Jind, February 21
The culture of agriculture has hoofed it to the catwalk: the models are black, bountiful and in the buff – the buffalos, that is. In the first-of-its-kind show, as many as 70 beauties of the topnotch Murrah breed rehearsed this evening for the ramp walk on Wednesday at the city’s Arjun stadium.

As a part of the event ‘Murrah on Ramp,’ the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Department of Haryana has short-listed seven-and-a-half years old Dhanno Rani. The udder surprise: she gives 23 litres of milk daily.

The “black beauty” is owned by Master Hoshiyar Singh of Singhua village, Hisar. Singh claims Dhanno has been thrice state champion in various events. Her price: Rs 15 lakh. Singh says eight buffaloes from his village will attend the event.

“Haryana has been a cradle of milch cattle and Murrah is one of the best breeds in the world. To showcase the work and achievements in the field, the department has decided to hold a unique ramp walk,” said Dr KS Dangi, Director-General Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Haryana.

“We invited over 70 farmers who own such buffalos for the rehearsal. We’ll select around half of them for the final event tomorrow. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar would be the chief guest,” said Dangi.

The department believes the show will give a boost to livestock breeding. “This will be the first such event in the country where milch cattle having a daily yield of over 20 litres of milk will be showcased on the ramp,’’ said Sadhu Ram, Deputy Director in the department.

He said the event will also mark distribution of incentive money to about 11,500 elite Murrah owners and the launch of doorstep livestock breeding services by JK Trust, a private company whose services have been roped in to widen the infrastructure. Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind and Rohtak hog the list of districts from where most participants will arrive.