Murrah Buffaloes

Origin & Breeding Tract

Buffaloes, in the northwest region of India have long been selected for high milk production and curled horns. These were named as ‘Murrah’ which means ‘curled’. These buffaloes were also named as ‘delhi’ referring to the center of their origin.

                 

    

Its home tract stretches around the southern parts of Haryana comprising the districts of rohtak, Jind, Hisar, Jhajhar, Fatehabad, Gurgaon and the Union Territory of Delhi. However, this breed has spread to almost all parts of the country and is being bred either in pure form or is being used as improver breed for grading up local buffaloes. In fact, this breed has even found and important place in the livestock industry of many developing countries like Bulgaria, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, former USSR, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brazil and Shri Lanka.

The native tract of the breed covering parts of Haryana lies between 28°15´ and 30°0’ North latitude, and 75°45’ and 70°80’ East longitude. Soils of the area are mostly light-textured, sandy and loamy. In some parts of the breeding tract surface soils are light in texture but available nitrogen, and medium to high in phosphorus and nitrogen.

The breeding tract has relatively hot and dry climate. Maximum temperature goes as high as 45°C during summer. Minimum temperature may reach near freezing point in winter with frost for a few days.

Physical Characteristics
Some of the important characteristics is described as follows: -

Body color	The color is jet black. Rarely white markings on face and leg extremities may be there, but are not preferred
Horns	Different from other breeds; short, tight, turning backward and upward and finally spirally curving inward. The horns should be somewhat flattened. As the age advances the horns get loosened slightly but spiral curves increase.
Marking	nil
Eye	Eyes are  Black , active and prominent in females but slightly shrunken in males and should not be walled i.e. cornea should not have whiteness.
Tail	Long reaching upto fetlock joint with black or white (max. 6 inches) switch.
Body	Sound built, heavy and wedge shaped.
Head	Medium
Face	Medium
Neck	Neck is long and thin in females and thick and massive in males.
Ear	Ears are short, thin and alert.
Limbs	Short but strong built.
Skin	Soft, smooth with scanty hair as compared to other buffaloes.
Udder	Fully developed, drooping with equally distributed teats over the udder.
Teats	teats are long, and places uniformly wide apart but hind teats are longer than fore teats.

Biometry

Averages of length, height and heart girth of adult males are 150, 142 and 220 cm, and of females 148,133 and 202cm respectively. Average birth weight of male calves is 31.7 kg and that of female calves is 30kg. Adult body weight ranges from 450 to 800kg (average 567 kg) in males and from 350 to 700 kg (average 516kg) in females.

Body weight and Growth Rate

The mean values of body weight at birth, 6, 9,12,18,24 months and at first calving reported by various workers are presented below.

Stage	Mean +- S.E(Kg)	Mean +- S.E(Kg)
At Birth
3 months
6 months
9 months
12 months
18 months
24 months
At first calving

Morphological Characteristics
Average values of morphological traits of Murrah buffaloes like body length, height at withers, heart girth and adult weight reported by various workers are given in the following table.

characteristics	Sex	Average
Body Length(cm)	Male Female	150 148
Height at withers(c)	Male Female	142 133
Hearth Girth(cm)	Male Female	220 202
Birth Weight(Kg)	Male Female	31.7 30
Adult weight(Kg)	Male Female	400-800 350-700

Housing & Management Practices:


Housing:

In the breeding tract, these buffaloes are kept in a mixed type of housing syatem. The buffaloes are tied to a tree or a pole in the open, but shelter is provided during extreme weather conditions.  House are well ventilated and mostly made up of Pucca walls with kutchha floor.

 Feeding :

Animals are mostly stall fed. Berseem, oat and mustard are the green fodders fed in rabi, and pearl millet, sorghum and cluster bean in Kharif. In lean season Murrah animals are maintained on wheat and pulse straws in conjunction withoilcakes and other concentrates. Mostly, women are engaged in buffalo rearing (80%), and all the activities pertaining to feeding, milking, cleaning etc. are looked after by them. Calves are not weaned. Very few farmers rear bulls exclusively for breeding purpose. Natural service is mostly practiced in the field.