Four lakh highbred calves produced in Khulna in 7 years
Revenue worth Tk2.63 crore was collected during this time
In the last seven years, four lakh highbred calves have been produced through crossbreeding of local cows with foreign bulls in Khulna, bringing Tk2.63 crore as revenue.
According to the Khulna District Artificial Insemination Centre, 10 lakh 64 thousand 70 cows were artificially inseminated in the last seven years in the greater Khulna (Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira) districts, out of which 3.99 lakh Friesian and Sahiwal calves have been bred.
In 2019-20, one lakh 85 thousand 368 cows were artificially inseminated and 71,726 calves were born. In 2018-19 and 2017-18, 58,819 and 63,028 calves were born respectively.
In 2019-20, the revenue collection was Tk59.38 lakh, which was Tk55.60 lakh in 2018-19, and Tk37.87 lakh in 2017-18.
Mizanur Rahman, the owner of a cattle farm in the Rajbandh area of Dumuria, has been raising cows since his childhood. He had three cows of the native breed in his house. To make it commercial, he has started breeding foreign highbred ones on the advice of the local upazila animal resources officer.
"Now, I have eight bulls and five cows on my farm. I get about 70-75 litres of milk every day, which is sold at Tk60 per litre. I also made a profit by selling two bulls of Friesian breed last Eid-ul-Azha. The advantage of foreign varieties is that I get the result within a short time," he added.
Sheikh Borhan Uddin, the owner of Sheikh Dairy Farm in the Rayermahal area of the city, said, "I have been in the Middle East for a long time. Back in the country, I started a cattle farm in 2010. From the first two foreign breeds experimentally, I have 14 cows at present, including bulls and cows."
"I get about 70 litres of milk every day from the cows, which is sold at Tk60 per litre. Also, a bull can be sold for Tk1-2.5 lakh," he added.
Khulna District Artificial Reproduction Centre scientific officer Alamgir Hossain said as in developed countries, artificial breeding methods are used for improving local breeds. At present, artificial breeding activities are being carried out with high-yielding Friesian and Sahiwal bulls.
He said 300 to 400 cows can be bred by semen collected once. Besides, the collected semen can be stored for a long time in liquid nitrogen cans.
At present, almost all the farms in our country have cows that give 15-20 litres of milk. There are also cows that can produce a maximum of 45 litres of milk.
