Is it feasible for the States to reduce calf mortality and achieve reasonable annual growth rate in the number of ‘in-milk’ animals?

Indian cows and buffaloes produce more nutritious milk than the exotic breeds like Jersey and Holstein-Friesian. A study by National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) showed Indian cows have a rich A2 allele gene which helps them produce healthier milk. The frequency of this A2 allele in Indian breeds is 100 per cent whereas in exotic cattle breeds it is less than 60 per cent. Imported breeds posses A1 allele, which is considered to be associated with diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

2. Indian cows are divided into two broad categories, one indigenous and second, exotic/crossbreed. Indigenous cattle belong to descript/non-descript breeds of indigenous origin. There are 37 descript breeds of cattle of indigenous origin. Cross-bred cattle   are produced by crossing indigenous cows with exotic breeds or indigenous cattle which have exotic inheritance. The share of crossbred cattle in total number of exotic and crossbred cattle is 86.68%. The share non-descript cattle in total indigenous cattle is 74.92% while the share non-descript buffalo in total buffaloes is 43.37. There are 13 descript breeds of buffaloes of indigenous origin (Breed Survey 2013).

3. The total cattle population consisting of exotic/crossbred cattle (39.7 million) and indigenous cattle (151.2 million) in the country was 190.9 million numbers and the total buffalo population was 108.7 million in 2012. The total cattle population has decreased by about 4.1% over the previous census (2007) while the total buffalo population has increased by about 3.2%. The share cattle population in urban areas decreased from 4.41% in 2007 to 3.76% in 2012 and the share buffalo population in urban areas decreased from 9.87% to 7.63% during the same period. 85% bovine (cattle plus buffalo) are owned by landless, marginal and small land holding households (January – December 2013, NSS 70^th Round).

4.  The exotic/crossbred milch cows increased from 14.4 million in 2007 to 19.4 million in 2012, an increase of 34.8%. The indigenous milch cows marginally increased from 48.04 million in 2007 to 48.13 million in 2012, an increase of 0.17%. The milch buffaloes increased from 48.64 million in 2007 to 51.1 million in 2012, an increase of 4.96%.

5. The buffalo is backbone of the farmer’s economy of India. Buffaloes are also valued for meat and draught purposes. Nearly 36% of the milk production is contributed by indigenous (descript) buffaloes followed by 26% by crossbred cows. The indigenous(descript) cows contribute 12% of the total milk production in the country whereas non-descript cows contribute 9% milk production and non-descript buffaloes contribute 13% milk production. The fat content varies from 3.5 to 4.5% in cow’s milk and 6.5 to 7.5% in buffalo’s milk.

6.  The age of an indigenous cow, exotic/crossbred cow and buffalo at the time of first calving is 36 to 42 months, 28 to 36 months and 36 to 42 months respectively. The factor which most strongly influences age at puberty is nutrition level. The average gestation period in a cow and a buffalo is 283 and 310 days respectively. The estrus (heat) cycle length for the cow and buffalo is 21 days (range 18 to 24 days) with a heat duration of 12-24 hours (Period of maximum fertility: Last 8 hours of estrous).  The ideal cow or buffalo produces a calf every 13 to 14 months. Cows and buffaloes can live to 20 years by proper feeding and management practices. Accordingly number of lactations in the life cycle of a graded cow / graded buffalo can be 10 to 12 by proper feeding and management practices particularly the careful checking of ‘heat’.

7.  During 2014-15 all–Indias average yield per ‘In-milk animal’ of exotic/crossbred cows, indigenous cows and buffaloes was 7.15 Kg per day, 2.54 kg per day and 5.15 kg per day respectively.  In spite of the poor average milk yield of a vast majority of cattle in India, the individual records of milch animals, when kept under proper conditions of feeding and management, have shown encouraging results. The average lactation yields of Sindhi and Tharparkar herds at the NDRI, Karnal have been increased from about 1,200 kilograms to nearly 2,000 and 2,500 kilograms respectively. At the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, the average milk yield of Sahiwal herd has increased from 1,000 to 3,500 Kilograms. Some of the animals have produced more than 5,000 Kilograms in lactation. Brazil claims to have achieved higher milk yield and better animal health after working for decades on the germplasm taken from India. Better nutrition and high quality diet has improved their breeds in Brazil.

8.  The nutritive value of feed and fodder has a significant bearing on productivity of livestock. When the ration is properly planned, dairy animals convert large quantities of relatively inexpensive roughages into milk. A balanced ration is one which supplies in the correct proportion all the food nutrients necessary to nourish the animal properly during a twenty-four hour period. The fodder requirement for An Adult Cattle Unit (ACU) is   @ 7 kg dry matter (DM) consumption per day (i.e. 2% of the body weight of 350 kg). Ideally one third of the dry matter (DM) requirement should come from green fodder. The dry matter in green fodder and dry fodder are 25% and 90 % of their biomass respectively. High yielding milch animals (average milk production 10 kg /day) need 14 to 15 Kg of balanced feed and fodder per day. The vitamins and feed additive have an important place in livestock feeding. No farm produced feeds contain these additives; therefore, one must rely upon commercial sources for supplementing rations with these important substances. As a thumb rule one kg of concentrates is sufficient for 2.5 kg and 2 Kg of milk production in cows and buffaloes respectively.

9. Cows and buffaloes are rightly given more feed during the early lactation so that they can produce more milk. But maintaining (or increasing) body condition during the dry period is the key to ensuring cows have adequate body reserves for early next lactation. If cows calve with adequate body reserves, they can cycle within two or three months after calving. If cows calve in poor condition, milk production suffers in early lactation because body reserves are not available to contribute energy. High feeding levels in early lactation cannot make up for poor body condition at calving. 2 to 3 kg of concentrates needs to be given to a cow/buffalo during the last 2 months of pregnancy. Additional concentrate is required for fast growing foetus and to prepare the body of a cow for normal delivery and for optimum milk production.

10. If a lactating cows or buffaloes are not conceived then they continue to give milk substantially up to 300 to 310 days, then it sharply reduce​s and becomes ​completely dry after 2 to 3 month. It is advisable and routine management practice to make a cow/buffalo   dry in last 2 months of pregnancy. During this period her udder is swelling and if she is lactated  then it is painful, apart from there are many technical reasons to make animal dry in last 2 months of pregnancy.

11. The major causes of low productivity in India are both intrinsic (low genetic potential) and extrinsic (poor nutrition/feed management, inferior farm management practices, ineffective veterinary and extension services and inefficient implementation of breed improvement programmes).

12. The share non-descript cattle in total indigenous cattle is 74.92% while the share non-descript buffalo in total buffaloes is 43.37 (Breed Survey 2013). It appears from the statistics that the major focus in India is on genetic improvement, particularly through foreign germplasm as during inter-censal period (2007-2012) there was an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.15% in the exotic/crossbred milch cattle. During the same period a CAGR of 1% and 0.03% was observed in the milch buffaloes and milch indigenous cattle. During 2011-12 – 2014-15, a CAGR of 3.82% and 3.02%   was noted in the average yield of milk per day per ‘animal in milk’ for the indigenous cows and buffaloes respectively. This is perhaps mainly due to genetic improvement of nondescript animals through germplasm of graded animals.      

13. The all –India population of exotic/crossbred female cattle of under 1 year and in age group  1 to 1.5 years was 7028 thousand and 5464 thousand respectively as compared to 323 thousand and 363 thousand for Gujarat in 2012.   The all-India population of  indigenous female cattle of under 1 year and in age group  1 to 3 years was 18038 thousand and 15769 thousand respectively as compared to 791 thousand and 1148 thousand for Gujarat in 2012.     The all-India population of   female buffalo of under 1 year and in age group  1 to 3 years was 20155 thousand and 15858 thousand respectively as compared to 870 thousand and 952 thousand for Punjab and 1950 thousand and 1954 thousand for Gujarat  in 2012.  From the above statistics it is clear in no uncertain terms that an unacceptable number of female animals, whether these are crossbred or graded or nondescript animals, dies before reaching the age of first calving.

14. Consider a herd of milch cows/buffalos that have100 lactating (in-milk) cows and buffaloes and 25 dry bovines. These bovines are kept under proper conditions of feeding and management. Good management practice covers- optimum ration, better housing to protect animals from vagaries of weather, cooling of housing through fans and foggers during summer, regular deworming, vaccination against diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease, Haemorrhagic Septicaemia, Brucellosis etc as per prescribed time schedule, and other preventive healthcare, careful checking of ‘heat’ and availability of clean and wholesome water for 24 hours to all animals at a time. A herd of 100 ‘In-milk’ cows/ buffaloes implies 100 calves were born during the previous year. Out of these 100 calves, around 50 are female calves. Out of these 50 female calves some may not reach the first calving stage due infertility, repeat breeder and calf mortality despite the best management practice. It is reasonable to assume that every year 15% of milch animals get permanently dried and leave the group of lactating animals. Therefore, it is fair to expect annual growth of 20 to 25% in the number of ‘In-Milk’ bovines under proper conditions of feeding and management. However, the reality is very different. It has been noted that during the inter-censal period (2007-2012) a CAGR of 5.9%, -0.7% and 0.52% was observed in the ‘In-Milk’, crossbred cows, indigenous cows and buffaloes respectively.

15. From the above, it is clear that there is need to take urgent corrective action to reduce calf mortality and inter-calving period and speed up genetic up-gradation of non-descript cattle and buffaloes by using germplasm of graded indigenous animals and increasing average milk yield per ‘In-Milk’ cow/buffalo. This would require proper feeding and management practices particularly the careful checking of ‘heat’.  Here it is relevant to point out that currently there is shortage veterinarians and para-veterinarians as well as livestock feed in the country.

16. Successful story of first Animal Hostel Project at Akodara village, Sabarkantha district:  The Department of Animal Husbandry, State Government of Gujarat initiated first Animal Hostel Project in India. WAPCOS Limited (A Government of India undertaking), Gandhinagar have worked as their consultant in conducting a socio-economic and environmental feasibility study as well as in developing the prototype model of the project at Akodara village, Sabarkantha district. Village Milk Cooperative Society, which is a part of Sabarkantha District Milk Cooperative Union and Akodara Gram Panchayat are the key stake holders in development of the animal hostel. It is a good collaborative model with participation by various departments/agencies of Government of Gujarat, Panchayat Raj institutions and Milk Co-operative Societies i.e. Department of Animal Husbandry, District Rural Development Agency, Gujarat Land Development Corporation, Sabarkantha District Milk Co-operative union.

16.2 The animal hostel is a place where the cattle of the village are kept and maintained together and have all necessary infrastructure facilities to take care of them. The facilities in the hostel include in house fodder production in the nearby gaucher land, fodder storage, electricity generation through bio gas plants, vermin compost production, milk collection room, veterinary service centre and a water storage tank.  The animal hostel with a capacity of 900 animals has 34 cattle sheds. . Beneficiaries were to pay Rs.5000 per adult animal but due to donation by some philanthropists the management charged only Rs.3600 per animal as lifetime charges. All beneficiaries have to keep their allotted area neat and clean. The beneficiary members have to collect cow dung and dump it in to gobar gas plant unit. Dumped dung is weighed and recorded for each beneficiary who is then paid Rs. 0.30/kg.

16.3 An area adjoining the hostel (50 hac. of gauchar land - fodder plot) has been developed with support irrigation facility by three tube wells. The management is allotting this land to beneficiary members of the animal hostel by auction on an annual basis. It is seen that the animal hostel has got good returns from sale of fodder, produced under pasture development programme, and vermin compost, produced in the complex.

16.4 There are four Animal Hostels in operation in Gujarat. They are at (1) Akodara District-Sabarkantha, (2) Gangapar, District- Kutch, (3) Kuskal, District-Banaskantha and (4) Bhandotri, District- Banaskantha. Two more are in pipeline in Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad and Rajkot.

16.5 Returns from the animal hostel project: When animals are kept for a period one year or more in the animal hostel, there is reduction in the calf mortality to below 5%, decrease in inter-calving period, increase in average yield of milk per day per ‘animal in milk’ by 15% in volume and an increase of average 1% fat in milk (Source State Animal Husbandry Department of Gujarat). In addition, the animal hostel project contributes towards reduction of green house gases due to prevention of methane emission into the atmosphere because of use of dung and urine in its gobar gas plant and slurry of the gobar gas unit being used for the vermin compost unit. Since the methane produced in the gobar gas plant is used for the purpose of generation of electricity, it in turn prevents emission of green house gases which otherwise would have entered into atmosphere from generation of the same amount of electricity from the nearby thermal power plant. Similarly, use of vermin compost reduces consumption of chemical fertilizers, it in turn prevents emission of green house gases which otherwise would have entered into atmosphere from production of the chemical fertilizers. Moreover, there is reduction drudgery of women folk in care of animals.

 

17. During a shorterm training proramme for bureaucrats, organised by IIM, Ahemdabad,  success stories of USA and other developed couutries like New York Police Department (Leadership & Organizational Transformation), Shackleton’s Epic Adventure (Leading in Turbulent Times),  Jan Carlzon at SAS (Leading Change) were discussed.  They and other premier Educational Institutions may also include Indian success stories like First Animal Hostel  Project at Akodara village, Sabarkantha district.          

18.  Dairy sector with its multiplier effect can work as a growth engine for economic growth.  Animal Hostel Project is a good collaborative model which includes integration of animal husbandry, pasture development, renewable energy and organic farming. It has shown that high returns could be obtained in the dairy sector with proper feed and management. It is a doable project and States can device a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for replicating this project in large number in their own States after studying the Akodra Project.