CATTLE, horned cattle.
Gai Gore, . . . HIND. Faihu,. OLD HIGH GER. Pecu, IT.
Faihu, GER. Para, . . . . SANSK.
This term is applied chiefly to domesticated bovine quadrupeds, oxen and buffaloes, but is often made to include sheep and goats. The gam., Gavmus gaurus, the bison of sportsmen, still remains wild in all the large forests of India, as also does the gayal or mithun, Gavmus frontalis, in the hilly tracts to the east of the Brahmaputra and at the head of the valley of Assam. Likewise the buffalo, Bubalus arni, of the forests of the Peninsula, as also the yak, Poephagus grunniens, of the snowy Himalaya, continue wild ; but the domestic buffalo is extensively used both for draught and as mulch kine, and its milk is richer than that of the cow. The breed on the Neil gherries is very fine, resembling the wild buffalo ; and many along the crests of the Western Ghats and other places are seen with white legs like the gaur. In the Himalaya, the domesticated yak, the Chaori gao, is much used in all the elevated tracts, both as milch cattle and for burden, and breeds freely with the common cattle. Its milk is very rich, and it is the best carriage for rugged hill work, as they can ford a rapid stony torrent in a way that no other animal dare attempt, and can scramble up and down rugged hills in a per fectly wonderful manner.
The taurine group of cattle comprise the zebu or humped domestic cattle, the taurus, humpless cattle with cylindrical horns, and Gavmus, hump less cattle with flattened horns, peculiar to S.E. Asia. Small herds of the zebu, in Mysore, Nellore, Oudh, Rohilkhand, Shahabad, and the Doab near Muzaffarnagar,.have run wild.
Varieties of the humpless taurus cattle occur in almost every district. Nellore and the Kistna dis tricts produce excellent milch cows, the best of which sell for Rs. 200 to 300, and they stand 15 to 17 hands high. As draught cattle a yoked couple draw 1500 to 2000 lbs. on a fair road. The Nellore breed in Cuddapah are tall, bulky, clumsy, flat-sided animals, but possess great strength.
The Mysore bullock is 12 to 15 hands, and is cele brated as draught cattle, and for their spirit and powers of endurance, and sell for Rs. 70 to 150 each,
and Rs.150 to 200 the pair. This-breed furnishes cattle for the Madras gun-carriages and karkhana. The Salem cattle are of this breed. Draught cattle in India are chiefly bullocks, and they are driven from the horns, or by means of the reins led through the nose cartilage. lago says in Othello, He will as tenderly be led by thi nose as asses are,' indicating that in Shakespeare's time a similar mode prevailed of driving, asses. The bulk of the farmers of India do not find it advantageous to be cattle-breeders, and fodder is not provided.
In the middle of the 19th century, a severe cattle plague carried off vast quantities of cattle in Europe, and shortly after a similar plague in India carried off great numbers. The character istic symptoms were drooping, cold ears, hair standing on end, frequent weak pulse, running at the eyes and nose, scanty high-coloured urine and purging, terminating in a bloody flux. As the disease advanced the body became covered with pustules, the disease generally proving fatal in a few days ; but when the membranes of the brain were affected, the animal died in a few hours with the symptoms of apoplexy.
The bullock and the cow are not of equal value in India. In the parts of the country where the one sex is particularly valuable, the other sex may be of small value. The excellence of the Marwar bullock for draught is proverbial, but we never hear of the Marwar cows' milk. The male of the Gujerat buffalo was esteemed of so little use, that in the early part of the 19th century they were for the greater part not even reared. The males of the Mahoor breed were said to be so fierce as to be useless except for reproduction.—L. The male buffalo of the Surat breed is of great size and weight. The milch buffalo of Surat is of great value. Lands bordering upon hills are of comparatively greater value to cattle grazers, over plain districts which are put under the plough. In these the.working cattle fall off miserably in the three concluding months of the fair season. There is no grazing ; and were it not for the pur chased food they get in the house, they would die.