Badri is the indigenous hill cattle breed of Uttarakhand: a small, hardy, dual-purpose animal kept for milk and draught in the Kumaon and Garhwal hills, and the first cattle breed from the state to be registered by ICAR-NBAGR. The 2018–19 breed survey counted just under ten lakh Badri cattle, pure and graded together.
Most of what is written about Badri now is about its milk or its ghee. This piece is about the animal itself: where it lives, what it looks like, what it produces, how it is kept and how many there are.
At a glance
- Badri is registered with ICAR-NBAGR as INDIA_CATTLE_2400_BADRI_03040, the first cattle breed registered from Uttarakhand; papers date the registration to 2016.
- The 2018–19 breed survey counted 7,41,324 pure and 2,48,051 graded Badri cattle, just under ten lakh, almost all in Uttarakhand.
- Village cows weighed only 90 to 105 kg in a 2013 survey; owners in a 2018 study reported about 1.6 litres of milk a day over an 11.8-month lactation.
- One small Pantnagar study measured 4.58 per cent fat in Badri milk against 3.83 in crossbreds; its authors call the data baseline information that needs confirming.
- A centrally funded conservation project approved in 2022–23 is recording elite cows in five districts, and selected Badri bulls supply frozen semen from a centre near Rishikesh.
What is the Badri cow breed?
Badri is a registered indigenous cattle breed of the Uttarakhand hills, small in size and kept for both milk and draught work. It is listed with ICAR's National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources under accession number INDIA_CATTLE_2400_BADRI_03040, and papers citing the bureau date its registration to 2016.
Before it had a breed name, these animals were simply the hill cattle of the state. A 2013 survey by NBAGR scientists measured and genotyped hill cattle across five districts, described the population under the working name Uttara, and concluded that it "may be considered for recognition as a distinct breed". A 2023 study from GB Pant University gives the accession number and calls Badri the first registered cattle breed of Uttarakhand; a 2018 study describes it as the 40th cattle breed registered in India. Locally the animals are also called Pahadi or Red hill cattle, according to a 2025 review by NBAGR scientists.
Where in Uttarakhand are Badri cattle found?
Almost entirely in the hill districts of Uttarakhand's Kumaon and Garhwal divisions. The 2018–19 breed survey recorded 7,41,096 of the country's 7,41,324 pure Badri cattle in Uttarakhand. Field studies have worked in Almora, Pauri Garhwal, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi.
The 2013 survey covered villages in Almora, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi, at altitudes of roughly 1,200 to 2,200 metres, with minimum temperatures near freezing and snowfall at some of the sites. The 2018 and 2019 studies of owners worked in Almora and Pauri Garhwal, the two districts with the largest share of the state's indigenous cattle. The only pure Badri recorded elsewhere were 228 animals in Chhattisgarh.
What does a Badri cow look like?
A Badri cow is small, compact and cylindrical in build, with strong legs, a small head, short stumpy horns and a small udder held close to the body. Coat colour varies widely: black, brown, red, grey and white all occur, alone or mixed. Village cows in the 2013 survey weighed only 90 to 105 kg.
The table collects the traits recorded in the studies we opened. Weight depends heavily on feeding: the farm herd at Pantnagar, chosen for good body condition, was about twice as heavy as the village cows measured in 2013.
| Trait | What was recorded | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Body | Small, cylindrical, well built and compact, strong legs | Pundir et al. 2013, village survey |
| Coat colour | White, grey, black, red, brown and combinations; black predominant in Garhwal, brown and black about equal in Kumaon | Pundir et al. 2013 |
| Horns | Small, black or grey, stumpy, curving upwards then towards the face | Pundir et al. 2013 |
| Hump and dewlap | Small to moderate | Pundir et al. 2013 |
| Udder and teats | Udder small; teats 6–12 cm, mostly cylindrical | Pundir et al. 2013 |
| Tail | Long, almost touching the ground; switch mostly black | Pundir et al. 2013 |
| Adult weight, village herds | Cows 90–105 kg; bullocks 90–132 kg | Pundir et al. 2013 |
| Adult weight, farm herd | Cows 200–250 kg (selected animals, Pantnagar) | Thakur et al. 2023 |
| Temperament | Docile in almost 90 per cent of animals | Pundir et al. 2013 |
How much milk does a Badri cow give?
Very little by dairy standards. In a 2018 study of 120 owners in Almora and Pauri Garhwal, cows averaged 1.6 litres a day, with individual animals between half a litre and three litres. Recorded field data from the 2013 survey put the estimated lactation yield at about 603 to 624 kg.
The two studies measured differently. The 2018 figures come from what owners recalled in interviews. They reported an average lactation of 11.8 months, a dry period of under two months, a first calving at about 4.3 years and close to nine calves in a cow's working life of about 12 years. The 2013 survey recorded milk in the field at intervals; it found average daily yields ranging from 1.61 to 2.57 kg and judged from how long cows stayed in the recording that lactations ran about six to eight months.
On milk composition, the only figures we found come from one small farm study: ten Badri, ten Sahiwal and ten crossbred cows at Pantnagar. Badri milk measured 4.58 per cent fat and 3.58 per cent protein, against 3.83 and 3.32 per cent in the crossbreds. The Badri cows also had the lowest somatic cell count. The authors themselves describe the data as meagre baseline information that needs further study. What that composition means for ghee is covered in our piece on what the Badri breed changes in ghee.
How are Badri cattle kept?
Mostly on grazing. The 2013 survey found an extensive system in Kumaon, with cattle grazing from morning to evening, and a semi-intensive one in Garhwal. Animals lived on tree leaves and grasses, farmers grew no fodder crops, and cattle were housed only at night, in Kumaon usually as part of the owner's house.
The same survey gives a picture of a household animal rather than a commercial herd:
- Small herds. Two to five animals per household in Garhwal, larger herds in Kumaon.
- Shared grazing. In Kumaon, animals from several households were pooled into groups of 25 to 50 and taken out over the hills, near water.
- Little bought feed. Only cows in milk and working bullocks got some feed and concentrate in the evening.
- Women's work. Women looked after all activities related to rearing.
- Natural breeding. Calves were reared mainly by suckling, and vaccination was observed in very few cases.
The animals earn their keep in several ways. In a 2019 study of 120 households, 94.2 per cent of owners kept Badri cattle mainly for milk and milk products, 68.3 per cent for manure and 10 per cent for draught. Draught still matters for males: of the 2,61,869 pure Badri males counted in 2018–19, 2,03,631 were recorded as used for agriculture only. In 2018, owners reported bullocks working about 33 days a year, ploughing about 0.4 acres a day.
How many Badri cattle are there?
The breed-wise survey done alongside the 20th Livestock Census, between October 2018 and September 2019, counted 7,41,324 pure Badri cattle and 2,48,051 graded animals: 9,89,375 in total, about 0.7 per cent of India's indigenous cattle and eleventh among the 41 recognised breeds by number.
| Category (20th Livestock Census, 2018–19) | Number |
|---|---|
| Pure Badri, male | 2,61,869 |
| Pure Badri, female | 4,79,455 |
| Pure Badri, total | 7,41,324 |
| Graded Badri (more than half Badri in appearance) | 2,48,051 |
| All Badri | 9,89,375 |
"Graded" is the census term for animals showing more than 50 per cent of a breed's physical characteristics. Of the pure females, 1,92,382 were cows over three years old in milk on the census date.
Whether the population is shrinking is harder to say from one count. The 2018 owner study gave an estimated population of 1.6 million and called it decreasing, but did not say where the estimate came from, so it cannot be compared with the census. The longer trend for hill cattle is clearer: the 2013 survey reported that between 2003 and 2007, crossbred cattle in the state rose by 49.12 per cent while indigenous cattle fell by 3.31 per cent. The 2025 NBAGR review names the use of exotic and commercial breeds as the major cause of genetic erosion of indigenous livestock in the region.
What is being done to conserve the breed?
The main government effort runs under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission. In 2022–23 the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying approved a fully centrally funded project, Development and Conservation of Badri Cattle, and had released ₹365.28 lakh by August 2024 to record milk yields in the field and identify elite Badri cows.
According to the department's answer in the Rajya Sabha in August 2024:
- Field performance recording covers five districts: Pauri, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Uttarkashi and Almora.
- Six high-genetic-merit bulls, bred from high-yielding Badri mothers, had joined the frozen semen centre at Shayampur, Rishikesh.
- That centre had produced 20,595 conventional and 3,618 sex-sorted semen doses.
- A ₹42.64 lakh pilot on Badri ghee traceability was running in Champawat and Chamoli with the district milk unions.
Research is the other strand. The 2013 survey genotyped hill cattle with 21 microsatellite markers and found a good amount of genetic variability. The 2018 study called for better nutrition and management, saying this would encourage hill households to conserve the breed and make rearing it more profitable. Markets matter too. Himdhara buys milk from hill farmers above the local cooperative rate, and we describe that arrangement on our story page. For how Badri compares with two better-known indigenous breeds, see Badri, Gir and Sahiwal compared.
The short version
Badri is Uttarakhand's own hill cattle, registered with ICAR-NBAGR as INDIA_CATTLE_2400_BADRI_03040 and the state's first registered cattle breed. It is small, varied in colour and kept mostly on grazing in small household herds for milk, manure and draught. Owners report about 1.6 litres of milk a day. The 2018–19 census counted just under ten lakh Badri cattle, pure and graded, almost all in Uttarakhand, and a central project approved in 2022–23 is recording elite cows while selected Badri bulls supply frozen semen.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (2022). Breed-wise Report of Livestock and Poultry (based on 20th Livestock Census). Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
- Pundir R K, Singh P K, Neelkant, Sharma D, Singh C V, Prakash B (2013). Uttara—A new cattle germplasm from Uttarakhand hills. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences.
- Joshi P, Tiwari R, Dutt T (2018). Performance evaluation of Badri cattle. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences.
- Thakur S, Huozha R, Dhara S, Maiti A, Rastogi S K (2023). Comparative studies on milk parameters and somatic cell count of Badri cattle over Sahiwal and crossbred counterparts. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences.
- Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (2024). Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1814: Rashtriya Gokul Mission. Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.