Indian Government Plan Hi-Tech Dairy Farm
INDIA - It is time to throw out the traditional notion of cowsheds as straw-strewn, smelly places perennially identified with ruralscape. The first government-run hi-tech dairy farm coming up at Kulathupuzha in Kollam district, will be home to some of the most pampered cattle in the country, technology-wise.
9 January 2009
1 minute read
Unique features of the model farm, a project of the Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB), include computer chip-fitted cattle, programmable feeders, automatic feeding and milking parlours and research schemes, reports a news item from Express Buzz. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will lay the foundation-stone for the farm on January 14.
According to the report, the Rs 50 million project is fully funded by the National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB) under its Bull Mother Farm, Progeny Testing and Open Nuclear Breeding schemes. For Kerala, it marks a gen-next experiment in organised dairy farming and an important step in increasing milk production, Food and Animal Husbandry Minister C. Divakaran said.
“At present, there is no similar facility in the Government sector anywhere in the country. The Kulathupuzha farm is one of the three we are planning,” he told Express Buzz.
The farm will have around 200 painstakingly selected, high-productive cattle of the Jersey, Holstein Friesian varieties and sub-continental types like Gir. All information concerning each animal - pedigree, milk yield, feeding patterns and the like - will be stored in a computer chip inside a transponder which the animal will carry in its neck.
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