Tirumala temple comes to rescue of vanishing Punganur cows

A special breed of cows, named after a village called Punganur, in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, has been part of the temple’s livestock for four years now. This bovine breed is on the verge of extinction due to indiscriminate cross-breeding and the trust has taken it upon itself to conserve the breed and disseminate information about other native breeds. 

K Harinath Reddy, Director of the Trust tells us, “The Punganur cow used to be the mainstay of agricultural activities in South India for several centuries. However, indiscriminate cross-breeding led to a decline in its pure-bred numbers. The temple itself has only four pure-bred animals among the eight Punganur cows in the goshala. The breed is an important part of our conservation programme. We have close to 14 native Indian breeds of the 30 breeds officially registered by the government of India. Variants of the Punganur cow are now being bred across agricultural belts in Mahbubnagar in Telangana and AP.” 

The dwarf cattle are a sought-after breed and are considered among the world’s smallest humped breeds of cattle. Only hundred-odd animals of this pure breed exist in the country. The going rate to acquire this ‘prized’ possession ranges from Rs 5-10 lakh. The cows are known for their high-fat content milk (8 pc compared to 3 to 3.5 pc from a normal cow) and its rich medicinal properties. 

S Vinod Reddy, a pharma professional turned agriculturist, from Chittoor, tells us, “There are less than 100 such pure breed Punganur cows. I discovered this after attending a ‘Go Sammelan’ (cow exhibition) where different breeds of cows were being showcased, near Coimbatore, in 2002. While the animals were being paraded, I noticed these short-statured cows and made enquiris with the owner. They, in turn, told me that the farmers of Chittoor had not taken enough efforts to nurture this breed.”

When he tried procuring a Punganur cow through official means, he was met with disappointment. Only when he chanced upon a researcher, did he find out the mode of “re-creating” the famed cow to preserve the lost breed.

“I was told that I need to identify the shortest cow in nearby tribal areas as the closest alternative to an original Punganur. Thereafter, the insemination process in such cows would genetically provide about 85 per cent of the Punganur characteristics. The subsequent generation would inherit 90 to 99 per cent of the traits,” says Reddy, who now owns seven of the third-generation Punganur cows.

Apparently, it was a WHO report, that turned people’s focus on this “wonder breed,” which was particularly in demand for being a cure for impotency. “A sudden interest was visible. It was also believed that people, who consumed milk from this breed were short-statured, but intelligent!” he says.