'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎303r] (608/862)

IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE, AND MINOR INDUSTRY 469
eventually reach the tanner’s yard. Milk products such as butter
milk and clarified butter {ghi, p. 344) are staple foods, and ghi is a
valuable export item. It is only round Baghdad and at a few other
towns that one or two farms exist solely for the production of milk
and milk products.
The southern Zubairi strain of cattle is superior to the small
northern breed both in size and yield of milk, but cows seldom yield
milk for more than 3 or 4 months, at the best. The Veterinary Depart
ment has attempted to improve strains in northern Iraq by importing
steers of the Sindi and Rustaqi breeds, and establishing breeding
farms of its own and kraals from which bulls are lent to villagers.
This service was extended to Baghdad and Diyala provinces in
1939-1940.
The methods of stock farmers are most primitive. Animals are not
protected in severe weather and fodder is seldom available for milk-
animals. Large numbers perish in seasons of drought. Cleanliness
and elementary care of animals do not exist, and there is no segrega
tion of sick animals, so that diseases spread rapidly.
Despite the importance of cattle in the agricultural and com
mercial system, there are no figures available for their number, since
draught animals are not taxed and villagers naturally classify their
milk-animals as draught cattle. Estimates vary between 250,000
and one million. The number killed in inspected abattoirs is about
28,000 a year, and the number exported after veterinary examination
about 25,000. The surplus production of ghi ranges between 300
and 400 tons in a good year. The Bani Lam tribesmen of the Amara
district are noted as the best stock breeders of southern Iraq, and
a second cattle district of mark is the Euphrates region within easy
reach of Baghdad.
Water buffaloes replace sheep (rather than cattle) as the principal
means of subsistence of the non-cultivating tribesmen and marsh
Arabs in the marsh-lands of the lower Tigris and Euphrates. They
produce large quantities of indifferent milk; their flesh is eaten and
their hides are used for leather, but they are not normally used as
draught animals in these areas. Elsewhere they are kept in small
numbers and replace cattle as draught animals. They need careful
attention and suffer from insects in summer and cold in winter.
The table of tax receipts shows that out of a total of about 60,000
one-third are in Amara province, one-half are evenly distributed in
Basra, Muntafiq, and Diwaniya provinces, and a few hundreds in
each of the other provinces.