Breeding

• Artificial Insemination (A.I.) & Breed Improvement  Programme
• FIP
• PEP
• ANIMAL HEALTH
• VACCINATION
• BALANCED CATTLE FEED & MINERAL MIXTURE
• INAPH
• BULL CALF PRODUCTION

Milk Union's priority is focused on extending the scope of Animal Husbandry and technical services to sustain & enhance milk production by increasing awareness of farmers. To speed up operations concerning technical services & Animal Husbandry, the Milk Union has appointed Dr.P.N.Roy choudhaury as Consultant to guide the Union on Animal husbandry & Artificial insemination activities.

Three main objective is to replace the number of low/unproductive cows & buffaloes with animals of better productivity and arrange quality inputs.

SIRE DIRETORY containing photographs and pedigree details of bulls have been prepared for AI workers and farmers to improve their knowledge and benefits of artificial insenmination programme.

Other inputs like treatment of first aid cases, deworming of animals, organization of health camps, vaccination of animals, supply of balanced cattle feed and Mineral Mixture are being actively considered by the Milk Union for the advantage of farmers to increase milk production and productivity.

Artificial Insemination (A.I.) & Breed Improvement Programme Artificial Insemination (A.I.) is the most important input for breed improvement by reducing the age at first calving and calving interval besides controlling reproductive and other diseases. This input delivery requires good training, field practice, careful operation and strict supervision.

For Breed improvement under this programme, special care has been taken to avoid inbreeding which affects milk production parameters. Frozen semen doses of bulls, procured during last 10 years have been stopped and new bulls with excellent pedigree have been considered.

Glimpses of growth in input services during last three years (The figures are in (+/-)

SN	PRODUCTS	2011-'12 VS 2012-'13	20012-'13 VS 2013-'14	20013-'14 VS 2014-'15	20014-'15 VS 2016-'16	20015-‘16 VS 2016-‘17
		(+/-)	(+/-)	(+/-)	(+/-)	(+/-)
1.	A.I.Centre	0	9	11	61	-3
2.	A.I.Performed	2701	-4820	5602	3914	5466
3.	Calves Born	2431	-3091	11	2944	111
4.	FirstAid Centres	0	9	11	61	-3
5.	First Aid cases	-1234	6529	2336	911	14402
6.	Health Camps	170	-81	286	295	-97
7.	Animal Treated	54481	-22424	90657	96218	3538
8.	FMD Vaccinations	76842	17079	13000	-8500	164250

*Vaccines not available
To extend the activity of artificial insemination, we have started monitoring the system through our veterinary officers. The meeting of all the staff members associated with this activity is held every month. Expected results are also coming up. By the end of this year 183 cluster of artificial insemination were in operation where 80986 inseminations were done, which shows a growth of 27%.

From the above table, it is evident that there is significant increase in all inputs during 2016-17. The cluster A.I.Centres organized in Rajkot District have been grouped in 5 Zones.

Artifical insemination
To extend the activities of A.I. we have started monitoring of all centers through our veterinary officers. The bimonthly meeting of all A.I. workers and concern staff officers is held regularly. Total 183 A.I. centers are established and 80986 animals have been inseminated upto March-2017.The cluster A.I. Centers organized in Rajkot District have been grouped in 5 zones.

Particulars		ZONE WISE MONTHLY AVERAGE A.I.PERFORMED
		2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Cluster centres of Mostly Wankaner Taluka	Zone A	42	42	26	25
Cluster centres of Mostly Rajkot Taluka	Zone B	49	67	50	42
Cluster centres of Mostly Jasdan Taluka	Zone C	66	57	43	53
Cluster centres of Mostly Gondal Taluka	Zone D	40	47	32	30
Cluster Center of Mostly Jamkandorana Taluka	Zone E	-	48	18	15

Figures in parenthesis ( ) are number of cluster centres: Monthly average of Zone C is highest.

FERTILITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (F.I.P.)

There are various reasons for low fertility which leads to Low Productivity and treated during Animal Health Camps. But in view of significant financial loss to farmers, a special programme with the assistance of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. was started during 2007-08 to address the problems of low fertility: managemental, physiological/biological & nutritional etc.

Each year 200 New Dairy Cooperative Societies are considered under Fertility Improvement Programme and animals with reproductive problems are registered in first two camps organized at about 60 days interval. In total 4/5 camps are organized in a Dairy Cooperative Society under Fertility Improvement Programme. Till now, 8 rounds of Fertility Improvement Programme have been competed in 651 Dairy Cooperative Societies and the 9th round is in progress.

S. N	FIP year	No. of DCS under FIP	No. of FIP registered Animal during 1st camp	2nd camp registered	Total registered animals	Total Pregnant Animals	% Achievement	Total Deworming Doses	Total FMD Doses
1	2007-08	40	1466	416	1882	1688	89%	18739	14585
2	2008-09	40	1827	390	2217	1848	83%	31309	16281
3	2009-10	40	1713	283	1996	1751	60%	24600	13565
4	2010-11	40	1319	390	1709	1347	79%	29350	15865
5	2011-12	44	1814	190	2004	1429	71.3%	31790	15700
6	2012-13	40	1117	464	1581	1108	70%	21810	12765
7	2014-15	204	6988	2510	9498	6942	73.09%	115700	57350
8	2015-16	203	6139	2224	8363	6115	73%	109610	59340
9	2016-17	201	7652	2878	10530	8030	76%	104500	82550

Under Fertility Improvement Programme besides treatment of reproductive problems farmers are advised of better management and feeding of quality balanced cattle feed and Mineral Mixture which is normally not practiced by farmers. Add to it, in view of its importance deworming and FMD vaccinations have been made prerequisites of Fertility Improvement Programme .The achievements of Fertility Improvement Programme camps is as above.

To follow-up animals covered under Fertility Improvement Programme and also to add uncovered animals, another activity Productivity Enhancement Programme was initiated but under this programme 105 Dairy Cooperative Societies have been covered.

Productivity Enhancement Programme( PEP )
It is a follow up programme to maintain the cows and buffaloes, registered under FIP in sound reproductive health with regular calving and also to include new animals which are not covered earlier. All cows and buffaloes being inseminated or to be inseminated by the AI workers are registered under PEP.

The objectives of PEP is to reduce inter calving period/age at first calving and increase reproductive efficiency thereby saving the farmers from economical loss.

In other words , FIP is an eye opener for the farmers to demonstrate that the cows and buffaloes can reproduce after good management,feeding and treatment if necessary.

PEP on the other hand , help the farmers to continue the economical benefits of maintaining a cow and buffaloe.

ANIMAL HEALTH CAMPS

Organisation of Animal Health Camps is one of the important inputs started initially. Gradually.Farmers participation increased significantly and during 2016-17, 263959 animals were treated in 819 Animal Health Camps organised by the Milk Union.

VACCINATION

Regular vaccination against FMD have been started and Milk Union is trying to make it compulsory. Deworming and FMD vaccinations have been made prerequisites of Fertility Improvement Programme and during 2016-17 , 376300 animals have been vaccinated against FMD abd upto Mar-17, 315100 animals have been deworming done.

In addition, Milk Union is joining hands with the AH & Vet. Dept. of Govt. for H.S.,B.Q. & recently Brucellosis is vaccination.

BALANCED CATTLE FEED AND MINERAL MIXTURE

In absence of production facility.Rajkot milk Union is procuring these materials from other sources while strictly maintaining its quality. Siva June 2012,RMU is regularly procuring Razdan Catle Feed & area specific minerd mixture from Razdan Cuttle Feed Plant, Khanderi of INDIAN IMMUNO LO6lCALS Ltd. A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board.

INFORMATION NETWORK ON ANIMAL PRODUCTIVITY AND HEALTH(INAPH)

This programme is tobeing initiated under the technical assistance of NDDB for monitoring the progress of field AI activities and benefit the farmers with early information like A.I. of cows & buffaloes, pregnancy confirmation, approx. date of calving, occurrence of heat after calving etc to alert the farmer in time for necessary arrangements and economic benefit. All cows & buffaloes under this programme are to be identified by ear tagging by AI workers at the time of AI and subsequent information is fed to the server using internet facilities. Caution messages will directly come to the farmers from the server of NDDB. Initial actions have been initiated by the Milk Union.

BULL CALF PRODUCTION PROGRAMME

As per existing information, only 20% breedable animals are covered under AI which is planned to increase to about 45% by 2020 which will need huge quantity of doses, establishment of New Semen Production Stations and upgradation of old stations for semen production.

In addition, the requirement of quality pedigreed bull for N.S. is a matter of great concern and the Animal Health Departments of each State have been given the responsibility to produce Bull Calf of the State breeds under the National Policy on Cow & Buffaloe Breeding(NPCBB).

Gujarat Livestock Development Board(GLDDB) has been given the responsibility to select and produce bull calves of high yielding Gir and Jaffrabadi breeds. The selected bull calves will be procured by the GLDB for which Rajkot Milk Union has received financial assistance of Rs. 36 lakhs.

CALF REARING PROGRAMME

To decrease morbidity and mortality of Newborn female calf through A.I. and to decrease age of first calving which is highly beneficial to the milk producers.This programme is run by combine efforts of GCMMF and milk union. In this programme 860 female calves have been registered.Technical assistance and subsidized balanced calf starter and cattle feed is provided to the farmers.