Pathankot Beetal Goat Rearing Breed

Pathankot district, bordering Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, is one of the origin zones of the Beetal breed, a large dual-purpose goat with characteristic pendulous ears and high milk yield raised by Muslim and Gujjar communities in the sub-montane tracts. Beetal goats graze on forest scrub and crop stubble, producing 2 to 3 litres of milk daily and gaining weight rapidly for meat markets at festival seasons. Pathankot's goat breeders supply Beetal bucks to Punjab's Pashu Palah Department for artificial insemination programmes that improve smaller desi goats across the state's dairy goat sector.