Zebu Cow

Zebu refers to wild bulls, being one of their subspecies. He occupies a special position among the representatives of cattle.

Content
  1. About the zebu bulls
  2. External features
  3. Habitat
  4. Productivity and accommodation

Корова Зебу

Zebu cow

About zebu bulls

Wild zebu bulls do not originate from the artiodactyl tour, which is the progenitor of many representatives of modern cattle, compared to the usual European cow. Zebu is its branched species that broke away from the primitive wild bulls of the tours about 300 thousand years ago.

Zebu are less perfect for use in agriculture compared to European cattle, because they were not improved in the breeding process.

Beginning in the twentieth century, the zebu cow began to interbreed with the Europeans. Such mating resulted in increased endurance, resistance to high temperatures and resistance to various tropical diseases in the resulting generations.

A purebred animal gains body weight and grows rather slowly compared to European cows, while producing less dairy products .

External features

From the photo of the cow, the zebu immediately notice that there are characteristic distinctive features in its appearance, the description of which distinguishes this cattle from European representatives:

  • the main feature is a large hump located on the scruff of the animal, which can be covered with hair at the edges,
  • another distinctive feature of the zebu are skin folds that have developed in the area between the forelimbs.

How peculiar the zebu look are the photos demonstrate brightly. The formation of a hump in them is associated with the specially developed two types of muscles: the trapezoid and rhomboid, which over a long time are able to grow heavily in the fat layer and degenerate. The hump for these animals serves as a fat-forming component.

In addition, it is noteworthy in the photo of the animals that the zebu differ in their strong physique from other cattle, and the zebu pictures also reflect this moment. They have a narrow elongated head with a convex frontal part with drooping ears. Some breeds differ in size and shape of the horns. For example, a Somali zebu wears swinging horns on its head.

Animals can be of different colors: from light gray and black to red and motley.

Habitat

Zebu distributed mainly in Indian territory. For their accommodation, the climatic conditions of the tropics and subtropics are best suited.Today, out of 70 breeds, exist in the world, many can be seen on the island of Madagascar. On the island, the zebu-shaped cow is especially honored, representing one of the symbols of the state, and is sacred, although its meat is eaten and sacrificed in religious rituals. In Madagascar, the number of animals is greater than the number of people living there.

On the African continent, there are several breeds obtained by crossing zebu with European cows.

Who gave this livestock to the world? Indonesia is considered this country. A zebu-shaped cow born in Indonesia was introduced to the African continent several hundred years ago and has become an object used in ritual ceremonies. In addition, animals live in Azerbaijan, a small population is also represented in Brazil. Zeba can be seen at Turkish and Iranian farmers in China and Korea. The animal common in Central Asia is sometimes called the Asian zebu.

Productivity and accommodation

The average weight of cows is 0.25 tons, bulls – 0.150 tons. Dairy indicators in these animals low: they are able to produce up to 0.6 tons of milk for an annual lactation period with a fat content of 5.2-5.8%. Enhanced fattening and compliance with good conditions increases the average annual milk yield from 2.0 to 2.5 thousand kg of milk with a fat content of 5.5%.

In Uzbekistan, the Kuromsk species, which belongs to the small size of the variety, has established itself as a source of high-quality dairy products with fat content indicators reaching 8%.

With a proper diet zebu animals show high weight gain, providing medium quality meat products, slaughter yield of 40-45%. The skin of adult animals serves as a source of material for the manufacture of shoe soles.

Zebu mini-cows
Zebu cow
Dwarf zebu appeared in the Sevastopol Safari Park

In places of residence, animals have established themselves as assistants for humans in agriculture and in everyday life. They are easily acclimatized, they are immune to various diseases that adversely affect young animals, therefore they act as producers for breeding with cattle of other breeds.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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