Sahiwal

Sahiwal is considered to be one of the best milch cattle breed of India. The breed derives its name from Sahiwal area in Montgomery district of Punjab in Pakistan. These animals are also known as “Lambi Bar”, “Lola”, “Montgomery”, “Multani” and “Teli”. The animals are very good for specialized dairy purpose. The breeding tract of the breed is Ferozpur and Amritsar districts of Punjab and Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. Good herds of pure Sahiwal cattle are available around Fazilka and Abohar towns of Ferozepur district in Punjab. The cows are brownish red in colour; shades may vary from a mahogany red brown to more greyish red. Extremities in bulls are darker than rest of body colour. Occasionally there are white patches. Animals have well developed udder, good slope at rump and shorter horns. Dewlap is medium in size. Average lactation yield of Sahiwal cows is 2325 kilo grams. The lactation yield ranges from 1600 to 2750 Kg. However, selected herds may have higher productivity. Milk yield as high as 6000 lit has been recorded under organized farm conditions. Considering the merit of this breed, Sahiwal animals were imported by Australia and were used in developing a synthetic crossbred called Australian Milking Zebu (AMZ) cattle.

A large herd of Sahiwal cows is maintained by National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal in Haryana. There are some Gaushalas maintaining Sahiwal animals in Punjb and Rajasthan.