Harinath Rao Nagulavancha

Sharmila Joshi

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At 9 a.m., Eslavath Banya Nayak herds around 150 rugged cows across the Hyderabad-Srisailam
highway near Vatwarlapalle
village. They enter the Amrabad Tiger Reserve’s core zone in the Nallamala range of the Eastern Ghats, where a few
cattle graze on the grass, while others try to reach the branches with tender
leaves. 

Nayak, 75 years old, is from the Lambadi community,
and his animals – like those of many cattle breeders here – are Thurupu cattle.
The Lambadi (a Scheduled
Tribe), the Yadava (Golla) (an OBC) and Chenchu (a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group) are traditional
breeders of the Thurupu. The animals have short, sharp horns and hard, strong
hooves. They move easily in different kinds of terrain – on wet as well as dry
stony soil, and pull heavy loads with ease. They can also survive the region’s heat
with little water for long periods of time.

Since Amrabad sub-district is to the east of the
villages on the Telangana-Karnataka border, from where many farmers come to buy
these cows, and because the cattle have spots, people here call them &#39;Poda
Thurupu&#39; – in Telugu, &#39;poda&#39; means spot and &#39;thurupu&#39; mean the East. The Poda
Thurupu are of great help to small and marginal farmers who cannot afford tractors
and other farm machinery.

Every year, traders and farmers get together – usually in November, a few weeks after Diwali – for a trade in bull calves at the Kurumurthy Jatara, a local festival. This trade is part of a month-long fair that draws lakhs of visitors, and is held around 150 kilometres from Amrabad. The traders sell 12 to 18 month-old male calves purchased from breeders like Nayak for Rs. 25,000-30,000 per pair. Nayak sells around five pairs for the fair, and sometimes 1-2 more during the rest of the year. Buyer-farmers at the fair pay Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 45,000 for a pair. Sometimes, the traders are farmers too, who take the unsold cattle back to their villages and keep them for sale throughout the year on their farms. However, maintaining the cattle can be time-consuming. Amrabad is a dry, deciduous forest covered with scrub, grass and bamboo. From June to October, there is enough food in the buffer zones of the reserve. But from November, the grazing grounds go dry. The forest department’s restrictions on entering the core zone make it difficult to find fodder for the cattle. With this avenue closed, Nayak moves from his village, Mannanur, to Vatwarlapalle, his sister’s village,  around 25 kilometres away, in Amrabad mandal of Mahabubnagar (now Nagarkurnool) in Telangana. There, he has built a barn for seasonal use next to a stretch of forest that the animals can graze in.

Some cattle travel as far as 300 kilometres, towards Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh, where paddy hay of a third crop (either in February-March or May-June) is available. The herdsmen buy the hay or exchange it for manure, and the farmers allow the cows to sleep on their lands. The cattle come back to their home villages before the monsoon starts in July. Banya Nayak and the other breeders sell only male calves. “We do not sell female calves. We do not even sell their milk. They are like a goddess to us,” says Nayak. However, he occasionally prepares a few bottles of ghee to sell in his village, and he sells the manure too. To conserve and promote the cattle, the Lambadi and Golla communities have formed a society – the Amrabad Poda Laxmi Govu Sangam. In August 2018, the Sangam, with help from Telangana government officials, applied to the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources, which evaluates, characterises and utilises the livestock and poultry genetic resources of the country. After registration, the Poda Thurpu will become the 44th registered cattle breed in the country. This will bring benefits – among them, conservation, increased stock and more trade – under the central government’s Rashtriya Gokul Mission, started in 2014 to promote indigenous breeds.The communities rearing the Poda Thurpu are waiting for this recognition.  “It will be very helpful and we will remember the help for generations,” says Ramavath Malliah Nayak, 60, a breeder from Mannanur village.

Sturdy cattle that sustain fragile communities

ਕਮਜ਼ੋਰ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਜਿਊਣ ਦਾ ਸਹਾਰਾ ਨੇ ਇਹ ਪਸ਼ੂ

ദുർബലരായ സമുദായങ്ങൾക്ക് താങ്ങാകുന്ന ബലിഷ്ഠരായ കന്നുകാലികൾ

பலமற்ற சமூகங்களைப் பராமரிக்கும் உறுதிமிக்க கால்நடைகள்

''ದುರ್ಬಲ ಸಮುದಾಯಗಳ ಜೀವಸೆಲೆಯಾದ ಜಾನುವಾರು''

हाशिए के समुदायों का सहारा हैं ये मवेशी

کمزور برادریوں کو سہارا دیتے طاقتور مویشی

ଦୁର୍ବଳ ଜାତିକୁ ବଞ୍ଚାଇ ରଖିଛନ୍ତି ଦୁର୍ବଳ ଗୋ-ଜାତି

দুর্বল গোষ্ঠীগুলির সহায় বলিষ্ঠ গবাদি পশু

Vatwarlapalle

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Sturdy cattle that sustain fragile communities

In villages near the Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Telangana, the indigenous Poda Thurupu cattle are a source of sustenance for breeder communities and farmers, and efforts are on to conserve the species

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