Indigenous breed development under Hariana PS project: Experience sharing by a farmer

This is the story of Ms. Sarita Yadav, W/O Baljeet Ram Jivan, a resident of Kehri khumar village of Jhajjar district of Haryana. She and her family members have special interest in rearing Harianabreed of cows. Although majority of people in Haryana prefer buffalo milk, her family like to consume cow milk in their daily diet.At present the family possesses one Hariana cow and a crossbred female calf. The Hariana cow is in its 3rd lactation and the peak daily yield is reported to be around 12 liters in the current lactation.

Ms Sarita Yadav w/o Sh. Baljeet with elite Hariana cow

Before the start of a Pedigree Selection projectfor Hariana breedunder National Dairy Plan Phase 1 (NDP I) that is being implemented by Haryana Livestock Development Breed (HLDB), semen from Hariana bulls were not available  and the farmers had no option but getting their animal inseminated with semen from Crossbred or Sahiwal bulls. Many farmers who were keeping Hariana breed of cattle were very much worried about getting pure Hariana calves in future generations.

Harina cow with her calf

It all started when HLDB submitted a project for pedigree selection in Hariana breed and the Project Steering Committee of NDPI approved the same during August 2013. Kehri khumar village of Jhajjar district, of Haryana where Smt. Sarita Yadav resides also was selected as a project village. After the launch of the PS project, the project personnel elaborated the objective of the project and assured availability of Quality Frozen semen from Hariana bulls of high genetic merit to inseminate Hariana cows of the project villages. Ms. Sarita Devi, like many other fellow farmers also got convinced about the objective of the project. She registered her animal under the computerized information system (Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health- INAPH. Her animal was identified with an ear tag bearing a nationwide unique identification number 160006495873. The animal was enrolled under a milk recording. Subsequently, during the month of August, 2014, her animal was inseminated with the semen from a Hariana Bull (ABC-HY-412) of high genetic merit having a mother’s milk yield of 2550 litre.

Now the entire family of the Smt. Sarita Yadav is eagerly waiting for the birth of Hariana calf. If the calf born is a female one, she would rear it to a cow. If the calf is a male one the project authorities have promised her that the calf would be purchased by the project and would be reared to a bull for future production of quality semen and the same would be used to inseminate thousands of other Hariana cows in the country.   This process, SmtSarita Yadav believes can bring about genetic improvement in Hariana breed of animals and improve their milk production potential.

Initiatives taken by HLDB to implement Hariana PS project in this village and other project villages have developed lot of interest amongthe fellow farmers in keepingHariana cattle and they have started appreciating the efforts of HLDB for improving the indigenous breeds of cattle.