The Lohani is a Pakistani

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

zebuine cattle The zebu (; ''Bos indicus''), also known as indicine cattle and humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in South Asia. Zebu, like many Sanga cattle breeds, differs from taurine cattle by a fatty hump on their sh ...

. It is named after the Loralai District of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

, and is also found in the

Dera Ismail Khan District Dera Ismail Khan District (Urdu and , ), often abbreviated as D.I. Khan is a district in the Dera Ismail Khan division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The capital of the district is the town of Dera Ismail Khan. The district has ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

. It is principally a draught breed, but may also be used for

milking Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of cattle, water buffalo, humans, goats, sheep, and, more rarely, camels, horses, and donkeys. Milking may be done by hand or by machine, and requires the animal to be currently or rec ...

History

The Lohani originated in the

Loralai Loralai (, ), also known as Bori (), is a Pakistani city that serves both as the division headquarter of Loralai Division and the district headquarter of Loralai District. It is located in the northeastern part of Balochistan province of Paki ...

district of

, for which it is named, and in the

, approximately equivalent to the former

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

and later Pakistan. The Acchai was previously considered to form part of this breed, but was later recognised as a distinct breed. In 2006 a breed census found a total population of head.

Characteristics

The Lohani is of small or

miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature food, small edible or inedible versions o ...

size, with a height at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

of for bulls and for cows. The coat is highly variable, but is most often red patched or spotted with white. The head is small in relation to the body, the horns thin and short.

Use

The Lohani was used principally as a

draught animal A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for transportation (e.g. riding horses and camels), while ot ...

for ploughing and similar work, but also as a

pack animal A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is a working animal used to transport goods or materials by carrying them, usually on its back. Domestic animals of many species are used in this way, among them alpacas, Bact ...

. It may have some aptitude as a dairy animal: some records from the 1950s show milk yields of over per

lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process ...

References

Cattle breeds originating in India Cattle breeds originating in Pakistan {{Pakistan-stub