Pure breed of indigenous cattle has been fast disappearing in the land of Ongole bulls, with the average farmer losing interest in rearing them, especially in Prakasam district where they flourished in between Gundalakamma and Musi rivers for centuries.
As a result, the majestic bovine animals thrived in far away countries such as Brazil, which has built a thriving dairy industry by importing Ongole breed of cattle germ plasm in a big way since 1950s. To undo the damage, the Union and State Governments have taken up germ plasm improvement programme by roping in farmers in and around Ongole in Prakasam district under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
The selected farmers are being provided with young bulls born to elite mothers to promote Germ plasm improvement, according to Animal husbandry Joint Director Baby Rani. “Each such farmer will be provided with ₹20,000 for rearing male calves aged between 6 months to 1 year. The maintenance cost for feed up to ₹4,000 and ₹700 for medicines for every six months up to 1 year will also be provided to each beneficiary farmer,” she said.
However, the non-serious persons would be in for big trouble as the department would initiative criminal action in case of neglect, she made it clear. The department staff would regularly visit the beneficiary farmers to evaluate the healthy upkeep of the animals and recommend punitive action in case of poor maintenance, she added.
Additional cost on nurturing the bull calves should be borne by the beneficiaries themselves as also the transportation cost. The purchased bull calves would have to be insured for three years by the beneficiaries themselves. “To start with 50 Ongole bull calves will be provided to farmers,” she explains. Male calves of Punganur breeds born to elite mothers are also available.
The department had chalked out an action plan to achieve accelerated breed improvement programme using sex-sorted semen for production of female calves with 90% accuracy.
Elaborating on the economics of the programme, she said unit cost had been priced at ₹1,350 for up to two semen straws with subsidy component of ₹850. Sex sorted semen is available for buffaloes, Gir cows and also Holstein-Friesian cows, she added.
If female calf was not delivered even after artificial insemination for the second time, the entire amount of ₹500 paid by the farmer concerned would be returned.
If a male calf is born, half of the amount would be returned. The Veterinary Hospitals at Chimakurthi, and Darsi had been identified for implementation of the programme with a target of 1,000 animals in the first phase, she said, adding efforts were on to reduce the the cost of semen straws to ensure greater acceptance by farmers.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Mission State Vice-Chairman M.V.S. Nagi Reddy wanted the farmers to go for rearing of high yielding Gir cow to cash in on the demand for A2 milk among health-conscious people.
