The Wayanadan Dwarf Cow!

The Wayanadan Dwarf Cow.

An indigenous mountain breed, the Wayanadan Dwarf Cow, is on the brink of extinction. Slowly, but steadily, they have been nudged out by the competition. The reason is simple economics. Though these cows give milk of incomparable quality in terms of taste as well as nutritional and medicinal values, the quantity of milk is really quite less; usually varying from a liter to three a day, while a hybrid cow gives twenty to thirty. A handful of farmers still keep a few of these cows, using their urine and dung to make Jeevamrita, a traditional concoction of beneficial bioorganic organisms, which is used in organic agriculture and in nature farming, both as a liquid fertilizer and as a pesticide.

A mother with her calf.

These cows thrive on just green grass and water, though they love to have vegan leftovers from the kitchen and rice broth to drink. Like the Kasaragod Dwarf and the Vechur Dwarf, they are hardy and disease-free when compared to contemporary dairy cattle and live longer, up to 35 productive years of age. Though peaceful, they are quite bold too, in fighting off attacking wild animals. I once saw one trample a poisonous snake to death in the cowshed, while the other cows, the Jerseys and the Holsteins, just panicked. Don’t you think that these beautiful, fascinating, tiny cows deserve to be conserved?

A farmer standing next to his beloved Wayanadan Dwarf Cow.