Jammu, February 26: To bring a systemic improvement in the indigenous dairy cattle and their productivity in the region, the Livestock Development Board Jammu, under the guidance of Principal Secretary to the Govt. Animal/Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries department, J&K, Navin Kumar Choudhary and Director Animal Husbandry Jammu Dr. Sagar D. Doifode, has procured 20 elite Sahiwal cattle heifers from Govt. cattle farm Barabanki (UP) run by the Uttar Pradesh Livestock Development Board.
As per the Chief Executive Officer Livestock Development Board Jammu, Dr. Matloob Ahmad Tak, Sahiwal breed of Indigenous cattle is considered to be one of the best milch breeds in India with high quality milk and has also been declared as the Adopted Breed as per the J&K Livestock Breeding Policy for the Subtropical Climatic conditions which are prevalent in Jammu region.
He further said the aim behind the induction of Sahiwal heifers into the Union Territory of J&K is conservation, development and propagation of the Indigenous breed in a scientific manner. Indigenous cattle are well known for their qualities of heat tolerance, disease resistance, tick and pest resistance and ability to withstand extreme climatic conditions thus being commercially viable for farmers.
Elaborating further, he said that these elite heifers (avg. age 15 months) shall be managed properly on scientific lines at govt. farms having good infrastructure and these farms shall be the source of high genetic merit, disease free bulls to be used for natural service in the entire Jammu province thus catering to the needs of farmers. It will also ensure breed upgradation of our local non-descript cattle using elite Sahiwal bulls.
He said that in order to improve the quality of livestock in the region, modernisation of Semen Station at Hakkalhas been done by equipping it with the state of the art machinery and other necessary infrastructure conforming to latest semen processing technology. “With the introduction of ‘Sexed-Semen’ for cattle in the Jammu division, the profitability of the dairy business is also set to be increased”, he added.
