Glaxo Smithkline betting on 'high-breed' cattle to boost milk production

Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Health Care Limited's successful field experiments in Rajahmundry, involving embryo transfer from a German breed of cattle to conventional cattle, has seen the milk-yield per buffalo go up to 30-35 litres per day, as compared to the earlier milk-yield of six-eight litres.

A first-of-its-kind in Andhra Pradesh, the company has set a target of 1,000 high-breed German calves by 2010. Currently, the embryo transfers are being carried out at Rajavolu and Ravulapalem villages in East Godavari district, Jagadishwara Rao, general manager, GlaxoSmithKline, said. Rao is also the president of Godavari Association for Embryo Transfer in Cattle.

The embryo transfer means that conventional cattle will now give birth to high-breed cattle, leading to a milk revolution. This would help the cattle farmers improve their economic conditions.

Glaxo Smithkline, popularly known as the Horlicks factory, has been making concerted efforts to make the high-breed embryo transfer a reality, the success of which was until now limited to the laboratory. It recorded a success rate of 60 per cent at the conception level itself.

This technology provides an improvement in the genetic potential of cattle besides changing the mind-set of the cattle farmers. It involves the collection of fertilised ova from the reproductive tract of a genetically superior female donor followed by its transfer to a genetically inferior female recipient.

Prior to the embryo transfer a chain of events takes place, including selection of animal by studying its history. Then, the sychronisation is done by PGF2OC injection, and on the seventh day the embryo transfer is done.

Confirmation of pregnancy can be done within 45 days of insemination. This process is called surrogate motherhood or womb renting, Rao explained.

The first embryo transfer was done in November 2002. As many as 14 first-grade Holstein-Friesian (HF) embryos were bought from Sabarmathi Ashram Gaushala, Gujarat, costing Rs 5,000 each.

The embryo transfer is a successful alternative to earlier methods of importing the German breed and raising them in Indian conditions, as the German cattle cannot survive in Indian climatic and clinical conditions, he added.

The cattle farmers in the region are now asking the government to encourage embryo transfers by setting up artificial insemination centres and laboratories.

They also want the government to sanction loans for the setting up of high-breed milk dairies. Rao said that the district administration has taken keen interest in the project after studying the factory's achievement.

The University of Veterinary Sciences, Hyderabad, has also offered its technical services to Horlicks factory through Lam Farm services at Guntur. The services of the Horlicks factory are likely to benefit 300 villages and 20,000 milk farmers through milk procurement.

In these villages, the factory is also actively involved in health and education programmes. The factory is involved in many social welfare schemes in and around Rajahmundry.