THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Call them cute, and despite the dwindling numbers, they have never strayed too far away from the Malayali psyche. And now, yet another project is being rolled out to conserve and propagate the pint-sized Vechur cow.The Rs 1.7 crore Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB) project, funded by the National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCB), envisages the creation of a Vechur cow population at the KLDB farm in Puthur, Thrissur, which is exclusively dedicated to Indian breeds. The project will be launched at Puthur on September 24. “The Vechur project is part of propagating more of the local breeds. They might have a lower milk yield compared to foreign varieties, but the maintenance cost is also lesser, as they require less feed,” Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister K P Mohanan said. A three-phase project, the KLDB intends to build up, gradually, a population of Vechur pure-breds at Puthur in the first phase. This phase will also focus on bringing together farmers who raise Vechur cattle. Although exact numbers are not available, it is estimated that Kerala has less than 500 Vechur cattle and about 100 dairy farmers. “We plan to register the cattle, and issue computerised ID cards so that we can create a database,” KLDB managing director Ani S Das said. It is also intended that the Vechur cattle, while their numbers are increased, stay pure-breds. With this in mind, the second phase will focus on insemination of Vechur cows with semen from Vechur bulls only. KLDB also plans to help farmers financially so that they continue raising the cattle variety. Phase III aims at embryo transfer. The average Vechur male is about 89 cms tall, and the female, approximately 87 cms. The daily yield is between two to 2.5 litres. In recent years, little effort has been taken to popularise the breed, which is named after a village in Kottayam. The Veterinary College, Mannuthy, has a project and maintains several Vechur cows and bulls, though. Over the years, indigenous breeds have lost out to foreign varieties and cross-breds. According to the 2003 census, Kerala has 21.22 lakh cattle. Of this, indigenous breeds account for just 3.87 lakh.
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