Community Rearing System of Pulikulam Cattle : A Case Study in Tamil Nadu, India
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Date
2016-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Indian Veterinary Journal
Abstract
India takes a pride of possessing the finest breeds of draught animals. In India, draught cattle play a fundamental and pivotal role in livelihood improvement as they provide farm power and contribute to food security, poverty reduction, income generation and to some extent gender equity. Traditionally, these animals are also being utilized in bull fighting I bull baiting game as a sign of braveness named 'Jallikattu' or 'Eru Thazhuvuthal'. The draught animal population seemed to decline continuously in India as well as in the state of Tamil Nadu due to many reasons like agriculture mechanization, reduction in grazing land, migration, land encroachment, cattle sent for slaughter, etc. Of the many indigenous breeds of draught cattle reared in Tamil Nadu, Pulikulam is the breed maintained by community rearing system and an attempt was made to explore the management practices followed in Pulilulam cattle rearing. Pulikulam breed is also known as Jallikattu breed in local language. They are also known as Kilakad or Kilkattu. This breed is found in Madurai, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar and Theni districts of South Tamil Nadu. The breed is very compact with stout legs and hard feet. They have very powerful loins, shoulders, neck and capable of doing very hard work. This breed of cattle is comparatively small in size, but is very active and capable of much endurance. In the villages of South Madurai the small bulls are kept for the purpose of bull fighting or rather bull baiting and were known as "Jallikattu" reported that this breed received National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Kamal, Haryana, recognized 'Pulikulam' as 35th registered indigenous cattle breed in the country. As per a survey, the population of Pulikulam cattle in and around Madurai has drastically come down from 90,000 in the year 1995 to 45,000 in 2006 to 21,225 in 2012 (Mallady, 2013).
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Keywords
Community rearing system, Pulikulam cattle, Tamil Nadu