FaRMERs EnJOy a bUll RUn

Heera, a five-year-10-months old Murrah bull, stands at 5.5 feet. Every farmer in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh knows about this robust animal. The annual sale of its semen is worth about Rs. 1.5 crore. The National Dairy Development Board, Gujarat, has adopted Haryana’s Heera to use its sperm to improve the quality of Murrah buffalos under a World-Bank-funded project. The bull generates nearly 3,000 doses of semen in a month. The NDDB gives 1,500 straws to its owner each month and the price is Rs 300 per dose. The Sunday Guardian spoke to the owner of Heera—Kapoor Singh, of Singhwa Khas in Hisar district. He confirmed earning annually over Rs 1 crore by selling his bull’s semen. “My Heera is always a star attraction at the cattle fairs,” said Kapoor Singh. “We also sell progeny of quality breed buffaloes and bulls.” Heera daily eats 8 kg of cattle feed and drinks seven litres of milk and 250 gram of ghee. The bull is given a special massage to keep it healthy. Animal husbandry is turning out a moneyspinner for many farmers, especially those associated with selling livestock of quality breed and bulls’ semen. They are getting good returns, from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 90 lakh per year.

Pawan from Kungru village (Bhiwani) began selling the semen of his national prize winning Murrah bulls, Arjun and Bhim, in 2013 for improving the cattle breed and now earns Rs 20 lakh per year. He gets the semen of bulls prepared from a private agency in UP after conducting all required medical tests on the bulls. Narendra Singh of Didwadi village (Panipat), says that he didn’t know about the semen business before buying a Murrah bull for Rs 1.5 lakh in 2004. “When my bull won prizes at livestock fairs, some veterinary doctors advised me to get into the business of selling bulls’ semen.”