Haryana's Murrah buffalo

Haryana's Murrah buffalo has emerged as a much sought after animal in the world.

With the Murrah's pedigree and machismo gaining popularity, demand for its semen is increasing all over the country. This has forced the Haryana government to boost the annual Murrah semen production capacity to 50 lakh straws (doses) from 32 lakh.

Haryana's Murrah buffalo has emerged as a much sought after animal in the world.

A Murrah buffalo can produce up to 32kg of milk a day, almost double of an ordinary buffalo. Murrah buffaloes became popular after 2010Commonwealth Games when some of Haryana's medal-winning wrestlers claimed that this breed's milk was the secret behind their success. A good Murrah can fetch around Rs 2 lakh. Recently, an Andhra Pradesh farmer had bought a Murrah buffalo from Haryana for Rs 25 lakh.
Newly-appointed director general of the animal husbandry departmentGS Jakhar said the Hissar-based semen centre would be upgraded with an investment of Rs 11 crore as part of the plan. The Central government has also agreed to provide Rs 6 crore for the project, he said.

The project would be completed within a year and drawings for the proposed semen centre have been finalized. With the introduction of advanced technology it would be one of the best semen production centres in the world, he said.

Animal husbandry department officials said cattle breeders across the country are now opting for artificial insemination. "Due to this trend, demand for semen straws has increased even in Haryana where each village has bulls for natural insemination," said an official.

Haryana has two more semen production centres in Gurgaon and Jagadhari. At present, the state has 118 Murrah bulls for semen production and the department would soon add 80 more to it.