Brahman Cattle

“Brahman Beef”. “Brahman Cattle”. Does it sound like a sarcastic taunt? Well I do not know about others but when a friend

used the term ‘Brahman Cattle’ a few days ago, I thought it to be a taunting expression. Yesterday, when I shared with her, the gesture of Mr. Modi to gift 200 cows to Rwandan villagers, she again used the term ‘Brahman Cattle’. And then it came out that it was not a taunt!

Brahman or the Zebu cattle of India, and has been selectively bred from mixing Indian strains of Kankrej, Ongole, Gir, Krishna and Gujarat cattle. The American Brahman was the first bred in the early 1900s from the varieties imported into the United States between 1854 and 1926. Paradoxically, the Brahman Breed, named after Brahmins who are vegetarians, has made a major impact on the U.S., Australian and other beef consuming markets.

While reading last night on this, I was not surprised to learn that India has the largest varieties of cows, than other country, but it did surprise me to know that there are just Two species of cows, Bos indicus (cattle of India) and Bos Taurus, the cattle species of Europe, and most of the sub species have been developed with Bos indicus and all these sub species of cows are generically called “Brahaman Cattle” or “Zebu Cattle”.