Dual-purpose breeds

Milk and meat in Europe

Before specialised breeds took over, most European cattle were dual-purpose. The Simmental of the Bernese Oberland, known as Fleckvieh in Germany and Austria, is the best known, a red-and-white cow that milks well and rears heavy calves. The Brown Swiss and the French Normande were bred along the same lines, and the Shorthorn of north-east England split over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into beef and dairy lines. These cows suit farms that sell both milk and calves, and many alpine cheeses come from their milk.

Milk and work in India

In the Indian scheme, a dual-purpose breed is one whose cows milk reasonably and whose bullocks are good workers. Hariana from Haryana is the classic example, a tall white cow with a good yield and strong bullocks. Tharparkar of the Thar desert, Kankrej of north Gujarat, Deoni of the Marathwada and Bidar country, and Mewati and Gaolao all sit here. As tractors replace bullocks, breeders of these cattle have leaned harder toward milk.

The case for the compromise

A dual-purpose herd is less specialised than a Holstein or Charolais herd, but it is more flexible. When milk prices fall, the calves still have value. The cows tend to be robust and fertile and to last longer than high-yield dairy cows. For a smallholder with a few animals, one breed that does two jobs well enough is often more useful than two breeds that each do one job very well.

Worth knowing

• Simmental: Swiss red-and-white breed for milk and beef, also called Fleckvieh
• Brown Swiss: Alpine breed kept for milk with good beef calves
• Shorthorn: Old English breed with both milking and beef lines
• Normande: French breed of Normandy, milk for cheese and good beef
• Hariana: Tall white Indian breed for milk and strong bullocks
• Tharparkar: Desert zebu of Sindh and Rajasthan, milk and work
• Deoni: Spotted breed of Maharashtra and Karnataka
• Red Poll: Polled red English breed for milk and meat

Sources and further reading

• Simmental cattle on Wikipedia
• Hariana cattle, Wikipedia
• Tharparkar cattle, Wikipedia
• Shorthorn, Wikipedia
• Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS), FAO