Will import cows from Pak to improve breed: Dhankar
ROHTAK: Haryana agriculture minister Om Prakash Dhankar has said that the state government may take help from Pakistan to improve breeding of cows and “restore the old glory” of the indigenous cow.
Dhankar, who was addressing a gathering of dairy farmers at Rohtak on Monday, said that Pakistan was known for the best Sahiwal breed of cows, so he might visit the neighbouring country to bring Sahiwal cows to improve the cow breed in Haryana.
The agriculture minister also said that Haryana’s cows had improved milk production in Brazil and Israel. “Now, the Haryana government may take help of Brazil and Israel to improve cow breeding of the state, if the need be,” he added.
He said that the state government had already inked an agreement with the Brazilian government to improve milk production, quality of cattle feed and environment for the animals.
The minister said that the state government had decided to increase daily milk production of the state to 2.5 crore litres from existing 2 crore litres and steps would be taken to increase milk production of the state from Punjab and Gujarat.
Later, Dhankar also honoured dairy farmers with cash awards up to ` 20,000 for having highest milk producing cows. COW BEAUTY CONTEST
Dhankar also announced that the Haryana government would organise a cow beauty contest, under which finest cows and calves from the state would be brought at one place. This would also help to improve the cow breed, he added.
The minister also announced a fund of `2.10 crore to accommodate 1.17 lakh stray cows and calves in the gaushalas of the state.