RAJSHAHI, Oct 9, 2019 (BSS)- Rajshahi Dairy and Cattle Development Farm has been playing a pivotal role towards boosting milk and meat production through the best uses of modern technologies in the region.
Located on 92.43 acres of land at Rajabarihat area under Godagari Upazila in the district, the farm contributes a lot to breed up-gradation of cattle side by side with slashing down the protein deficiency through enhancing milk and meat production.
In addition to necessary office building, the farm has a 60-acre fodder ground for grass production, 15.78-acre Byre section and 3.57-care afforestation.
It has also eighteen sheds of various types with keeping capacity of 1,015 cattle-heads. At present, there are 259 cattle including 61 milking cows, 46 bulls and 107 heifers in the farm.
It has reared 55 milking cows, 60 pregnant cows, 87 calves, 41 breeding bulls, 85 growing heifers and seven growing bulls in last 2018-19 fiscal side by side with producing and fattening bulls for using those in the farming fields. Eighty-seven new calves including 48 bulls were born through 164 artificial inseminations.
Dr Towfizul Islam, Manager of the farm, told BSS that around 1.03 lakh litres of milk from 80 cows and 28.42 lakh metric tons of grass were produced in the last fiscal. The farm yields 170-180 litres of milk, one ton of cow-dung and 8,000 kilograms of grass at present every day.
“We have sold 124 cattle including 28 cows and 69 bulls to the local farmers in last fiscal besides distributing 10 bull-calves to the regional artificial insemination laboratory and four cows and 34 heifers to the central cattle-breeding and milk farm in last fiscal,” he added.
Professor Jalal Uddin Sarder of Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Rajshahi University said the farm has been playing as driving force in the field of flourishing the cattle-farming sector side by side with contributing to reducing poverty through employment generation. After taking services from the farm, the region has started becoming enriched with animal resources including dairy farming and bull-fattening during the recent time.
Artificial insemination of cows is gaining popularity in the region following significant achievement in the breed up-gradation method.
Prof Sarder said the cows are giving milk ten times more than that of the previous record due to the cross-breeding.
In both rural and urban areas, the poor and marginalized people including women have achieved tremendous successes in the sector through getting various assistances from the farm.
The feature has brightened the prospects of exporting beef to areas within the country alongside outside the country after meeting up the local demands.
Dr Golam Rahid, a dairy farmer of Assam Colony area in the city, said he started his dairy business after purchasing a cow from the farm around ten years back. Now, he has 25 cows producing 145 liters of milk every day on an average. Amidst arrangement of high yielding and breed upgraded cows, milk production has been enhanced to a great extent.