Dhanni

What do Dhanni cattle look like?

The Dhanni is a humped zebu breed from Pakistan, bred for work. Both cows and bulls carry short horns. It is medium in size: a cow stands around 126 cm at the withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades, and weighs about 285 kg, while a bull reaches roughly 135 cm and 412 kg. Most animals are white with dark spots. Three further patterns are seen. One is red, marked with white; another is black, marked with white; the third is mottled in black, brown and white. Local Urdu names exist for each of these coats.

Where does the Dhanni come from?

Once there were three local kinds: the Awankari or Pakhari of Talagang and Fatehjang in Attock District; the Pothwari of the Gujarkhan area and Jatli in Rawalpindi District; and the Dhanni of the old Chakwal Tehsil, then part of Jhelum District. Better roads and growing trade showed how alike the three were, and they were merged into one breed. The name comes from Dhan, a place in Jhelum District. In 1932 the Nawab of Kot Fateh Khan, whose estate lay in Attock District, began handing out breeding bulls, and other landowners followed. A herd book was started in 1938, and milk recording began about then. In 1962 the West Pakistan Agriculture Development Corporation set up a livestock farm at Kherimurat, also in Attock District. It is now the Barani Livestock Production Research Institute and keeps about 150 head.

What the Dhanni is known for

The Dhanni is kept above all for work. It pulls carts and can supply power for farm or workshop machinery, and it is known for moving quickly in short, brisk steps rather than plodding. That turn of pace is the quality farmers value, and it is what makes the breed a good draught animal. It is a medium-sized humped zebu, and the coat is among its most visible features. Milk has been recorded in the breed for a very long time.

How the Dhanni is bred and kept

Breeding has been organised for nearly a century. Three local types were drawn together into a single breed as travel and trade between their districts increased, and a herd book came into being in 1938, with milk records kept from roughly the same period. The state farm founded at Kherimurat in 1962, now the Barani Livestock Production Research Institute, holds a herd of about 150 and supplies breeding stock. Bulls were handed out to farmers in Attock District from 1932 by the Nawab of Kot Fateh Khan, and other landowners did the same. The breed is now found in six districts of the Punjab.

What the Dhanni is kept for

The Dhanni is a draught breed. It pulls carts and supplies power for farm and workshop machinery, and it is said to work at a quick pace in short steps. Milk comes second. A lactation of 228 days in the 1930s averaged 765 kg, and roughly seventy years later cows at the state farm at Kherimurat gave a mean of 708 kg, spread over 270 days. Both cows and bulls are horned, and the different coat patterns carry their own Urdu names.

The land and climate of the Dhanni

The Dhanni belongs to the Punjab in Pakistan, in six districts: Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mianwali, Rawalpindi and Sargodha. Its home is in the north of that province, and the state farm kept for it sits at Kherimurat in Attock District. As a zebu it is one of the humped cattle of the region. It has been bred and worked in these same districts since the local types were merged, and the herd book and the farm at Kherimurat are the two institutions that hold the breed together.

Who keeps the Dhanni

Support for the Dhanni has come from landowners. From 1932 the Nawab of Kot Fateh Khan, whose seat was in Attock District, gave breeding bulls to farmers there, and other landowners did likewise. State backing followed when a livestock farm was set up at Kherimurat in 1962 under the West Pakistan Agriculture Development Corporation, later run as the Barani Livestock Production Research Institute. Farmers across the six Punjab districts keep the animals as working stock on their own land, and it is from their herds that the breed is known and recorded.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

Just under 1.5 million head were reported in 2006. The FAO listed the breed as not at risk in 2007. No population figure has been reported since, and in 2025 its status with DAD-IS was recorded as unknown. A herd book has existed since 1938. The state farm at Kherimurat, now the Barani Livestock Production Research Institute, keeps a herd of about 150 head, which acts as a reserve of breeding stock for the six Punjab districts where the breed is found.

Questions people ask about Dhanni

Good reading and sources

• Dhanni (cattle) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data