Farming Through Draught Bullocks : The Case of India

Among the indigenous draught cattle breeds of Southern India, Kangeyam and Hallikar breeds were utilized by many farmers. Rice bran, straw, oilcakes, cotton seeds were the common feed that farmers fed to the animals during the work days. The feed cost varied from Rs.100 to Rs.255/pair/day. Shoeing was done at the age of 2 years and 6 months and the cost of shoeing was Rs.250/pair. The farmers were making the animal drawn implements with local artisans and they were unaware of new implements to reduce the drudgery of work cattle, designed by the Agricultural Machinery Research Centres in India. They preferred bullocks than tractors for certain agricultural operations and small fragmented & water logged lands also needed bullocks. The cost of ploughing was less while using the bullocks and the land fertility was also good. The average number of days of utilization of bullocks in agriculture was only 36 days in a year. The average annual working days of bullocks for small farmers were 221 days, 156 days for medium farmers and 47 days for large farmers. The farmers who were getting employment in both hiring out and carting were getting income of Rs. 86249 to Rs.88548/- in a year.