the Bidar and Gulbarga districts ).
Due to the continuous decline in the population, the government of the state of Karnataka launched a program for the conservation and purification of the Deoni breed in 2017. The project is supported by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). A special breeding farm for Deoni cattle has been set up at the University of Veterinary, Pet and Fisheries Sciences in Bidar .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c N.R. Joshi, Ralph W. Phillips: Zebu Cattle of India and Pakistan . In: World Food Organization (ed.): FAO Agricultural Studies . tape 19 . Rome March 1953, p. 147–152 (English, online [PDF]).
- ↑ Breeds of Livestock - Deoni Cattle. Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, accessed November 22, 2017 (verbatim copy from FAO publication).
- ^ G. Singh, GK Gaur, AE Nivsarkar, GR Patil, KR Mitkari: Deoni cattle breed of India. A study on population dynamics and morphometric characteristics . In: Animal Genetic Resources Information . tape 32 , 2002, p. 35–43 (English, online [PDF]).
- ^ A new lease of life for Deoni breed of cattle. The Hindu, October 9, 2016, accessed November 22, 2017 .
- ↑ BR Rohit: Karnataka govt launches project to preserve indigenous cattle. The Times of India, February 7, 2017, accessed July 30, 2017 .
- ↑ DETAILED PROJECT REPORT: Conservation and management of indigenous varieties of livestock (Cattle and Sheep) in the wake of climate change in Karnataka. (PDF) Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Government of Karnataka, March 2016, accessed July 30, 2017 .
- ^ Livestock Research and Information Center (Deoni). (No longer available online.) Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, archived from the original on November 17, 2017 ; accessed on November 22, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
