Surti
The home tract of Surti buffaloes is in the South western part of Gujarat. Best animals are found in Anand, Nadiad, Kaira and Baroda district. The animals are also commonly found in South Rajasthan extending over to Udaipur, Bhilwara, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh and Dungarpur distts. in Rajasthan. The surti buffalo is medium in body size as compared to heavy breeds, consumes less feed, thrives well both on limited and without green, and produce milk with higher fat and SNF content. It is maintained easily by landless, small and marginal farmers.These animals are preferred by city milk producers, due to its body size and regularity in calving.
The population of cattle and buffalo is increasing continuously since 1951, while upto 1997, cattle population was more than buffalo, but thereafter, buffalo population is more than cattle , might be due to the preference of the stakeholders in the state.
Surti Buffalo Population in Gujarat (2007)
| Breed |
Population (in lakh) |
Proportion of particular breed ( %) |
| Surti | 15.57 | 17.74 |
Some of the important characteristics is described as follows: –
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Body color |
Coat colour of Surti buffaloes varies from rusty brown to silver grey . |
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Horns |
Horns are flat, of medium length, sickle shaped and are directed downward and backward, and then turn upward at the tip to form a hook. |
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Marking |
White markings is found on forehead, legs and switch of tail and these characteristics preferred by farmers. |
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Eye |
A white streak of hair is usually seen over the eyebrows. |
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Tail |
The tail is fairly long, thin having white tuft. |
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Body |
Surti buffaloes are of medim size, having a straight back, small dewlap and naval flap. |
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Head
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Head is elongated, fairly broad and rounded(convex) between horns. |
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Face Neck |
Two or three white strips on the neck is very typical character of the breed. |
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Ear |
Ears are drooping with reddish surface and lower border with whitw hairs. |
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Limbs |
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Skin |
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Udder |
Udder is well developed, finely shaped and squarely placed between the hind legs. |
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The performancr traits of Surti buffaloes reported by Sethi(2003) and Kharadi et al (2006) are given here as under:
| Traits | Weighted Average |
| Average lactation length (days) | 292±8.0 to 311±7.0 |
| Average lactation milk yield (kg) | 1547±50 to 1745±60 |
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Average daily milk yield (kg) |
4.90 to 5.30 |
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Peak milk yield (kg) |
– |
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Average Fat% |
7.85 to 8.10 |
| Average SNF% | – |
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The average productivity of the breed is not good as compare to other buffalo breeds of the country.