🇳🇵 The cattle breeds of Nepal
3 breeds from Nepal, best known first, across 2 towns, fairs and pastures.
Cattle in Nepal are kept within a broad tradition of animal husbandry, alongside buffalo, oxen, goats, pigs, chickens and dogs. Cows were reared by Gopal kings, and cows are said to have arrived with the Gospels from India. Today livestock keeping is expanding and is one of Nepal's main livelihoods, with roughly three in ten people working in farming.
- Cattle are one part of Nepal's mixed livestock keeping.
- Gopal kings are said to have kept cows.
- Cows are said to have come from India with the Gospels.
- The Mahispal dynasty kept buffalo.
- Roughly three in ten Nepalis work in farming.
Cattle in Nepal
Cattle keeping in Nepal belongs to a wider pattern of animal husbandry. The occupation covers breeding and care of farm animals, and it is done for reasons of economy, culture and religion. Cattle are reared alongside oxen, buffalo, goats, pigs, chickens and dogs. The history told is old: Gopal kings are said to have kept cows, and cows are said to have arrived with the Gospels from India. The Mahispal dynasty kept buffalo. Today the rearing of farm animals is expanding and is one of Nepal's main livelihoods, together with farming. The country is agricultural, and roughly three in ten people work in farming. Cattle are therefore one part of a mixed farming and livestock economy.
Today
Livestock keeping is expanding. It is one of Nepal's main occupations, along with farming. The country is agricultural, and roughly three in ten people work in agriculture. Cattle are among the animals reared, with oxen, buffalo, goats, pigs, chickens and dogs.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Animal husbandry in Nepal", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. EveryCow rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
Cattle towns and fairs of Nepal
🇲🇳 Mongolia and 4 moreYakགཡག་
A shaggy, cold-hardy highland bovine kept across the Himalayas and Tibetan PlateauYak · Triple-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇨🇳 China and 2 moreWild yak
A massive, shaggy wild bovine native to the high plateaux and peaks of the HimalayasYak · Beef · Cold-hardy
🇵🇰 Pakistan and 5 moreZebu
Humped, heat-tolerant cattle of South Asia, kept for milk, meat, work and ridingZebu · Dairy · Heat-tolerant
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Yak: 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Zebu: A. J. T. Johnsingh, WWF-India and NCF, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Wild yak: Jim, the Photographer, CC BY 2.0, source
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