Triple-purpose breeds

Milk, meat and work from one animal: Kankrej, Pinzgauer and many village breeds.

A zebu: humped cattle of South Asian descent, with a hump over the shoulders, a loose dewlap and long, drooping ears.

Triple-purpose cattle give milk, meat and work from the same animal. This is the oldest pattern of all, and it still describes most village cattle in the world. A cow is milked for the household, a bullock pulls the plough or cart, and calves, hides, horns and dung all have their uses. Some breeds were shaped around the triple role: the Kankrej of Gujarat, the Pinzgauer of the Austrian Alps and the grey Podolic cattle of Italy among them. Many local and non-descript cattle across Africa and Asia do the same.

The household animal

On a small mixed farm a single breed has to cover everything. The cow must milk enough to feed the family, calve every year or so, and be hardy enough to live on what the farm grows. The bullocks must be strong enough to plough. Dung is fuel, plaster and fertiliser. At the end, hide and horn are used. This is the economy that most cattle lived in until the twentieth century, and many still do in India, Ethiopia, the Sahel and Southeast Asia.

Kankrej and the Indian triple role

The Kankrej of the Banaskantha and Kutch country of Gujarat is often given as the model of a breed that does several jobs. The cows milk well, the bullocks are large, fast and powerful, and the breed is known for its lyre-shaped horns and an easy, swinging gait. Kankrej cattle went to Brazil, where they founded the Guzerá breed, and to the United States, where they helped form the Brahman. Many other Indian breeds, from Ongole to Hariana, were used in the same full way.

Alpine and Podolic examples

In Europe, breeds of the Alps and the south kept the triple role longest. The chestnut-and-white Pinzgauer of Salzburg was milked, fattened and worked on steep mountain farms. The Podolic cattle of southern Italy and the Balkans were worked in the fields and gave milk for cheeses such as caciocavallo podolico, as well as meat. As farm machines spread, these breeds dropped the draught role and turned toward beef or milk, and several are now rare.

Worth knowing

Kankrej: Large Gujarati zebu with lyre horns, for milk and powerful bullocks
Pinzgauer: Chestnut-and-white Austrian mountain breed
Podolica: Grey cattle of southern Italy, worked, milked and fattened
Ongole: Andhra breed used for work, milk and breeding
Tyrolean Grey: Grey Alpine breed of the Tyrol

Sources and further reading

About this page

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.