Working for 30 years, Prof Revives Vechur Cattle Breed from the Brink of Extinction

Dr Sosamma Iype from Kerala had embarked on a mission to save the Vechur cattle in the 80s. She was awarded a Padma Sri for her efforts.

Vechur cattle breed is noted for its small size and remarkable milk yield. It is, in fact, the smallest cattle breed in the world. Named after the village Vechoor, located in Kerala’s Kottayam district, these cattle also require less feed and maintenance. Its milk is also said to have medicinal properties. But the cattle breed had gone near to extinction in the 80s.

In the 1960s, the government of Kerala introduced a change in the cattle breeding policy to enhance milk production. Following this step, there was massive crossbreeding of native cattle with exotic varieties of bulls. This resulted in a decrease in the number of native varieties like Vechur cows, thereby leading to near extinction.

Since the 80s, Dr Sosamma Iyppe (80), has been at the forefront of conserving the Vechur cow. She is a retired professor from Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University, Thrissur. She has been awarded the Padma Shri for her relentless efforts in work in saving the breed from the brink of extinction and increasing its population.

It all started when a few of her students approached Dr Sosamma with the idea of reviving the Vechur cow. They started a search for any of the remaining Vechur cows and it took them years to find at least one cow. The owner of the cow did not want to sell his beloved cow to them, but they managed to convince him by telling him the aim of their mission. Gradually they began to find more Vechur cows and had around 24 of them.

The journey was not an easy one and they faced many challenges. There were people in the university who weren’t in favour of their activities. But eventually, the Vechur cows were recognised as an indigenous cattle breed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Then there was an incident of poisoning, and they lost several cattle in this incident. Also In 1998, an environmentalist claimed that the DNA of the Vechur cattle breed was patented by Scotland’s Roslin Institute. This led to disturbance in the Indian research field. There was a lot of resistance towards Dr Sosamma’s work of conserving them. But finally, after two years of investigation, the claim was proved to be wrong.

In 1998 they formed a trust – Vechur Conservation Trust —to increase support and participation from farmers as well as the researchers. There were also breeding programmes and research for the cattle breed. Finally, they have succeeded in re-establishing the population of Vechur Cows in the world. Now there are over 5,000 Vechur cows in Kerala and other parts of the country. Dr Sosamma has received various accolades from organisations like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

-Staff Reporter