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Umbalacherry
Breeders Association
Umbalacherry
cattle breed is prevalent in the herds maintained by herders in many
villages of Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu. The population of this breed is roughly
20 ,000 in the blocks viz., Vedaranyam, Thiruthuraipoondi and Thiruvaroor.
Each
cow herd consists of 400-500 animals ; buffalo herd consists of 200-250
animals. Each herd derives
animals from the surrounding 15 villages and this pooling of animals is
called "Kedai". Kedai
is a traditional penning system which is believed to have helped in the
conservation of a local variety of cattle, the Umbalacheri.
The
word 'Umbalacherri' is the name of the village where this variety is
believed to have originated many years ago.
In fact, it is an umbrella term that includes within it three sub
varieties of cattle. Attukkaari,
Venna, Ganapathian. In what
follows, the people's descriptions of the three sub-varieties are as
under.
Attukkari
:
This
word literally means 'a woman who keeps goats'.
In the late 19th century, some goat herds migrated to Umbalacheri
from Ramnad district in Tamil Nadu. One
woman, however, brought with her some cows.
One cow was bought by an Umbalacherri woman, whose grandson, Mr.
Govindasamy Pillai, is now 85 years
old. The progeny of this cow
spread to the neighbouring villages (usually as dowry) and the other two
varieties are believed to have resulted. The Attukkari variety is distinctive in its appearance: it
is sensitive to sudden noise and vehicles ; the tail is thin and of
uniform thickness; the cows are very possessive about their new-born
calves ; the height is medium. Mr. Pillai today has about 30 cattle of the
Attukkari variety. His profits from the sale of Attukkari male calves over the
years has enabled him to increase his land holdings from less than one
acre to about 35 acres. The
male calves he produces are in great demand and people visit him from
other villages to buy the calves, often paying about Rs.2,500 per calf.
He usually does not sell female calves.
Venna
:
This
sub-variety takes its name from Venna Pillai, who is believed to have
developed it for draught purposes many decades ago.
The variety has white skin with black spots. It is believed to be more sensitive than Attukkari to noise
and new environments; is also larger than the Attukkari.
Ganapathian
:
The
Ganapathian is believed to have been developed by a person called Ganapati
Iyer many years ago. In
appearance it is similar to the Venna, but its distinguishing features are: thicker tail, smaller udder, horns and tail are thick at the base and
taper sharply towards the tips.
All
these varieties have a few common characteristics: These are, the
average yield of milk is 1.5 litres in the morning and one litre in the
evening; the bullocks are prized for their draught power, as for other characteristics,
the skin is
thin, the hair is very soft; the tail extends only up to the hock; the
two parts of the hoof are very close to each other, and almost give the
appearance of the single hoof of the horse ; the gait of the bullocks is a
high - stepping gait.
Though
the three sub-varieties have been described separately above, in recent
times there has been an inter-mixing among the three.
The herder who manages a Kedai usually keeps only one bull, which
may belong to one of the three sub-varieties.
However, according to the herders, the Umbalacherri has to be seen
as one 'breed' and inter-mixing between Attukkari, Venna and Ganapatian
should not be seen as a problem.
SEVA
has promoted Umbalacherry Breeders Association for the purpose of
conserving Umbalacherry breed. The bullocks are known
for efficient wetland ploughing, having resistance
power to infectious diseases and requires least maintenance cost which
thrive well on feeding paddy straw. The
owners of the cattle are facing
problems like encroachment of ponds
and grazing lands. Three
members for this association attended a two days conference on Kangayam breed
at Erode in March 2001. (A cattle show and conservation seminar was later
organised on 18th July 2001 at Umbalacherry
Village. Umbalacherry Breeders Association has been registered as society
by involving 234 members in 21 villages).
Katchakatti
sheep breeders Association
SEVA
has promoted Katchakatti sheep breeders association in Katchakatti
village, near Madurai. Eleven
herders maintaining Katchakatti karuppu sheep joined this group.
Katchakatti
sheep breed is known for sheep fighting and some times it is preferred for
aesthetical purpose because of its black colour.
The animal will turn grey in colour if it is taken to some
other areas, where the agro climatic situation is not suiting it. The
hill grazing impart resistance to contagious disease and traditionally
this breed has adopted well to degraded hilly zone.
It provides livelihood support to many landless families. There is roughly
a population of 680
Katchakatti karuppu type of sheep found in Vadipatti areas viz.
Katchakatti, Vadipatti, Kutladampatti, Thethoor etc.
The
sheep breeders are facing
problems such as prevention from forest grazing due to tree planting
programme undertaken by forest department in the traditional grazing
sites; the forest officials do not permit
the herders to enter the
forest and they face hardship like fines imposed by forest dept. The
forest land demarked for this village has been handed over to village
forest committee formed in Poochampatti village without the consent of
forest users of this area. The
participatory planning has not at all taken place according to the
herders. Without forest
grazing sheep
husbandry is not productive and the reproductive capacity is coming down
and therefore population of the sheep breed is getting reduced year by year.
The
breeders had requested Forest
Department for providing path ways in the hills from Poochi Pudungi Patta
land to Ramakallan Koil and
also from Elikkutti Thirumal
Reddy stream to Ramayanpatti tank so that sheep pass through without
harming the saplings planted; this will have access to
Ramakallan temple site entry and drinking water for sheep.
(A brain storming session and the issues related to conservation of
Katchakatti Karuppu Sheep breed was later held in may 2001).
Vembur
Sheep Breeders Association
Vembur
sheep breed is known for its good body weight in dry black cotton soil
tract of Thuthukudi and Virudhunagar Districts. The body of the breed has brown patches with white background. This breed is prevalent in Melakaranthai, Keelakaranthai, Patty
Devanpatty, Mettilpatty, Alagapuri, Kodangipatty, Soorappanayakanpatty,
Perumal Koilpatty, Supplapuram, Sevalarpatty, Melapatty, Sengottai,
Ramasamypuram. SEVA has
promoted breeders group by
involving initially 6 herders maintaining
a population of 250
in Vembur village. It plans to promote such groups in other villages where
this breed is found. The
breeders are facing drinking water problem, lack of pucca shed for animals and lack of veterinary facilities
are some of the other major problems, (leading to death of sheep during rainy season).
SEVA organised an interactive workshop
with sheep breeders and put up an animal show of Vembur sheep in
July 2001.
Survey
of Toda Buffaloe
SEVA
took up a survey of tribal families maintaining Toda Buffaloes in Nilgiris,
Thalavadi (Erode District) areas. Toda
buffaloes is providing livelihood support to tribals viz., Todas,
Irulas, Kurumbars, Soligars. At
present there is a population of 1842 buffaloes in these areas.
The animals are sent to forest for grazing and return in the
evening; sometimes animals will be staying in the forest for 15-30 days.
Five years back the animals used to stay in the forest for a period
over 2 months if they
enter "Pangadu" a thick forest zone.
Toda
buffaloes are providing food security for
the tribals and marginal farmers through sale of milk and also in terms of
nutrition. The Toda buffaloes
are medium sized animals with short legs and long horns. The horns usually set wide apart, outward, slightly downward
and upward with the points being re-curved inward forming
characteristically a crescent shape or semicircle. The horns
are thick at the base and taper and become sharp at the
tip. The animal yields 2-3 litres of milk per day.
SEVA
has organised an interactive workshop at Ooty and Thalavadi areas
involving all stake holders for conserving this the Toda buffaloe in
September 2001.
International
Workshop on Local Livestock Breeds for Sustainable Livelihoods
Domestic
animal diversity has received much less attention than either crop genetic
resources or wild biodiversity; so far there has been virtually no debate
on how to involve farmers and pastoralists in the conservation of
threatened livestock and poultry breeds. In order to remedy this situation
and catalyze discussion and action, three NGOs (Lokhit Pashu-Palak
Sansthan, SEVA, and League for Pastoral Peoples) had invited about 80
representatives of pastoral associations, rural development NGOs,
scientific institutions and government departments to an international
conference and workshop that was held in Rajasthan from 1-4 November, 2000. "Sadri Declaration”
was passed
by the participants after the workshop.
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