The ambitious project taken up by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) to promote indigenous cattle breeds has succeeded in bringing to life the State’s first ‘Sahiwal’ breed calf, born through surrogacy.
The calf from the donor cow and bull, both Sahiwal breed, was born to a surrogate cow of the Ongole breed here on Saturday evening. Ten more pregnant cows are ready to spawn calves in the next few days.
Considered the brainchild of Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy, the project was initiated during his stint as the TTD Executive Officer. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the TTD’s Sri Venkateswara Gosamrakshanasala and the varsity’s College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati, for the augmentation of productivity of cattle and production of embryos through the in-vitro method at the college’s IVF lab.
As the TTD requires milk for performing rituals at the Tirumala Srivari temple, besides curd and ghee for preparation of various ‘Prasadams’ to be offered to the deity, it mooted the project to ensure the production of superior high milk-yielding Sahiwal cows. Intending to produce 15-20 calves in a year, the Devasthanams have so far sanctioned ₹3.8 crore for the project for the establishment of the laboratory, to be disbursed over a period of five years. So far, ₹2.02 crore has been released.
Naming the calf ‘Padmavati’, Mr. Dharma Reddy has appealed to donors to come forward to sponsor the noble cause. “Donors have already offered 200 native cows to the TTD, and 300 more are in the pipeline”, he said.
The TTD’s Go Samrakshanasala is getting 3,000-4,000 litres of milk a day, and 60 kg of pure ghee derived from the traditional method to be used at the Tirumala temple”, he said, adding that the recently-launched feed mixing plant offered nutritious diet to the livestock.
SVVU Vice-Chancellor V. Padmanabha Reddy announced to produce 324 high-yielding Sahiwal calves in the next five years through IVF. The calves will not get the qualities of the surrogate mother.
