Better days are ahead for the indigenous breed of the Ongole bull, which is on the verge of extinction in the land of its origin with Brazil evincing keen interest in transferring technology for improving the productivity of the majestic cattle.
The pure breed of Ongole cattle ( Bos indicus ) is fast becoming extinct in the land of its origin, even as some of the finest Ongole cattle are reared in Brazil for dairy products.
Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, who himself led an Indian delegation to a cattle expo at Uberaba in Brazil, revealed this to The Hindu here on Sunday.
‘Sister city’
The Mayor of Uberaba city in Brazil, Paulo Piau, had offered to develop Ongole as a “sister city,” Dr. Rao said, adding: “the Mayor had promised to come with a Memorandum of Understanding to further cooperation in cattle breeding between the two prominent members of the BRICS.”
The number of the Ongole breed of cattle had dwindled to fewer than 2 lakh over a period as against 16 crore heads of Ongole cattle in that South American nation now, he said. Brazilians have a great affinity for the Ongole cattle and wanted to do their part in rearing the docile animal in the original tract between the Gundlakamma and Musi rivers, he explained, adding “one will be astonished to note that the milk yield of the Ongole cow is between 20 and 30 litres in Brazil where the farmers milk the animals thrice a day.”
“Though we are sentimentally attached to the Ongole bull, not enough has been done to exploit it economically,” he observed and exhorted the farmers to go for scientific farming for better results.
Collaborative project
with U.S. varsity
Meanwhile, YSR Congress Whip in Parliament Y.V. Subba Reddy, who was also part of the delegation which visited Uberaba for the ExpoZebu recently, told The Hindu that Brazil had also nurtured the Gir cow of Gujarat and some of its features could be cross-bred for better results. The government had also embarked on the collaborative “Milk Mission Project” with the University of Pennsylvania to make dairy farming sustainable and realise the goal of stepping up growth in the agriculture sector.
The species is a favourite of farmers in the South American country, says Kodela
