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Pandharpuri buffalo Photo: Navneet Kaur · Pexels License · source ↗

Pandharpuri buffalo

Pandharpuri is the famous long-horned dairy buffalo of western Maharashtra and northern Karnataka, named after the temple town of Pandharpur. Registered with NBAGR, it is the second most economically important buffalo in Maharashtra after Murrah and underpins the cooperative dairy belt of Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur. The breed's signature sword-shaped horns can grow more than 120 cm long.

Origin and distribution

The home tract is Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara and Pune districts of western Maharashtra, extending into Belagavi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura of northern Karnataka. Pastoral Dhangar herders historically grazed Pandharpuri on the sugarcane-tops and stubble fields of this sugar belt, and the breed today is also reared intensively by Warna and Gokul dairy farmers.

Morphology

Pandharpuri is medium-sized and rangy — adult cows 380-450 kg, bulls 450-550 kg. Coat is jet black with occasional white markings on the forehead, switch and fetlocks. The breed's most distinctive feature is its horn — extremely long, flat, sword-shaped, sweeping backward, downward and then upward in a wide curve. Bull horns can exceed 120 cm tip-to-tip; cow horns 80-90 cm. The face is long and narrow, eyes deep-set, and udder well-developed with cylindrical teats.

Productivity

Lactation yield is 1,500-2,200 kg over 305 days, with elite animals exceeding 3,500 kg. Milk fat averages 7.5-8.5% and SNF above 9% — placing Pandharpuri close to Murrah on fat-corrected yield (Milk Fat Snf Pricing), and well-paid in cooperative procurement. The breed is markedly heat-tolerant and walks long distances comfortably — useful for grazing-based and transhumant systems.

Inter-calving interval is 14-16 months. First calving is at 42-48 months. Calves are robust at birth (28-32 kg).

Management

A typical Solapur smallholder ration is 25-30 kg sugarcane-tops and green grass, 4-5 kg dry roughage and 4-6 kg concentrate (Concentrate Feed Mix Dairy) per 8-12 kg/day yield. Pandharpuri responds well to AI from proven Pandharpuri bulls (Artificial Insemination Cattle); the long horns require wider feeding alleys and handling corridors than Murrah. ICAR-CIRB and MAFSU operate breed-conservation herds, and Warana / Gokul cooperatives run a progeny-testing programme to identify high-yielding sires for community-bull use.

See also: Marathwadi buffalo, Nagpuri buffalo, Murrah buffalo, Mehsana buffalo, Milk fat & SNF pricing.

Sources

  1. Pandharpuri buffalo — NBAGR breed profile. ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources, Karnal.
  2. Pandharpuri — Dairy Knowledge Portal. National Dairy Development Board.