Page Mé August 1, 1990. This Week

FUTURE WATCH

€

NEW DOME

IC ANIMALS COMING?

Introducing. ..a steak for all seasonings

hile relaxing be-
side the bar-

becue in your

back yard this

Pitite

summer, you may sit back
and wonder why, with 220
kinds of large animals in
the world, only 10 per cent
have been domesticated to
provide food for man? And
almost none since the start
of the industrial age. That

may be about to change.
Of the more than 200 remain-

DEIOmoroew

By FRANK OGDEN

ing large, herbivorous animals,
the best prospect, according to
some food scientists, is the In-
dian nilgai (means “blue cattle”
in Hindi), the largest antelope in

ONLY 25°

Yes, you can make your own
beer for just 25¢ a bottle

e Simple
e Just Add Water
e Wait Four Weeks
e Sit Back and Enjoy

e.

=u

Total time in making, probably well under half an hour and
the bottling time takes another half hour. Total floor space
required is about four foot square.

Start off this weekend with a Wine-Art beginner's. kit which

includes all the basic equipinent and ingredients for your
first 60 bottles.

MG

Call the mail order hotline 1-800-663-5382

: ‘alll ogy a
ian» fl aa.

3429 W. Broadway 1125 Haultain St.
VANCOUVER VICTORIA
731-4726 381-5332

—dent,-ever the millennia-

Asia. It appears to have nothing
but pluses over other animals,
domesticated mainly by acci-

The nilgai produces less than
three per cent fat compared to 12
per cent in beef, one-third less
than chicken, and less than the
Axis deer now found on 10 per
cent of New Zealand farms and
increasingly appearing on
deer farms in western Canada.

The calorie count in nilgai
steak is one-quarter that of beef
and a third less than chicken.
Why isn’t the nilgai
everywhere? Fate ordained that
it would evolve, as did most
domesticated animals except
the deer, in Asia.

In India, Hindu religious
beliefs classify the nilgai as cat-
tle and thus sacred. Unimpres-
sive as a trophy animal, the
nilgai has been able to maintain
a “wild” population of 14,000 in
the semi-arid northwestern
states of Rajasthan and
Haryana.

A herd of about 15,000 nilgai

— War -Scientife-studies-s.

©DG 1990

roam the range in Texas, des-
cendants of a few zoo animals
introduced just prior to World

the American nilgai has an
abundance of the right qualities
for domestication.

For a farmer, the greatest ad-
vantage is the nilgai is the only
bovid of them all to regularly
give birth to twins, which per-
mits rapid increase in herd size.
A nilgai farmer can produce
twice the offspring as a farmer
raising red deer, which rarely
produce twins. Both grow very

quickly on summer grass to

produce lean and healthy
venison.

Adult nilgai bulls, which
weigh up to 280 kilograms (cows
180 kilograms) contain only 8
per cent fat (commercial beef
has 20 per cent) females 5.2 per
cent. :

Nilgai farming has other ad-
vantages. Males mate with any
cow they come across during a
three-month mating period.
They also waste no time in the

GW

process. They have “evolved so-
cially” to the point that they do
not defend any particular piece
of ground. they deminate enly-a
roving territory ofa few hundred
square metres which is con-
tinually changing.

Nilgai males, unlike other
bovids which fight by pushing@®
horns, merely entwine necks
and test their strength by trying
to wrestle the opponent to the
ground. No researchers can ex-
plain this relaxed, laid back at-
titude so unlike most
non-domesticated animals and.
their apparent methods of
chemical communication are lit-
tle understood.

With modern advances in
genetic manipulation and be
cause the nilgai already has
many qualities so much in
demand, this healthier, leaner
meat, which Texan taste panels
rate “as tender and tasty” will
probably turn up on super-
market counters in four or five
years. It certainly could be the
steak for all seasonings.

This Wedk

An Island Publishers Newsmagazine

#30-727 Johnson Street,
Victoria, British Columbia
V8W 1M9 381-3484

Jim Cunningham, Publisher
Tony Kant, Editor

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