Role of cattle in agriculture, transport and food
India has the largest population of cattle in the world. It is believed that for more than 20% of the world's cattle population, India is the home. The cattle have become a part and parcel of an Indian farmer's family. They help in numerous ways. In spite of the introduction of modern tech¬niques of agriculture like tilling of the land through mechanized methods such as use of tractors, tillers etc., even today a majority of Indian farmers still use cattle (bull) for ploughing their lands.
When land holdings are small it will be uneconomical to use the tractor as it is costly and has recurring expenditure. Majority of the Indian farmers have very small land holdings hence there is no wonder that even today major ploughing activ¬ity in Indian fields is by the cattle. Besides ploughing the land the cattle also help the farmer in several other agricultural operations. These are sowing of the seeds, de-weeding operations etc.
Cattle are very much nec¬essary during the threshing of the grains after the harvest. In the traditional method of the threshing of the grains, a portion of the field is made even and smooth; the harvested crop is spread on the ground. A huge rolling stone is tied to a yolk which is then pulled by the cattle in a circle over the crop. This will help in the separation of the grain from the plant. The grains along with the chaff are then winnowed.
Cattle also help the farmer in irrigation purposes. In Karnataka in a method called Kapile, the cattle help to lift the water from the well. In this method a series of small buckets are tied on to a pulley which is turned around with the help of cattle. The buckets collect the water as they move round in a circle and pour the water on to a small canal.
In villages, tiny oil mills use cattle to extract oil from oil seeds. In this a rotating weight is placed inside a big wooden vessel in which the oil seeds are kept. Cattle tied to a yolk help in rotation of the weight. Oil is ex¬tracted from the crushed seeds.
In spite of numerous modem methods of transportation the Indian farmer still depends on his bullock cart for transportation. This is because the bullock cart does not demand properly laid out roads which in any case are absent in villages. The bullock carts are used by the farmer to transport his agricultural produce to the market. It is also a mode of family transport for him. Considering the importance of bullock cart, many researchers have been carried out (particularly in IIM, Bangalore) to improve the design of the bullock cart mainly to reduce the weight and the burden to the cattle and to increase the mobility by using ball bearings, lubricants etc.
The cattle are useful to the farmer in providing the much required organic manure. The cow dung perhaps is the best organic manure. Now a day's cow dung has been used in the production of Gobar gas which provides the much needed fuel for cooking, lighting etc. This will go a long way in the conservation of forests as otherwise fire wood is used for cooking.
Another special practice in Indian villages is to fashion the cow dung in the form of cakes. These dried cakes are used as fuel. From the point of view of food there is no other animal perhaps which can parallel the cow and the buffalo. Cowls milk which has the best balanced diet is regarded as next best to mother's milk. Milk is the source of dairy industry. A num¬ber of milk based products are produced in dairy. Butter, ghee, curds (yo¬ghurt), cheese are all milk based products. Most of the sweet items used by man are also milk based (pedha and others).
Our Product Details with regard to Indian Traditional Farming
Panchagavya – An Organic Fertilizers
Agnihastra – An Organic Pesticides / Insecticides / Fungicides.
The details about this product and our Organic Certificates and Test Certificates can be viewed in our website Welcome to Pasuthai.com: Buy Panchagavya | Organic Fertilizer Online
Please contact for further details.
V Sudhindranath
Advocate
LTA Trading Private Limited
No.51/7/1, Chitrakoot, Ratna Avenue,
Richmond Road, Bangalore 560 025.
Ph: +91 99450 66699 / +80 41138389
Email: vsudhin@yahoo.com
India has the largest population of cattle in the world. It is believed that for more than 20% of the world's cattle population, India is the home. The cattle have become a part and parcel of an Indian farmer's family. They help in numerous ways. In spite of the introduction of modern tech¬niques of agriculture like tilling of the land through mechanized methods such as use of tractors, tillers etc., even today a majority of Indian farmers still use cattle (bull) for ploughing their lands.
When land holdings are small it will be uneconomical to use the tractor as it is costly and has recurring expenditure. Majority of the Indian farmers have very small land holdings hence there is no wonder that even today major ploughing activ¬ity in Indian fields is by the cattle. Besides ploughing the land the cattle also help the farmer in several other agricultural operations. These are sowing of the seeds, de-weeding operations etc.
Cattle are very much nec¬essary during the threshing of the grains after the harvest. In the traditional method of the threshing of the grains, a portion of the field is made even and smooth; the harvested crop is spread on the ground. A huge rolling stone is tied to a yolk which is then pulled by the cattle in a circle over the crop. This will help in the separation of the grain from the plant. The grains along with the chaff are then winnowed.
Cattle also help the farmer in irrigation purposes. In Karnataka in a method called Kapile, the cattle help to lift the water from the well. In this method a series of small buckets are tied on to a pulley which is turned around with the help of cattle. The buckets collect the water as they move round in a circle and pour the water on to a small canal.
In villages, tiny oil mills use cattle to extract oil from oil seeds. In this a rotating weight is placed inside a big wooden vessel in which the oil seeds are kept. Cattle tied to a yolk help in rotation of the weight. Oil is ex¬tracted from the crushed seeds.
In spite of numerous modem methods of transportation the Indian farmer still depends on his bullock cart for transportation. This is because the bullock cart does not demand properly laid out roads which in any case are absent in villages. The bullock carts are used by the farmer to transport his agricultural produce to the market. It is also a mode of family transport for him. Considering the importance of bullock cart, many researchers have been carried out (particularly in IIM, Bangalore) to improve the design of the bullock cart mainly to reduce the weight and the burden to the cattle and to increase the mobility by using ball bearings, lubricants etc.
The cattle are useful to the farmer in providing the much required organic manure. The cow dung perhaps is the best organic manure. Now a day's cow dung has been used in the production of Gobar gas which provides the much needed fuel for cooking, lighting etc. This will go a long way in the conservation of forests as otherwise fire wood is used for cooking.
Another special practice in Indian villages is to fashion the cow dung in the form of cakes. These dried cakes are used as fuel. From the point of view of food there is no other animal perhaps which can parallel the cow and the buffalo. Cowls milk which has the best balanced diet is regarded as next best to mother's milk. Milk is the source of dairy industry. A num¬ber of milk based products are produced in dairy. Butter, ghee, curds (yo¬ghurt), cheese are all milk based products. Most of the sweet items used by man are also milk based (pedha and others).
Our Product Details with regard to Indian Traditional Farming
Panchagavya – An Organic Fertilizers
Agnihastra – An Organic Pesticides / Insecticides / Fungicides.
The details about this product and our Organic Certificates and Test Certificates can be viewed in our website Welcome to Pasuthai.com: Buy Panchagavya | Organic Fertilizer Online
Please contact for further details.
V Sudhindranath
Advocate
LTA Trading Private Limited
No.51/7/1, Chitrakoot, Ratna Avenue,
Richmond Road, Bangalore 560 025.
Ph: +91 99450 66699 / +80 41138389
Email: vsudhin@yahoo.com