Murrah Bull		Murrah Buffalo

Murrah breed of buffalo, the pride of Haryana, is a milk type animal. The Murrah is the most important Indian breed of buffalo, also called as ‘black gold’ and is the most efficient producer of milk, not only in the India but probably in the world. Bulls of this breed are used extensively for up-grading inferior stock. She-buffaloes are used in most of the important cities for the supply of milk and ghee.

1. Species: Buffalo
2. Synonyms: Delhi, Kundi, Kali
3. Habitat: Central Haryana & Delhi
4. Breeding tract: Hissar, Rohtak, Jind, Gurgaon Districts of Haryana, Nabha and Patiala Districts of Punjab & Delhi.
5. Main utility: Milk and Meat for food, Draught power for work.
6. Origin: India, Pakistan.
7. Distribution: Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, China, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam.

1. Colour: Jet black
2. Number of Horns : 2 (mostly polled cattle is found).
3. Shape of Horns: Tightly curved in a spiral form. Short in size.
4. Visible characteristics: Jet black color, tightly curled horns.

1. Body Color: Sound built, heavy and wedge shaped.
2. Head : Comparatively small.
3. Face: Comparatively long.
4. Neck: Comparatively long.
5. White markings on face and leg extremities may be there, but are not generally preferred.
6. Eyes: Should not be walled i.e. the cornea should not have whiteness.
7. Tail: Long reaching up to fetlock joint with black or white switch up to 8.0 inches.
8. Horns: Different from other breeds of buffaloes; 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 increases.
9. Limbs : Comparatively short but strong built.
10. Skin : Soft, smooth with scanty hairs as compared to other buffaloes.
11. Udder : Fully developed, drooping
12. Teats : Equally distributed over the udder but hind teats are longer than fore teats. Cylindrical forms of the teats are most common in the Murrah breed. The front teats are, on average, 5.8 cm to 6.4 cm long and their diameter is approximately 2.5 cm to 2.6 cm. Respective figures for the hind teats are 6.9 cm to 7.8 cm and 2.6 to 2.8 cm.
13. Loin : Broader and sliding forward.

1. Management System: Semi-Intensive
2. Mobility: Stationary
3. Feeding of adults: Grazing, Fodder and Concentrate
4. Housing: Buffaloes are kept in mixed type of housing system. Mostly they are tied to a tree or a pole in the open, but shelter is provided during extreme weather conditions. Houses are well ventilated and mostly made up of a pucca wall with kutcha floor.
5. Feeding system: Animals are stall fed, can also be let loose for grazing.
6. Feeds to be fed: Berseem, oats and mustard are the green fodder in rabi; and sorghum, pearl millet and cluster bean in kharif. Commercial feed can be fed anytime of the year.
7. Feeding of concentrates: 1kg/3kg of milk.
8. Feeding of roughages: 1/10^th of body weight per day.
9. Milking: Should be done twice a day, however thrice a day milking gives higher milk yield.
10. Milking practice: Full hand milking should be done. Avoid knuckling.
11. Milk let down time: Averages 2 minutes but may be as long as 10 minutes.

• Peculiarity of the breed:
  This breed has spread to almost all parts of the world and is being bred either in pure form or is being used for grading up local buffaloes. It has been exported to many developing countries and is bred there.
• Research highlights:
  Murrah buffaloes performed well under hot semi-arid and humid climatic conditions existed in the study area.

1. Reproductive problems: repeat breeders, anestrous, metritis.
2. Udder problems: poor udder development, milk let down problem, mastitis and teat defects.
3. Locomotive disorders
4. General debility: poor health, weakness