Humid tropics: its breeds
N'Dama, Bali cattle, Nelore and Brahman: heat, rain, ticks and fly.
The humid tropics are hard on cattle. Heat and humidity make it difficult to lose body heat, and ticks, flies, worms and diseases thrive all year. Breeds that do well here are mostly zebu, or old taurine lines that have lived with tropical disease for thousands of years. The N'Dama and the West African shorthorns, Bali cattle, the Nelore and Gir of Brazil, the American Brahman and the dwarf cattle of Kerala such as the Vechur and the Kasaragod all belong to this group.
Keeping cool
Zebu cattle carry more sweat glands than European cattle, a short, shiny coat that reflects sunlight, loose skin and a large dewlap that add surface for losing heat, and a lower metabolic rate. They keep grazing in the middle of the day when European cattle seek shade. A cow from Holstein or Jersey stock in the humid tropics often eats less, gives less milk and fails to conceive. Crossbreeding programmes from Brazil to India try to combine the yield of the one with the hardiness of the other.
Living with disease
The tsetse fly carries trypanosomiasis, a wasting disease of cattle across much of humid Africa. The N'Dama of the Fouta Djallon in Guinea and the West African shorthorns, such as the Muturu of Nigeria and the Baoulé of Côte d'Ivoire, have a natural tolerance for it that has been studied for decades. Zebu breeds tend to carry fewer ticks than European breeds. Ticks and the diseases they carry are among the biggest costs in tropical herds.
Small cattle of Kerala and the Ghats
Kerala is wet, green and crowded, and the native cattle are small. The Vechur, from a village of that name near Vaikom, is one of the smallest breeds in the world, with cows standing under a metre at the shoulder. It was close to disappearing in the 1980s before a conservation effort began at the Kerala Agricultural University. The Kasaragod dwarf of northern Kerala and the Malnad Gidda of Karnataka are other small, hardy cattle of the wet hills and coast.
Southeast Asia and the Americas
Bali cattle, the domestic form of the wild banteng, are red-gold with white stockings and are well suited to tropical islands with long dry seasons. In Malaysia the Kedah-Kelantan is the local village breed. In the Americas, the Brahman was bred in Texas from Indian zebu imported in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the Senepol of the Virgin Islands combines heat tolerance with a short red coat and no horns.
Worth knowing
- N'Dama: Trypanosome-tolerant cattle of Guinea
- Muturu: Small West African shorthorn of Nigeria
- Bali cattle: Domesticated banteng of Indonesia
- Nelore: Zebu beef breed of Brazil
- American Brahman: Zebu bred in Texas from Indian stock
- Vechur: Dwarf cattle of Kerala
- Kasaragod dwarf: Small cattle of northern Kerala
- Senepol: Heat-tolerant polled breed of the Virgin Islands
Good to know
- Give shade and clean water at all times; heat stress cuts milk and fertility.
- Keep a regular tick and worm control routine, with advice from a local vet.
- Choose breeds or crosses with zebu or tropical blood for humid lowlands.
- Keep sheds airy and dry; damp bedding brings hoof and udder problems.
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Humid tropics on EveryCow
The breeds written up so far, best known first.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Hallikar: Pavanaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, source