Shimla, Oct 10 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh government will set up a Murrah buffalo farm to get nutrient rich dairy products for people of the hill state and adjoining region, state Animal Husbandry Minister Virender Kanwar said on Sunday.
The buffalo breeding farm will be set up at a four hectare plot in Una district at a cost of Rs 5.06 crore under the aegis of Himachal Pradesh Livestock and Poultry Development Board.
“The idea of the farm is to provide the bovine breeders with an unadulterated bovine frozen semen for artificial insemination (AI) from elite pure bulls to produce high-yielding calves,” Kanwar said in a statement.
Murrah buffaloes, popularly known as “Black Gold”, are highly suitable for professional and organised dairy farming for yielding high quality milk.
The state government will set up three ultra modern sheds at a cost of around Rs 75 lakh to rear 50 buffaloes — 30 of them adults and 20 heifers.
The adult buffaloes will be brought in two batches while the heifers will be brought in three batches of 10 each.
Kanwar said each batch will be procured at an interval of five to six months and the procurement of animals will be made from the government and private buffalo farms whose animals are registered in the Cattle Herd Registration Scheme (CHRS).
The state government will provide high grade semen to the state’s farmers and the surplus semen will be exported to the adjoining states like Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to meet the growing demands, he said.
Murrah buffaloes, marked by their distinctive tightly curled horns and massive and stocky build, are famous around the world for their high milk yields.
Since the 1960s, Murrah bulls have been taken from India to Bulgaria, Brazil, China and several East Asian countries to help in efforts to improve their native breeds and increase milk yields.
The minister said under the project, the state government will provide surplus Murrah heifers, adults and bulls to the farmers for commercial use within and outside the state.
The average milk production of a Murrah buffalo is about 2,200 litres in a lactation period of 310 days.
The daily lactation of an elite milch Murrah buffalo is around 14 to 15 litres but in some cases found to be up to 31.5 litres. The fat in the milk is around 7.5 per cent, Kanwar said. PTI ACB SNE
