Zebu cattle

This information and the descriptions of the different Zebu breeds has been kindly provided for you by Mrs. E. Parr of Gyr International and Barkly Brahmans would like to thank her kindly for this service.

There are a number of different types of zebu (Bos indicus) cattle. To name some, Gyr, Sahiwal, Guzerat (Kankrej), Sindhi (Red Sindhi), Ongole (Nellore), Krishna Valley, Tharparkar, Hariana, Khillari, Anirit Mahal, Hallikar, Madhu, Seringapatam, Nagori, Mewati and Bachaur from India. The Boran and Tuli, as well as some others, are from Africa. There are a number in Asian countries also.

Unlike the different breeds of cattle coming from the British Isles and Europe (Bos taurus) where cattle were specially selected and bred (in many cases line bred) to produce a specific type of animal, to my knowledge, this was not the case in India and Africa.

The different types I refer to in zebu cattle have obtained their name from the locality they were most prevalent. There does not appear to exist any actual boundary for the different types, hence, 'pure' types of zebu may exhibit the characteristics of several different types of zebu.

This is a quick summary of my opinion of the different types of zebu cattle that I have seen in Australia. There will no doubt be people who will disagree with me because they have seen different cattle to me and had different experiences to mine.

From what I have read, I understand that most of the early cattle imported to Australia were of the Guzerat and Nelore types which as you would realise from my comments further on explains why they were called 'galloping' brahmans.

As interest grew in breeding red brahmans, eventually some part Gyr types were introduced, but to the best of my knowledge this was not until the fifties. The first bull to make a big impact on red brahmans was called 'Arauto'. He was three quarters Gyr. This bulls influence was probably a major factor in importing other Gyr bulls and a relative large number of females.

Many people with commercial and stud brahman herds will not buy spotted coated animals. They believe that spotted coated animals are no good to breed from and they will give you any sort of excuse from bad temperment to poor fertility and growth. From the research I have done and from visual observations, this could not be further from the truth.

It is true that some of the originally imported speckled cattle had many poor attributes including those mentioned above. However, it should be noted that up until recent times many of the so called Gyr cattle introduced where less than 60% true Gyr and often had Indu, Guzerat, Nelore or some other brahman influence in their pedigree. The true Gyr today far surpasses the genetic makeup of there earlier predecessors.