How a proper breeding policy increases income of Dairy Farmers

When you set up a dairy farm, you get income from selling milk and milk products, selling manure, and selling good quality animals. Some progressive farmers sell their animals at very good rates only because they have a good breeding policy. Let’s take the example of a progressive farmer Mr. Ranjit. He owns 20 cows since the past many years and has a good loose housing farm with the availability of silage.  

Our team at Teplu asked him about the price at which he sells his cows and why he charges such an amount. He said “I sell my cows at a minimum rate of Rs 1,20,000 and above although the market rates may be Rs 60000 to 80000. I have all the breeding records for the last ten years. I have used semen from good quality bulls that have superior performance. I buy semen from only reputed companies. This has helped me in creating a breed of cows that give more milk and are more resistant to diseases. For example, I have cows that are giving on an average of 25 litres of milk. But when I started a few years ago the average milk production per cow was 10-12 litres. I have been able to achieve this through a good breeding policy. Hence people are willing to pay a better price for my cows.” 

As you have learnt, whether you are a dairy farmer with two cows or 500 cows, if you have a good breeding policy then it will give you many benefits and additional income. For example, if you have cows that are not giving milk as per your expectation, then you can easily develop good cows in your farm that will provide you with the required milk yield. You can develop a pure breed or crossbreed animals. A breed is simply a group of animals that have similar characteristics due to breeding and selection over the years. 

What is breeding? 

Breeding means the crossing of the male and the female parents to get the off spring for the characters desired. A pure bred animal is one whose parents are known with certainty and are of the same strain. A cross-bred is produced by mating two different breeds of cows. Why? So that better offsprings or children can be produced. Cross breeding is done to bring the strengths or stronger characters of two different breeds into the offspring. 

When you think of Breeding goals, you should carefully consider the particular situation of your farm. Ultimately, the goal of selection is to obtain more desirable cows, cows that give you the highest profitability. 

How do you achieve the breeding goals? 

For the best breeding results, choosing the right sire for artificial insemination is the most important factor.  It is the most effective and cheapest way to make progress toward genetic goals in a dairy farm. As a dairy farmer, you should keep records and keenly observe the milk production of cows and their feed intake. Those animals which produce more milk while eating optimally should be considered for your goals of increasing milk production in the next generation. They should be mated with a superior bull. 

Cows with similar or even identical genetic makeups will produce different amounts of milk when they are subjected to different environments. Hence you should do a selection of dairy animals for breeding as per the performance of cows in their respective environments. While purchasing such animals you should familiarize yourself with the environments which have led to superior performance. 

What is Inbreeding and how can you avoid it? 

When you have two unrelated animals, with a significant difference in genetic material, the chance of the fault occurring in the calf offspring is extremely small. But, if you mate a bull to its mother or daughter or sister, 75% of the genetic make-up will be the same and the chance of the fault occurring simultaneously in both chains is very high. This is called in-breeding and must be avoided wherever and whenever possible.  

To avoid inbreeding, you have to keep all breeding records like bull number or name, semen company, milk yield, mother number or name, date of AI, Name of Veterinary Doctor or AI worker. There are many software available to record all your data conveniently. You can also get timely notifications on breeding activities. 

How should you select semen straw of good quality for your dairy animals? 

The selection of the right semen leads the dairy farm in the right direction. Many dairy farm owners still ignore this topic saying that they have fewer number of animals. Most of the farmers donot bother to find out about sire directory, which is where all the information about the bull giving the semen is available. They never read information given on semen straw. They also don’t know which type of semen should be used.  

For inseminating your dairy animals you can use following types of semen. 

• Regular semen which you can get from trusted and reputed organisations.

• Imported semen which is brought from other countries

• Sorted or sex semen which is used to get more of female calves

• and progeny tested semen where the performance of the semen of a specific bull is known

Learn more about breeding and become an expert in understanding reproductive problems at Teplu.in