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Cabinet approves Rs 4,558 crore scheme for dairy farming
The Cabinet also increased interest subvention from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent under the scheme Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) with the revised outlay of Rs 11,184 crore

The union Cabinet has approved a Rs 4,558 crore scheme to promote the dairy sector which will benefit about 95 lakh farmers in about 50,000 villages, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday.

Briefing reporters about the Cabinet decisions, Javadekar said this scheme will take the "White revolution" to the next level.

The Cabinet has also decided to increase interest subvention from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent under the scheme Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) with the revised outlay of Rs 11,184 crore.

Both the decisions will benefit the farming community, the I&B minister added.

The activities that come under DIDF include modernisations of new milk processing facilities and manufacturing facilities for value added products; chilling infrastructure; electronic adulteration testing kit; project management and learning.

Under DIDF, 28,000 bulk milk coolers will be established with 140 lakh litres per day as additional milk chilling capacity. Milk drying capacity will also be increased to 210 metric tonne per day. Also, 28,000 milk testing equipment will be provided to check adulteration in milk.

The Cabinet also approved proposal to create infrastructure of 59.78 lakh litres per day capacity for value-added dairy products to ensure remunerative prices to milk producers.

The central government will provide interest subvention up to 2.5 per cent to NABARD from 2019-20 (with effect from 30 July, 2019) to 2030-31 and in case there is any further increase in the cost of funds, it will be borne by the end borrowers themselves, as per the Cabinet statement.

The funding period (2017-18 to 2019-20) of the scheme has also been revised from 2018-19 to 2022-23 and the repayment period has been be extended up to 2030-31 with spill over to first quarter of the FY32.

By Chitranjan Kumar

https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/economy-policy/dairy-farmers-feeling-the-pinch-of-falling-bovine-meat-exports-from-india-119090400219_1.html

Dairy farmers start feeling the pinch of dwindling buffalo meat exports The average size of a buffalo brought for slaughter is 100-450 kg. Buffalo suppliers have also reduced their purchase from dairy owners as they are incurring a loss in their business

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New Delhi, May 17, 2019: June is almost here and in Wisconsin that means one thing – it’s National Dairy Month! Wisconsin celebrates this annual month-long holiday bigger than anywhere, bringing communities together to toast to dairy – Wisconsin’s signature industry. National Dairy Month honors Wisconsin dairy farmers, and the fruits of their labors, which represent the essence of what Wisconsin is all about according to the reports published in agdaily.com.

“Each June we turn the spotlight on Wisconsin farmers who work tirelessly to produce our state’s award-winning dairy products,” said Suzanne Fanning, Senior Vice President of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and Chief Marketing Officer of Wisconsin Cheese. “Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland for a reason: we do dairy better than anyone. That identity is Wisconsin’s birthright – it’s central to the state and defines how the rest of the world sees us.”

June is the time for Wisconsinites to come together and share their pride for America’s Dairyland, a rightly deserved title for the state that leads in dairy heritage, innovation and awards. This June, more than 70 Wisconsin farm families will hold dairy breakfasts across the state, keeping with a tradition upheld since the 1970s. Each event is unique, but there’s one thing you can count on – the chance to learn about the positive impact and important role farmers play in their communities while exploring the barns, seeing the cows, and enjoying fresh, locally made dairy products.

“We are thrilled to kick off this annual celebration by inviting Wisconsin residents out to the farm to meet these farm families and see first-hand their passion and dedication to feeding their neighbors and our growing world,” Fanning said. “But there are so many more ways to celebrate Wisconsin and honor our hardworking dairy farmers and Wisconsin’s dairy industry this June.”

You can celebrate National Dairy Month all month long by:

Tuning in to the official June Dairy Month Spotify playlist
Watching the “I’m a Wisconsin Dairy Farmer” short video series on YouTube or catching them before movies at Marcus Theatres and pre-game at The Milwaukee Brewers baseball games
Purchasing Wisconsin dairy products with the Proudly Wisconsin Cheese and Proudly Wisconsin Dairy™ badges to make your favorite recipes at home
Sharing access to high quality nutrition, including milk, with kids this summer by donating at GiveAGallon.com for the Great American Milk Drive.

Milk, dairy products brand Nandini makes TN entry

Press Trust of India Updated on March 03, 2019









Karnataka-based ‘Nandini’ brand of milk and dairy products on Sunday announced that it will venture into the Tamil Nadu market.
The brand belongs to Bengaluru Cooperative Milk Union Ltd (BAMUL), which in turn is a unit of Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd. The latter retails the ‘Nandini’ brand.
Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance Managing Director Srinivas Acharya formally launched the ‘Nandini’ brand of products at a function here in the presence of BAMUL President BG Anjanappa.
BAMUL has signed an agreement with RKR Dairy for co-packing and marketing milk and other products in the Chennai and Tamil Nadu markets, a press release said.
Currently, milk and milk products are sold under the ‘Nandini’ brand through 1,954 retailers and 81 franchise outlets. The company has 49 milk parlours and 330 distribution outlets in Karnataka.
BAMUL recently commissioned a ₹600-crore manufacturing unit in Karnataka to produce cheese, yogurts and other value-added products.
The co-operative procures milk in Bengaluru urban, rural and Ramanagara districts of Karnataka and sells it in Bengaluru.
BAMUL has 2,160 milk producer co-operative societies in 3,217 villages in Karnataka.

Prabhat Dairy enters animal nutrition area, ropes in Danish company
Prabhat Dairy has signed joint development agreement with Denmark-based DLG, a major in high-quality vitamin- mineral feeds to drive its diversification.

Prabhat Dairy has signed joint development agreement with Denmark-based DLG, a major in high-quality vitamin- mineral feeds to drive its diversification.

MUMBAI: Prabhat Dairy is entering the animal nutrition business, which includes cattle feed, nutrition supplements and animal genetics, in association with the Denmark-based DLG which is into high-quality vitamin- mineral feeds for the livestock.
The city-based company already supplies cattle feed under the brand Annapurna to diary farmers.

Leveraging its expertise and wanting to create a strong presence in the booming animal nutrition market, the company is set to launch a separate animal nutrition business, it said in a statement Tuesday.
Prabhat Dairy has signed joint development agreement with Denmark-based DLG, a major in high-quality vitamin- mineral feeds to drive its diversification.
"Under this agreement, two products which are already developed in Denmark, will be shipped to India for a pilot. One of these two products is for milching cows and another for dry cows, and will be given to 150 selected farms to administer on 1,000 cows for the improvement of health and to increase milk productivity and quality," the statement said.

The pilot phase will be for four to six months, after which commercial launch will be planned, the company added.
"The animal feed industry is estimated to be worth USD 30 billion by 2020. The segment primarily comprises cattle feed and poultry feed...To tap this potential we are entering into animal nutrition business," Prabhat Dairy joint managing director Vivek Nirmal said in the statement.

India milks a profit in quest to bump camel numbers
On the edge of the Indian desert, Lakshman Raika boils tea with fresh milk from one of his camels, gently stirring the brew his tribal herdsman have consumed for generations.
By AFP | Feb 05, 2019, 05.05 PM IST

Raika's son Rakesh, a ninth-generation camel tribesman, has been collecting and selling milk from the family herd, making a small profit while keeping traditions alive.
Rani: On the edge of the Indian desert, Lakshman Raika boils tea with fresh milk from one of his camels, gently stirring the brew his tribal herdsman have consumed for generations.
Far away in city supermarkets demand for chocolates, soaps and skin creams made from such milk is growing -- a boon for nomads like Raika and India's fast disappearing camels.
Once dubbed the "ships of the desert" and indispensable to life in India's arid west, camel numbers have steadily declined as they have been usurped by technological upheaval.
Roads now stretch deeper into the desert cutting days off the same journey by camel, while the increasing mechanisation in agriculture means the animals are increasingly unnecessary on farms.
The days of Raika and his kin leading grand caravans -- some hundreds of camels long -- over the sands with passengers, cargo and precious stores of water are all but over.

"Not long ago, village hierarchies in our communities were determined by the size of each family's herd. Not anymore," lamented Raika, as he smoked a pipe and sipped his tea on the outskirts of Rani, a remote village in Rajasthan state.
"These days, just like old men, no one is really interested in them," he added.

Raika has more than halved his herd in the past year. Unable to afford their upkeep, many were given to relatives at bargain-basement prices, he said.
Sales have been flat at Rajasthan's famous camel fairs too, where herdsman in red turbans converge on cities like Pushkar and Bikaner with tens of thousands of beasts to trade.
The National Research Centre on Camel, a state-run institution in Bikaner, says India's camel population has shrunk by around 30 percent in just a few years.
"The situation is indeed worrying," N.V Patil, the centre's director, told AFP in the city some 500 kilometres (310 miles) southwest of India's capital New Delhi.
- Economic lifeline - Researchers hope to halt this decline by partnering herdsman with entrepreneurs needing fresh milk for an emerging line of boutique products made from the milk including chocolates, cheeses, ice creams, and skin creams.
Even the bones salvaged from dead camels are being utilised -- they are transformed into trinkets and souvenirs for tourists.
Camel milk is being touted by some as the latest superfood with supermarkets in the US and the UK, as well as online retailers such as Amazon, also tapping into growing consumer interest.
Hitesh Rathi, an earlier investor in the market, said his three-year-old business purchased up to 7000 litres of camel milk a month.
"This market and demand for camel milk and associated products is definitely growing. But it's a challenge having to both create awareness around these products, while also marketing our line of goods," he told AFP.
Camel milk can be a tough sell in a majority-Hindu country where cows are worshipped as mother figures and their milk closely linked to food and faith.
It also has a fatty, saltier flavour profile -- something that could prove a challenge in India, where people have grown used to the taste of traditional dairy options.
But there are positive signs.
Amul, one of India's biggest dairy companies whose mascot is a national treasure, starting selling bottled camel milk in January for city supermarkets in Gujarat, extolling its health benefits. It already sells a boutique chocolate line that includes a camel milk variety.
Ensuring supply and quality control are challenges when dealing with semi-nomadic tribespeople and a new, emerging industry, businesses say.
But PK Sawal, a senior official at the government-owned camel research centre, insisted there was a viable future for the sector.
"These traditional communities will have an economic incentive to keep their herds, as demand for the milk and other camel products increases and the sector matures," he said.
Raika's son Rakesh, a ninth-generation camel tribesman, has been collecting and selling milk from the family herd, making a small profit while keeping traditions alive.
"If not for him, we would have already sold the herd," Rakesh said, gesturing to his father seated nearby enjoying the desert sun.
He explained: "We do really hope this market for camel milk flourishes. It will be really helpful for communities like ours."
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https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/dairy-units-in-india-turn-to-cheaper-alternatives-62492

Dairy units in India turn to cheaper alternatives This strikes a blow to small farmers as they don't get a fair price for their produce since the market is flooded with cheaper options

Future Group partners New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra - The Economic Times-https://m.economictimes.com/industry/cons-products/food/future-group-partners-new-zealand-dairy-giant-fonterra/articleshow/65321469.cms?utm_source=AMPusers&utm_medium=whatsappshare&utm_campaign=socialsharebutton - Download ET Markets APP (http://ecoti.in/vC93ob)

Future Group partners New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra With revenues exceeding $14 billion, Fonterra is New Zealand's largest firm and twice the size of Amul.

OMFED, NDDB ink pact to increase milk production in State

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (OMFED) on Saturday signed an agreement with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for setting up a modern five lakh-litre capacity dairy plant in Barang.

“The milk processing capacity of OMFED will be enhanced from the present level of 6.4 lakh litres per day to 12 lakh litres per day,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was present on the occasion.

The State government will provide 51 acres land and Rs 244.74 crore for the project.

Besides, two new products — Vitamin Fortified Milk and Cow Milk — were also launched on Saturday by OMFED for overall benefit of over 4 lakh dairy farmers and lakhs of consumers in the state.

Due to persistent and novel initiatives undertaken by the state government in the animal resource sector, the milk production in the state had increased from 45 lakh litres per day in 2009-10 to 56 lakh litres per day in 2017-18, the Chief Minister said.

Parag Milk buys Danone dairy factory in Haryana

The acquisition of Danone’s dairy factory will help Parag Milk expand its footprint in North India and strengthen distribution of milk and milk products in Delhi NCR and Haryana, says chairman Devendra Shah

India’s dairy market is projected to cross $140 billion by 2020, from about $70 billion in 2013, according to a 2013 study by Investor Relations Society (IRS).

India’s dairy market is projected to cross $140 billion by 2020, from about $70 billion in 2013, according to a 2013 study by Investor Relations Society (IRS).

Parag Milk Foods Ltd on Thursday said it has acquired the dairy factory of Danone Foods and Beverages India Pvt. Ltd, the local entity of French dairy firm Danone SA.

The factory at Rai in Sonipat, Haryana, has the capacity to produce curd, yogurt and other fresh dairy products.

“This acquisition will help expand the company’s footprint in north India and strengthen the company’s distribution of milk, flavoured milk, buttermilk, curd, fresh paneer and yogurt in Delhi, National Capital Region and Haryana,” Devendra Shah, chairman, Parag Milk Foods said.

Parag Milk will initially spend nearly Rs30 crore for the facility and continue to invest on expansion as required, Shah told Mint.

Spread across 5,500 sq. metres, the factory has the capacity to produce 0.75 lakh litres of milk per day, along with a curd processing capacity of 15 metric tonnes.

“We’ll expand the facility for pouch milk, flavoured milk, pouch butter milk, cup curd, mishti dahi and expand the existing yoghurt unit,” Shah said.

Pune-based Parag Milk Foods, which sells milk and milk products under brands such as Go, Gowardhan and Pride of Cows, is a relatively new player in northern India that sells only cow’s milk.

“The acquisition is a strategic investment as it would reduce factory-to-market distance in the northern region for the company,” Shah said. Currently, Parag brings products to the northern markets from its Manchar plant in Maharashtra.

Danone had on 12 January decided to close down its dairy business in India. The French dairy firm, which gets about 48% of its global business from dairy products, had decided to exit the dairy business in India after three failed attempts to crack the country’s estimated Rs80,000 crore to Rs90,000 crore dairy market dominated by cooperatives like the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd that owns the Amul brand. At the time of exit, dairy accounted for just around 10% of Danone’s total revenue in India.

The dairy market in northern India is dominated by regional players like Kwality Ltd, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd and Gopaljee Dairy Foods Pvt. Ltd. Amul also has a significant presence in parts of north India. In in metro markets, Nestle India Ltd has a stronghold.

India’s dairy market is projected to cross $140 billion by 2020, from about $70 billion in 2013, according to a 2013 study by Investor Relations Society (IRS), a global network of investor relations professionals.

On Thursday, shares of Parag Milk Foods rose 5.12%, or Rs13.95, to Rs286.50 on a day the benchmark Sens*x gained 0.28%, or 95.61 points, 34,427.29 points.

RS SODHI Managing Director, Amul

While private dairies calculate investments based on 20-30% EBITDA, co-operatives are satisfied even with 6%: Amul MD RS Sodhi
Despite milk production growing at 6-7 per cent, Amul’s procurement grew by around 22 per cent in the ongoing flush season. In an interaction with BusinessLine, Amul Managing Director RS Sodhi says the largest dairy co-operative had to rush to the rescue of the milk producers by procuring more during the flush season as private dairies played a spoilsport by cutting down on prices as supplies increased. Amul is on an expansion spree and Sodhi spelt-out what it takes to be as a numero uno player in the country’s dairy sector when most foreign giants failed to make a mark. Edited excerpts:

What does it take to be at the top and maintain numero-uno position in India’s dairy sector despite several failed attempts by global giants?

There is a lot of scope for new entrants, be it a multinational or an Indian player. The organised branded products market is roughly one-third and is growing at double digit.

MNCs entering the Indian market face a limitation that they can’t launch a product pan-India with massive volumes, because they face competition from local co-operatives. It hurts them at both ends — procurement and selling.

Efficiency and scale is the key to success in dairy industry. MNCs have struggled for years to taste the success in Indian market but failed because scale won’t come merely from yoghurt or cheese.

Efficiency comes from network and ground presence.

For procurement, they have to pay more to compete with the co-operatives.

And in sales, they have to match the affordability that the diary co-operatives offer.

Does it not hamper the earnings and profitability even for the co-operatives?

Milk and milk products is a big business, but has thin margins primarily because of the co-operatives’ presence. If the MNCs try to match the two ends — procurement and selling — on lines of co-operatives, they fail miserably. Unlike corporate or private dairy investors, who calculate investments based on 20-30 per cent EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization), co-operatives are satisfied even at 6 per cent EBITDA.

At Amul, both ends of the supply chain — farmers and consumers — are happy with better prices and affordability.

How has been the procurement this winter season, when the flush in milk production is experienced?

Our procurement has touched 260 lakh litres per day, which is 22 per cent higher year-on-year. But the noteworthy aspect is that the production has just grown by 6-7 per cent. This means, a lot of milk from private dairies got diverted to co-operatives. This is primarily because co-operatives give better prices. But, milk being a highly perishable item, we need to go for larger processing capacities.

How do you plan to address the need for more processing capacities?

As milk supplies rise, we are expanding our capacities by 40-50 lakh litres per day (LLPD) on immediate basis. This will come up at Gandhinagar, Sabarkantha, Mumbai and Junagadh, besides Pune and Kolkata.

Our long-term plan is to increase our processing capacities to 400 LLPD in two years from the existing 320 LLPD. This will require an investment of about ₹600 crore.

What are your expansion plans to enter the new territories?

We enter a territory with procurement operations, then gradually move on to setting up processing facilities and marketing our products.

Currently, we are procuring and processing milk at Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, besides West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

Now we are planning to enter Bihar and Assam with our procurement and processing capacities. In Delhi, we are already procuring 31 LLPD.

How does these expansions and addition of new products benefit the milk producers?

Out of the total Amul brand’s turnover of ₹38,000 crore (including incomes of the member unions), nearly 60-65 per cent is sold as liquid milk (including milk, butter milk, etc).

After liquid milk, our second biggest portfolio is baby food and dairy whiteners. The remaining 35-40 per cent is used for value-added products, which get us almost equal realisation as in liquid milk.

The income from these products get equally distributed to the farmers. In our case, liquid milk and value-added products are complementary to each-other. Without liquid milk, we can’t sell other products.

Our average milk fat is 4 per cent, and if we get more milk supplies of 6 per cent fat, then the milk with the extra 2 per cent fat will go to value-added products.

And realisation will be more-or-less the same, irrespective of where we put the milk, be it cheese, butter, ghee or ice cream.

Secondly, because of very high scale, our costs get divided and we end up spending very less on branding vis-a-vis others dairy players. This is the reason why we are affordable.

How are you dealing with grey market exports of Amul products?

Exports are not our focus area but still we get about 3 per cent of our total revenues from exports to about 50 countries.

We are currently exporting value-added products, which is growing at about 20-30 per cent. There are concerns of illegal exports of Amul branded products.

Such exporters circumvent the need of a certificate from government for each batch of products being exported. They misdeclare the goods and also hurt the interest of the importing countries by loss of import duty earnings.

This is a matter of concern because Amul’s brand image and credibility gets hampered in case of expired products exported by this way. We are vigilant about it and keep a track of every dairy product which goes out.

We work in close co-ordination with the Commerce Ministry and agencies like Apeda by giving details of importer, exporters and amount of goods. Much has come under control now.

Abandoned, engineered, slaughtered: dairy industry decides the fate of India’s bulls
Shruti Kedia Dec 23, 2017
While the cruel practices of the dairy industry, and implications of the beef ban have been discussed widely, the problem of cattle abandonment is rarely spoken about.

A starving calf, awaiting death.
Nearly 60 lakh stray cattle roamed the streets of India in 2012, as per the latest livestock census. For a country with a cattle population of around 19 crore, this is a large number.

Studying the condition of 24,456 cattle, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), in October 2017, investigated dairies across the top ten milk producing states of Punjab, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and New Delhi.

The findings revealed not just the cruel treatment meted to the animals, but also the reason behind large numbers of stray cattle roaming the streets. The study showed the bulls were at the receiving end of most cruelty as they did not produce milk and often, are abandoned as calves.

A tethered cow.
The inconvenient truth
Bull calves are not seen as ‘useful’ in the dairy industry and farmers often neglect them resulting in death, or sell the animals to the food, cosmetic, or leather industry.

Investigation across 451 dairies revealed that in 25.1 percent of them, male calves die in the first month of being born. Around 62.9 percent dairies sell cattle to smaller farmers or slaughter houses but with the recent legislation on cattle protection, culling has become difficult and many animals thus end up abandoned.

Also, more cows are now seen on the streets and rarely buffaloes, as the law prohibits the culling of cows for meat. Explaining the trend across dairy farms, Jairoop Sandhu Riar, the investigator for the FAIPO says:

For the dairy industry, the animal is not really an animal; it is a machine really. Their entire process is about getting the maximum amount of milk with the least amount of input. And the dairy farms, the gaushalas, are already overcrowded. Land is scarce and we do not have space for cattle.

A khalbaccha — a makeshift calf — is placed next to the mother cow so that she continues to get milked.

There was a period when bullocks were revered in India and considered an indispensable component of the nation’s agrarian society. However, higher mechanisation with the Green Revolution led to many farmers replacing farm animals with machines.

Prem Singh, an organic farmer from Barokhar Khurd village near Banda town in Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region says,

We have rural banks, loans and credit system through which farmers can buy tractor and other machines for farming. Like everyone in my village, I too depended on this system until 1990s. I realised that traditional tilling and agriculture methods are indispensable. Hence, I switched to negligible use of fertilisers and brought bulls back to the field.

It has been over 25 years since Prem Singh started tilling his fields with bulls, and last year became debt free. He explains that while tractors and power tillers are attractive options for farming, they are expensive. The economic cost of farming goes beyond the machine, as maintenance, and fuel price continues to form a major expenditure.

Cows forced to produce unnatural amount of milk.
Irrelevant animals
As new technologies become accessible, bulls are being considered irrelevant even for reproduction as dairy owners and farmers prefer artificial insemination.

Jairoop says that in most villages, only one or two farmers have a grown bull.

And the same bull will be ‘used’, almost like a semen producer, for the rest of the cows or buffaloes in the hamlet. That is, if they are relying on the natural process of impregnation of cows.

While the law mandates dairy farm owners and farmers contact the state animal husbandry department or a certified veterinarian to undertake the activity, this practice is rarely followed. The dairy industry too rears bulls only for reproduction and large dairy farms with up to 300 cows have only two to three bulls.

These bulls are basically raised for this one purpose alone. At any given point, 10-15 impregnation are being done through a single bull, Jairoop says.

Using Oxytocin to increase milk production.
In 2017, the National Dairy Plan aimed to use artificial insemination for at least 35 percent of all fertile animals. In fact, semen production has become a norm over the past 15 years, with the number of inseminations up from 20 million to 69.29 million.

“While this method is efficient, it has been found that repeated breeding by means of artificial insemination causes serious reproductive problems in close to 40 percent of the cattle,” Jairoop adds.

Taking stock of this situation, the Uttarakhand State Animal Welfare Board issued directives to dairy farms to improve the conditions of dairy animals. The Cow Progeny Act, although formulated in 2007, recently gained prominence with the state government enforcing the law with stricter vigilance.

Ashutosh Joshi, the Officer in Charge of the Uttarakhand State Animal Welfare Board, says,

We do not differentiate between the s*x of the cattle. Calf, bull, or cow - all of them come under the protection of this act. If an animal gets sick, he/she will get treatment from the government veterinary hospital; if he dies, he will get post-mortem certificate from the concerned hospital. What we are saying is that we have to safeguard the life of the cattle.

Selective breeding
While the rules and laws are in place, discrimination against bullocks continues and, in fact, doesn’t end here. A new technology that allows for selection of the desired gender of a calf is gaining popularity. With this, the chances of a female calf being born increase by almost 80-90 percent.

Through this method, four out of five times the offspring will be female. Though this is currently available for only select breeds in India, the government is now pushing for this because they realise that the males have no value, says M.L. Kamboj, senior scientist at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI).

A K Chandrashekhar, deputy director, animal husbandry department of Belagavi, Karnataka in a Times of India report was quoted as saying, "The government is planning to implement s*xed semen technique in some districts including Belagavi on a pilot basis. Once it is proved successful, it will be implemented on a long-term basis and extended to all districts.”

Daljeet Singh, president of the Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association (PDFA) of Punjab, says that despite the high price of this technology, farmers are willing to bear the cost. Semen from a bull with higher genetic merit leads to better milk yields, increases the number of productive lactations, and fat and protein content.

Daljeet annually imports 15,000-20,000 frozen s*xed semen doses on behalf of PDFA members from genetics firms such as World Wide Sires, Genex and ABS Global of US, and Semex of Canada.

Selective breeding is already showing its results. In 2015-16, about 670 lakh artificial inseminations were carried out in India, covering an estimated 30 percent of the breed-able cows and buffaloes.

The economic undesirability of male cattle is evident in the gender imbalance — 64.42 percent female and 35.57 percent male in cattle, and 85.18 percent female and 14.8 per cent male in buffalo, says Rajesh Kasturirangan, a mathematician, cognitive scientist and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston.

While Dr Kamboj believes that extinction of this breed is unlikely for at least for the next three decades, the trend of inhumane management of “unwanted” animals is worrying.