India has world's largest cattle population but poor productivity makes country's per capita yield lower
than that of developed nations
Insulation sheets for shed-roofs from Israel, long-blade fans from Italy, cooling pads from China, mixed ration machine and body brush from Sweden, and technology from Wisconsin, USA, adapted to Indian conditions - This is the multinational look of the Redhu cattle farm at Jind, Haryana, where what is probably the most ambitious project of its kind in the private sector is on-- developing the best germ-plasm of Indian cattle through selective breeding and giving it to dairy farmers for free, in order to increase the productivity of animals.
India owns the largest cattle population in the world but with low productivity per animal, the country cannot match the developed nations in terms of per capita yield. This is exactly the fill that Baljit Singh Redhu of Lakshya Food India Ltd has set out to cover, for both cows and buffaloes. Among cows, Redhu is working on what he calls the Hindustani Holstein.
For decades now dairy farmers across India have imported the semen of Holstein-Freisian bulls from multinationals based in the United States and Europe, to increase the yield of the desi cow. The cross-bred cows in India have an impressive yield but are high-maintenance animals too. They need coolers and even air-conditioners in summer and are highly vulnerable to infections in Indian conditions.
To work on his Hindustani Holstein, Redhu's team purchased the best of cows from all parts of the country- - Ongole from south India, Gir from Gujarat and the other fine breeds. "I am inseminating the various breeds of cows with the semen of Holstein-Freisian bulls. Calves born to these cows will be studied, to see which of them is best suited to our conditions. We will then develop this breeding line and give the semen of the bulls to dairy farmers in villages, to improve the yield of their cows," he said.
