What is the difference between cattle and buffalo

Cherry red to brown in colour. Mahagony and white is a variation in colour. The milk has a golden colour due to an exceptionally high content of beta carotene Guernsey cows produce around kgs per lactation. The Guernsey cow has many notable advantages for the dairy farmer over other breeds includes high efficiency of milk production, low incidence of calving difficulty and longevity. Cross bred - Dairy Cattle. Jersey cross. Jersey crosses are suitable dairy animals for tropical plains of our country.

They are medium sized, have better heat tolerance than other exotic crosses and well adapted to our climate. Depending on the milk production potential of our indigenous cows, the Jersey crosses may show 2 to 3 fold increase in milk yield in the first generation. Holstein Friesian cross. The HF crosses are more suitable for temperture climatic regions like hilly areas as they are less tolerant to heat. Less resistance to tropical diseases than Jersey crosses. Although the milk yield is higher in HF crosses the fat per cent is less.

Indigenous Buffalo breeds. Most important breed of buffaloes whose home is Rohtak, Hisar and Sind of Haryana, Nabha and Patiala districts of Punjab and southern parts of Delhi state. Otherwise called as Delhi, Kundi and Kali. The colour is usually jet black with white markings on tail and face and extremities sometimes found. Tightly curved horn is an important character of this breed. Most efficient milk and butter fat producers in India.

Butter fat content is 7. Average lactation yield is varying from to kgs per lactation. Also used for the grading up of inferior local buffaloes. The breeding tract of this breed is Kaira and Baroda district of Gujarat. Coat colour varies from rusty brown to silver-grey.

The horns are sickle shaped, moderately long and flat. The peculiarity of the breed is two white collars, one round the jaw and the other at the brisket region The milk yield ranges from to kgs per lactation.

The peculiarity of this breed is very high fat percentage in milk per cent. The breeding tract of this breed is Gir forests, Kutch and Jamnagar districts of Gujarat. This is the heaviest Indian breed of buffalo. The horns are heavy, inclined to droop at each side of the neck and then turning up at point drooping horns. The udder is well developed with funnel shaped teats.

The average milk yield is to kgs per lactation. The bullocks are heavy and used for ploughing and carting. These animals are mostly maintained by traditional breeders called Maldharis, who are nomads. Medium sized buffalo. The body is usually light or copper coloured is a peculiarity of this breed. Eye lids are generally copper or light brown colour. The bullocks are good draught animal with high heat tolerance.

The fat content of milk varies from 6 to This breed is an efficient converter of coarse feed into butterfat and is known for its high butter fat content.

Nili Ravi. The peculiarity of the breed is the wall eyes. Head is small, elongated, bulging at top and depressed between eyes. Horns are very small and tightly coiled. Bullocks are good for heavy trotting work.

The milk yield is kgs per lactation. Mehsana is a dairy breed of buffalo found in Mehsana, Sabarkanda and Banaskanta districts in Gujarat and adjoining Maharashtra state. The breed is evolved out of crossbreeding between the Surti and the Murrah.

Body is longer than Murrah but limbs are lighter. The horns are less curved than in Murrah and are irregular. Bullocks are good for heavy work. This breed is also called as Elitchpuri or Barari. The breeding tract of this breed is Nagpur, Akola and Amrawati districts of Maharashtra.

These are black coloured animal with white patches on face, legs and tail. The horns are long, flat and curved, bending backward on each side of the back. Swaord shaped horns. The bullocks can be used for heavy work. The milk yield ranges from to kgs per lactation. This buffalo is named after an ancient tribe, Toda of Nilgiris Hills of south India and it is a semi-wild breed. The predominate coat colours are fawn and ash-grey. Thick hair coat is found all over the body. The presence of prominent hump and dewlaps is not usually seen in cows.

Out of all those female-specific features of cows, the most important feature to identify them is their female reproductive system, which consists of two ovaries and uterus that open to the external by the vulva. That means, observation of vulvae just below the anus confirms that it is a cow. In addition, their urination behaviour would be important to notice as cows urinate to back and out of their bodies.

When a cow comes to the heat, mucus secretion could be observed from vulva, and it is a significant feature to detect the heat. Usually, one female delivers one calf a year, and lactation occurs until the calf is ready to be weaned. As their milk is nutritious for humans, lactating cows have an elevated value for them. Buffalo is an important member among the bovines with a black colour cattle-like appearance. Usually, the term buffalo refers to the domestic buffalo or the water buffalo, despite there are few other referred species including Cape buffalo and Eurasian buffalo.

However, there are different types of water buffalos raised for milk, meat, and work purposes. On the plains, a mixture of cool season and warm season grasses extend the season of high nutrient food resources, permitting greater exploitation by bison. Van Vuren has postulated that bison living on rangelands in the Intermountain West found forage inadequate to sustain large numbers of bison except for a few locations.

Frequent local extinctions due to weather, human hunting, or the effects of inbreeding, with slow recolonization, rates may have kept bison numbers exceedingly low over this region and may account for the relative lack of historic sightings and limited distribution.

Further evidence to the absence or limited distribution of bison throughout the Intermountain West comes from the native vegetation itself. The native vegetation of these regions has no previous evolutionary experience or adaptation Mack and Thompson, to persistent, heavy grazing and trampling. These crusts are important for nitrogen fixation, reduced overland flow, and increased moisture infiltration and often enhance native vegetation establishment and growth Harper and Pendleton, Most researchers agree that livestock destroy such crusts through trampling Anderson, et.

Unlike the rhizomatous Great Plains grass species dominated by blue grama Bueteloua gracilis and buffalo grass Buchloe dactyloides that seem to tolerate grazing pressure, the native vegetation in this region including dominants like bluebunch wheatgrass Agropyron spicatum , Idaho fescue Festuca idahoensis , and Indian ricegrass Oryzopsis hymenodies , are caespitose or bunchgrasses, and thus less tolerant of both grazing and trampling Mack and Thompson, , Mack, The net effect of livestock introduction into regions where bison numbers were restricted or absent is a significant loss of native biodiversity and major shifts in ecosystem function.

For example, for the 10, years prior to European settlement the flora of the sagebrush steppe remained essentially unchanged, although migrations up and down mountains due to shifting climatic conditions did occur Miller, et. Due to their respective evolutionary histories, a variety of behavioral, biological and ecological differences exist between bison and cattle. Cattle are poorly adapted for a dry, arid landscape with rugged terrain, and the consequences of their evolutionary heritage may lead to degraded rangelands Jacobs, Wild free-roaming bison, on the other hand, are more favorably adjusted to their environment, and were sustained for thousands of years without contributing to serious degradation of rangeland ecosystems.

Since substantial differences in behavior and habitat use and selection exist between bison and cattle, it may be erroneous to suggest that domestic livestock fill a vacant niche left by the extirpation of the bison. Rather cattle should more properly be viewed as a new ecological force that differs significantly from the native species.

Furthermore, some native ecosystems apparently did not support bison in any numbers or they were completely absent. In particular, much of the Great Basin, Palouse Prairie, Southwest deserts, and California annual grasslands evolved without the presence of bison. These native rangeland ecosystems display limited tolerance to grazing pressure of any kind Jones et.

Indeed, in many of these areas large groups of any kind of herding animal were only of local abundance or completely absent Holechek et al. Under grazing pressure from domestic animals these arid landscapes have not adapted or thrived in the presence of domestic livestock as some suggest Savory, , rather they have shown substantial degradation. Careful attention to the evolutionary histories of both native species and ecosystem development may prevent degradation of ecosystem function and loss of native biodiversity.

The assertion that exotic animals are a replacement for native species should be scrutinized closely before it is assumed gross outward similarities really translate into similar use of the landscape. Your email address will not be published. Geist, ; Guthrie, ; McDonald, Morphological adaptations of the bison to facilitate existence in a grassland environment include the downward rotation of the head relative to the vertebral column, along with the lateral placement of the eye orbits which permits maintenance of visual contact with the herd as well as predator detection while grazing.

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