Now, sex selection in cows to get fewer male calves

The Union government has asked 10 animal husbandry centres to establish sexed semen production facilities to boost milk productivity and tackle the problem of “unwanted male calves” arising from the cow slaughter ban.

Sexing technologies allow farmers to control the gender of the calf. Scientists believe the use of sexed semen will result in the birth of nine females to every male, thereby helping farmers who prefer milk-producing cows to bulls.

“Other countries get rid of unproductive male calves by culling them for meat. However, this is not an option in many states of India,” said a scientist at the Central Frozen Semen Production and Training Institute in Bangalore (CFSP&TI) on the condition of anonymity.

Bulls have become a burden on farmers because growing mechanisation in agriculture has made them near-redundant in the fields. They are often abandoned on the streets, where they loiter and eventually starve to death. The environment ministry’s recent rules banning the sale of cattle for slaughter at cattle markets have only aggravated the problem.

Narayan Hegde, an advisor at the BAIF Development Research Foundation, believes that the establishment of sexed semen production facilities will benefit Indian farmers to a great degree. “If farmers are able to ensure the birth of more females, it will boost milk production and agricultural income,” he said, adding that BAIF also plans to set up a sexed semen production facility of its own.

The sexed semen will be used to artificially inseminate cows. Around 30% of the cattle in India are artificially inseminated using regular semen, and the chances of birthing a male or female are almost equal.

According to the agriculture ministry, there are 300 million bovines in the country. Of these, only 85 million give milk while the rest – including 84 million males – are “unproductive”. Through this programme, the animal husbandry department aims to add six million cows to the milch herd every year.

The CFSP&TI – which comes under the department of animal husbandry in the ministry of agriculture – is one among the 10 centres that plan to establish sexed semen production facilities. Each of these laboratories will annually produce two lakh gender-specified doses of semen.

Calls for global expressions of interest have been issued by the centres. This will be followed by calls for tenders, and the companies that win them will have three months to set up the laboratories. However, nobody seems to know by when the doses will be ready for distribution.

“We are only taking baby steps. The technology is proven, but there are ethical issues involved,” the CFSP&TI scientist said. “Ultimately, this amounts to tinkering with nature.” Widespread use of the semen will dramatically change the sex ratio of Indian cattle.

India is the largest milk producer in the world. Its total milk production was 155.5 million tonnes in 2015-16, divided almost evenly among buffaloes and cows. However, the demand for milk is expected to cross 200 million tonnes by 2021-22.

However, a couple of major hurdles stand in the way of adopting the sexed semen technology. Firstly, the costs are prohibitive and farmers in India may not be ready for it. A dose of sexed semen comes with a price tag of ₹1,500 while a similar amount of conventional semen costs about ₹50.

At present, this technology is used only by a few rich farmers who can afford to purchase the doses from foreign companies. These doses come from males of foreign breeds. Opening labs in India will mean producing the doses in India with indigenous bull and buffalo semen.

Experts say anybody who invests in the technology will be doing so at a risk. Crores of rupees would go waste if farmers do not readily adopt it.