LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh will soon be getting embryos of the Gir cow, endemic to Gujarat, but with a twist. On Monday, UP-based company Ananda Dairy signed an MoU with Brazil‘s BH Embrioes for the embryos of the Gir cow. Gir cows of Gujarat from Brazil!
The answer to the riddle lies in history. Around 150 years ago, Brazil imported the famed Gir cows from Gujarat’s Gir forests – a Bos indicus breed that is resistant to hot temperatures and tropical diseases – and crossed them with Holstein cows, a Bos taurus breed that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland and in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. The end result was Girolando cows – that evolved into a hardy and healthy breed, capable of producing more milk. It now produces 80% of Brazil’s milk. Now, Anand Dairy is purchasing the embryos of the Girlando, the Brazilian Gir, to ensure that the indigenous variety, now with a Brazilian twist, can help farmers in the state produce more and better quality milk. Brazilian Gir gives 10,000 liters of milk in 1 lactation
Gir is a popular breed, not just in India but also abroad in countries like the USA, Mexico, and Venezuela. In India, it is endemic to the Gir forest, from which it has taken its name, and areas around it though now it can also be found in other states. UP, in fact, has launched a scheme in which it subsidizes the import of the indigenous variety from across the state border. Manoj Kumar Singh, the agriculture produce commissioner who was part of the official delegation that held a road show in Brazil ahead of the February 2023 Global Investors Summit, told TOI that they had met the representatives from the firm and had invited them to invest in UP. “Compared to the Indian Gir, which gives around 2,000 ltr of milk in one lactation, the Brazilian Gir will give 10,000 ltr. It is a result of a better diet and health facilities there that the cow, which originally went from India, has now evolved into a healthier and studier breed.
In Brazil, we held talks with some companies and had invited them to visit UP and invest here,” he said. According to the MoU, BH Embrioes will provide veterinarians who are specialized in embryo transfer and oocyte retrieval (a procedure in which eggs are taken from the ovaries before the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) process), reproduction services, and other related services for the genetic improvement program which will be run by Ananda Dairy. The services will include disease diagnostics and strategic disease control to improve reproduction results. The project will be divided into two phases which include picking up oocytes from the Brazilian Girlando cows, preparing and transferring the embryos produced from these cows in the Indian receptors at preselected farms, and setting up labs in India to produce embryos in order to ensure economic viability for local farmers.
