Achham

What do Achham cattle look like?

Achham cattle are among the smallest of all cows. A grown cow stands about 88 cm at the withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades, and weighs around 110 kg. Bulls are bigger at roughly 97 cm and 150 kg, but even they stay below a metre tall. The breed is zebu, so it carries the hump typical of that family, and its local name plays on this: a Naumuthe cow measures about nine fists from hoof to hump, a hand-based gauge for a very short animal. Coats range from black through brown and grey to white, and some cattle are spotted black and white. The whole build is compact, a cow shaped by steep hill farms.

Where does the Achham come from?

The breed takes its name from the Achham region of Nepal, its home in the hills of the country's Far Western Development Region. Farmers rear Achhami cattle across a cluster of neighbouring hill districts: Achham itself, together with Bajhang, Bajura and Doti. As Bos indicus, the breed belongs to the zebu branch of cattle, the humped kind kept across South Asia. Achhami cattle appear on a national list of Nepal's unique flora and fauna, which marks them out as a distinctive local animal rather than a widespread one. The second name, Naumuthe, describes the animal plainly: nine fists measured by hand from hoof to hump, a homely way of saying how small the cow is.

What the Achham is known for

These cattle are made for hard hill living. They are suited to hill conditions and to low input systems, meaning they manage on simple keep and rough grazing without much bought feed or care. Small size is part of that thrift, since a cow of 110 kg needs far less fodder than a large dairy breed. The breed's own byname, nine fists tall, says the same thing in the farmer's measure. Achhami cattle are kept as milkers, and their compact, undemanding frame is what lets them fill that role on hill farms where every extra mouth costs something.

What the Achham is kept for

Milk is the main purpose. Achhami cattle are kept chiefly for milk production, and that is the work they do on the hill farms of far western Nepal. The breed suits this because it thrives under low input systems: a small cow that lives on hill grazing asks little of the household that keeps her. Their standing as one of Nepal's unique animals adds a second role, as a breed worth keeping for its own sake. Beyond dairying and that local worth, the hills set the limits of the work: these are not big animals, and the farming they fit is small-scale.

The land and climate of the Achham

Achhami cattle are hill animals. They are described as suited to hill conditions and to low input systems, and they are reared in the hill districts of Nepal's Far Western Development Region: Achham, Bajhang, Bajura and Doti. That is country of slopes and small farms, where cattle live largely on what the land provides. A breed standing under a metre at the withers fits such ground well, since a small cow needs less feed and less room than a large one, and can be kept where bigger dairy cattle would be hard to sustain.

Custom and folk tradition

The breed carries its own folk measure. Naumuthe means nine fists: from hoof to hump, a full-grown cow spans about nine hand-widths, so anyone can size up an Achhami cow with a hand instead of a tape. The name is used alongside the district name, and both are part of how the breed is known at home. A place on Nepal's list of unique flora and fauna gives the breed a wider identity too, as a small piece of the country's hill heritage that belongs to one corner of the far west.

From the Achham

Questions people ask about Achham

Good reading and sources

• FRA 2000 - Forest resources of Nepal, country reportFAO, Article

• Achham cattle on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data