India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, The Middle East, Egypt, Turkey and more countries Indiaaccountsfor7.6%of theworldsmilkproduction cows. Taylor cattle are hump-less and black, grey or red in colour. India is the world’s second largest cow’s In 1988 it was estimated that the milk producer, accounting for 7.6% of breed numbered between 100 and 1,000 world production and producing over 44 animals. Today the breed is probably al- million tonnes in 2008. And India is en- most extinct. William Taylor, the Com- dowed with the largest livestock popula- missioner of Patna Division, in 1856, tion in the world. It accounts for 57 % of had started an Industrial Institution by the world’s buffalo population and 14% raising funds from the public. There was of the cattle population. to be a breeding establishment of cattle, According to Livestock Census sheep and pigs as a section of this Insti- (2003), the country has about 185 mil- tution. lion cattle and 98 million buffaloes. India With this idea in view, he obtained possesses 27 acknowledged indigenous four English bulls. There is no definite in- Australian Jerseys in India. In 1971, some breeds of cattle and seven breeds of buf- formation as to the exact history or breed 300 Jerseys were exported from Australia faloes. (Source: India Year Book 2008). of these bulls. A close study, however, of to India. The cattle were a gift from the A significant increase compared to the physical conformation of their prog- Australian Government to India under the 1982, when the chairman of the National eny leads one to surmise that they were Colombo plan which was a post-colonial Dairy Development Board in India, Dr. probably of either Jersey or Guernsey initiative launched in 1951, initially by V. Kurien reported, that India was the origin, as the features of these animals seven Commonwealth nations, to boost fourth or fifth largest milk producing are more akin to them than to any other Asian economic and social development country in the world. At that time there English breeds. through economic and technical assistance. were 87 million milking cows and buf- It is said that these imported animals faloes in India, plus 81 million draught were the progenitor of the existing herd males. of the cross-bred cattle found in Patna. purebred Jerseys in 1904 existed in the From 1970 to 1981 India’s milk pro- The main results of this cross-breeding Kashmir Valley in western Jammu and duction increased from 21 to 32 million was an improvement in milk producing Kashmir State, northern India. tonnes. (Source: WJCB, 1982) capacity in the cows, whose yield ranged They were imported from Australia In 1983, it was estimated by the from 16 to 28 lbs of milk per day. before the date. Pure exotic breeds, how- WJCB that there were 1,000,000 million The breed, for a number of years, was ever, were very much susceptible to the Jersey cattle in India. localised within the Patna town area and Indian climate, so Jerseys introduced into CrossbreedingwiththelocalZebus its suburbs. Later it, however, gradually India were usually crossbred with a high penetrated in the neighbouring villages. yielding breed in India like Red Sindhi Taylor cattle found in Patna, Bihar, was The animals did not seem to thrive well and also other indigenous breed of cattle, created since 1856 by crossing Shorthorn outside Patna. It was perhaps due to ex- to produce or boost up the yield of milk. and Channel Island bulls with local zebu treme care and attention paid to them by Following Indian cattle breeds have un- the vendors in Patna. til 1988 been crossbred with Jersey: Gir; The cows were mostly adapted to Hariana or Harayna; Kankrej; Rathi; Red stall-feeding, because the town provided Sindhi; Sahiwal; Tharparkar. no facility for grazing. But on account of In the late 1950s a project was com- their high milk yield, cows had been very menced with crossing Hariana cattle much popular with the milk traders, who with Brown Swiss, Holstein and Jersey carried on trade in milk supply. There- cattle as part of the “All India Coordi- fore, majority of the cows were reared nated Research Project on Cattle”. The and maintained by them. A fraction of results confirmed the superiority of the the total strength of cow was, however, reproductive performance of Jersey cross- also maintained by private individuals for es. The essential conclusion was that in their domestic needs. (Source: e.g. Sinha, arid areas of India the use of exotic breeds 1951) should be restricted to Jersey, which dis- PurebredJerseysinthe played the best adaptability to high am- KashmirState bient temperature. In 1956, a development program was A more systematic effort to increase milk initiated in Darjeeling, in which the Siri Taylor cattle found in Patna, Bihar, were production in tropical countries by cross- breed was improved with Jersey blood. created in 1856 by crossing Shorthorn and breeding with European dairy breeds The Siri breed – the cattle belonging to Channel Island bulls with local Zebu cows. dates back to early 20th century. Several the kingdom of Bhutan, since then spread 140 WORLDJERSEYCATTLEBUREAU OTHERCOUNTRIES across Sikkim into the Darjeeling region New Zealand and America. plants where the milk was pasteurised and also into Nepal, located in the Hima- That was the first step they took to im- and handled. (Sources: e.g. WJCB, 1982) layas and west by India. In Nepal, the de- prove the breed in India to see how these In 1999, the estimated number of scendants of some Jerseys, imported by bloodlines performed as parent stock to small-holders in India was 70 million, nineteenth-century British residents are the agro-climatic conditions of India. and of these 60 million owned cat- now also used as draught animals in pref- The Danish Jerseys imported, adapted tle or buffalo, or both. When five help erence to the local hill cattle. successfully to the climatic conditions, so programmes which included the Jersey Makingcattleforthelocal from the late 1970s India over three years breed, in 1999, were evaluated, it showed conditions imported more than 3,000 head of cattle to have been a most efficiently tool to from Denmark in addition to large quan- help the smallholders to increase the New breeds in the 1960s were developed tities of semen. productivity and to improve the genetic when at Allahabad Agricultural Institute In 1981-1982 500,000 doses of Jersey merit of their animals, to manage avail- Red Sindhi cows were mated to Ameri- semen were imported and distributed to able resources more efficiently, and to can Brown Swiss and Jersey bulls re- three states that already were crossbreed- assist local governments in developing spectively. The idea was to increase milk ing along Danish lines. A.I. centres were sustainable livestock strategies. yield of indigenous breeds. The results of established ca 1980 and frozen semen CrossingofHolsteins, crossbreeding suggested that Red Sindhi stations placed at a radius of every 15 JerseysandGir x Jersey crosses had the most desirable miles so they could cater to all milk shed traits for Indian conditions. areas. In the centre of every small village In 2006 a new breed has been introduced These include small body size, better there was a chilling centre with modern to the public, named Phule Triveni. It is adaptability and high fat percentage. The bulk coolers. It was within walking dis- developed by Rahuri Krishi Vidyapith, Jersey crossbreeds between 3/8 and 5/8 tance for all villagers. Rahuri by crossing Holstein Friesian (50 have been interbred and named as `Jers- The milk was brought in cans to that per cent), Jersey (25 per cent) and Gir (25 ind’. Similarly, 3/8-5/8 Brown-Swiss x centre, was immediately tested for fat per cent). Red Sindhi crosses have been interbred electronically and then went into the bulk Studies on the milk yield of Phule and named as `Brown-Sind’. Jersind cooler. At a fixed time in the morning the Triveni animals revealed that the breed crosses gave milk yield between 1,557 cooler tank truck came, picked up the produces 19-34% more milk that other and 1,861 kg. in first lactation. milk and took it to one of the big dairy desi breeds under farm conditions. Phule The Jersind breed, however, has shown deterioration over the years mainly be- cause of small numbers and being con- fined to the Institute farm. (Source: e.g. FAO, Newsletters, Felius, 1995). KnowledgefromDenmark usedinIndia Dr. V. Kurien was instrumental in raising the milk production of India from 1970 to 1981. His colleague Dr. A.S. Bindra spent many years in Denmark learning the dairy business and returned to India with perhaps one of the first shipment of Jersey cattle to go to India in recent times. Dr. Bindra was instrumental in found- ing the National Jersey Breeding Society of India, and he was also President of the Hindustan Livestock Sales Corpora- tion, a company that was deeply involved in the importation of Jerseys and Jersey semen into India and the whole South- East basin. On his initiative bull mother farms were established – at least one in each of the 22 states in India, to which Jerseys had been imported from all over In the late 1950s a project began crossing Hariana cattle with Brown Swiss, Holstein and the world – from Denmark, Australia, Jersey cattle as part of the ‘All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Cattle’. WORLDJERSEYCATTLEBUREAU 141 OTHERCOUNTRIES Triveni is resistant to major diseases such as foot and mouth disease, which affects several other breeds of cattle. The animals are 140-145 cm tall and may weigh 300-400 kg.