CROSS BREEDING of local cattle with exotic breeds having a record of high milk yield was introduced in India nearly three to four decades back. A number of foreign cow breeds such as Holstein Friesian, Jersey, Red Dane and Brown Swiss were introduced in India during this period.

The main objective of this crossbreeding was to increase milk production and to improve the productivity of native breeds.

New breed

The problem with these foreign breeds is that under Indian climatic conditions they do not give enough milk. With a view to rapidly improving milk production, the National Dairy Research Institute has succeeded in developing a new cow breed named Karan Frie.

Karan Frie was developed by artificially inseminating the Tharparkar cow breed found in Rajasthan with Holstein Friesian bulls.

High value

The Tharparkar cows, though average producers of milk, are highly valued for their ability to withstand hot and humid climate.

The cows of Karan Friebreed are able to produce about 3,000 to 3,400 litres of milk in a year.

Local breeds of cattle have peculiar characteristics such as hardiness, heat tolerance, disease resistance and the capacity to thrive on low feed resources, which combine well with the high milk productivity of the foreign breeds. Karan Frie breed meets all the above requirements and is very popular with farmers in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, according to Dr. B.K. Joshi, Head, Division, Dairy Cattle Breeding, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, Haryana.

The animals are characterised by black and white patches on the body, forehead and the tail switch. The udder is dark in colour with white patches on the teats with prominent milk veins.

Karan Frie cows are extremely docile. Female calves mature early compared to male calves and conceive during 32-34 months of age.

Gestation period

Gestation period usually lasts for about 280 days. "After calving the animals conceive within 3 to 4 months thus having a clear advantage over the local cows which normally take 5-6 months to conceive again," said Dr. Joshi.

The average milk production of this cow breed at the institute farm was about 3,700 litres, with a fat content of about 4.2 per cent in a lactation period of 320 days, he explained.

Good feed

The breed performs well when fed with ample amounts of green fodder and balanced concentrate mixture and can yield about 15-20 litres of milk per day. The milk yield can go up to 25-35 litres a day during its peak milking period (that is 3-4 months of calving).

Many commercial dairy farmers in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh are maintaining large herds of these animals where their performance has been found to be very satisfactory. On the question of infestations, which affect this cow breed he said, "There is no specific disease affecting this breed.

Source: The Hindu