The Department of Animal Husbandry is all set to commission a modern bull mother farm and open the nucleus breeding system for pure bred and cross-bred animals at Mattupetty in Idukki district, under an ambitious programme aimed at reviving the flagging dairy sector in the State.
The research-oriented facility has been established by the Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB) on the sprawling premises of the Swiss farm set up in 1963.
The Rs.8.47-crore project seeks to produce superior-quality bull calves and high-value female calves with enhanced milk production potential for domestic use and supply to different States.
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The farm will employ multiple ovulation and embryo transfer technology to improve the genetic stock.
Trial run
Minister for Animal Husbandry K.P. Mohanan said the trial run of the project had been completed. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is scheduled to commission the farm on September 25.
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The hi-tech bull mother farm is equipped with automatic milking parlour, computerised feeding station, and milk recording facility. As many as 200 genetically superior cows of the Holstein Freisen and Jersey breeds will be housed in the farm as the nucleus herd.
The best 20 cows will be subjected to multiple ovulation and the embryos produced will be transferred to the rest of the animals in the KLDB farms.
The calves produced through embryo transfer will be reared in the farm under controlled conditions.
The progeny will then be compared for traits like milk production and the best sets will be used as parents of the next generation.
Embryos will be collected from heifers produced in the nucleus herd through embryo transfer and will be used for transfer after assessing the milk production of the heifers. The procedure will be repeated continually with each generation. The excess embryos will be sold to other agencies.
“While the demand for milk and milk products is persistently increasing, the dwindling bovine population in Kerala is able to produce only 60 per cent of the domestic requirement. The solution is to produce cows with enhanced milk potential and supply superior female calves and stud bulls to farmers,” says Ani S. Das, Managing Director, KLDB.
Genetic diversity
“To improve genetic diversity in the population, it is essential to produce first generation crossbred bulls by using donor exotic breeds on famous indigenous breeds. This has to be matched by the availability of female calf with suitable genetic make up,” he explains. “It is expected that about 60 super ovulations can be carried out from the third year onwards with an expected production of 250 high quality embryos which will be transferred to heifers in the farm for the production of calves,” says Dr. Das.
The excess female calves available (after meeting the replacement requirements of the farm) will be sold to farmers at reasonable rates. Similarly, excess high pedigreed male calves will be sold to agencies outside the State involved in frozen semen production and the remaining ones sold for meat purposes.
A progeny testing facility will ensure the quality of bull semen produced for the domestic and export markets. The computerised milk recording data will assist in the authenticity of the results of the test bulls.
“The Mattupetty farm will produce semen for high-yielding cows in Idukki and Wayanad districts and those in other districts registered in the Ksheeradhara project,” Dr. Das said.
As many as 60 cows have been procured for the nucleus herd. Another 140 are to be procured over the next six months.