Breeds of Almora and the Badri hills
The Kumaon hills where the small Badri cow, the first registered breed of Uttarakhand, grazes forest slopes.
Breeds of this place
Best time: October to November, for clear views of the snows.
Almora is a ridge town in the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, looking north to the Himalaya. In the villages of these hills, farmers keep small, hardy cattle that graze the oak and pine forests by day and come home to stalls at night. In 2016 these cattle were recognised as a breed, the Badri, named after the shrine of Badrinath.
The Badri cow
Badri cattle are small, black, brown, red or grey, with short legs suited to steep paths. They live mostly on forest grazing and crop leftovers, and give a small amount of milk. They are valued in mountain villages because they cope with cold, slopes and scarce fodder where larger cattle struggle. The state runs breeding farms to keep and improve the breed.
Hill farming
Kumaoni farming is built on terraces of millet, rice and pulses, with cattle supplying manure for the fields as well as milk. Women do much of the herding and fodder cutting, carrying heavy loads of grass and leaves up the slopes. As people leave the hills for work in the plains, some villages hold fewer cattle than before.
A trail idea for Almora and the Badri hills
- Almora bazaar The old stone-paved market on the ridge.
- Jageshwar A temple complex in deodar forest, east of Almora.
- Hill villages Walk between terraces and cattle sheds below the ridge.
Written by the EveryCow desk with AI assistance. Background: "Almora" on Wikipedia. Fair dates, markets and visiting rules change; check locally before travelling, and keep a respectful distance from working animals. If something is wrong, tell us.
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