SKUAST-K aims to revive Kashir Gaaw

Srinagar: Sheri Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, (SKUAST-K) is aiming to revive Kashir Gaaw, the local breed of cow whose population in the Valley is on a decline.
As per the officials at the SKUAST’s Mountain Research Centre for Sheep and Goat (MRCSG) department, the population of native breed of cows has declined immensely since last one decade due to the invasion by high milk producing breed of cows from other states.
“By introducing jersey or other breeds, the population of Kashir Gaaw has gone down. So the SKUAST is now aiming to revive it and prevent it from extinction in near future,” Dr Muzamil Abdullah, Assistant Professor at MRCSG told The Kashmir Monitor.
He said rarely the native breed of cows commonly known as Kashmiri hill cows are reared by the farmers in rural Kashmir due to the factor of producing milk in lesser quantity.
“We during our researches have witnessed that Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Harayana framers rear their native breed of cows. But Kashmir has almost lost its distinctive breed of domestic animals. The native cow used to eat less and then the milk produced was also less,” Dr Abdullah said.
He said that the department has sent a project to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), seeking approval to work on the project of experimenting on local breed of cows.
“We are waiting to see whether the proposal will be considered by the ICAR. Accordingly they will sanction the money to start the process,” Dr Abdullah said.
He said the department would have to build the infrastructure to start its process of rearing local cow breed.
Dr Abdullah said in the proposal, the department has mentioned that the revival would be done by distributing the local breed of cows among tribals.
“Nomads or tribal usually deal with their cattle. So on experimentation basis, these cows will be given to them or even economically backward families who can rear it without any extra cost,” Abdullah said.
Dr Abdullah who is also a junior scientist said that the native breed of cow is accustomed to live below freezing point and under low oxygen concentration.
“We see that in number of cases the jersey or other breed of cows die due to heart attack. The non –local breed of cows require good amount of fodder and grass, which is very difficult for poor section in rural Kashmir. They usually face issues like mineral drain and die,” he said.