BHOPAL: A nine-year-old super buffalo from Haryana could bring smile on the faces of 1500-plus buffalo farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the months to come.
The giant buffalo Yuvraj from Haryana’s Kurukshetra district spent nine days at a fair in South West MP’s Burhanpur district (370 km from Bhopal), acting Vicky Donor to owners of 1,500 buffalos.
Belonging to premium Murrah breed, Yuvraj weighing 15 quintals was the cynosure of all eyes at the Navratra Gramodaya Fair organised for the seventh year in row under the patronage of local MLA and MP minister for women and child development Archana Chitnis.
Buffalo owners raring high milk yielding progenies flocked to get a single dose of Yuvraj’s semen for Rs 300. “It’s the first time that Yuvraj participated in a rural fair and the response was great,” said his owner Karamveer Singh.
Among the beneficiaries were buffalo farmers from Burhanpur, Khandwa and Betul districts of MP, besides Jalgaon district of Maharashtra.
“This belt is deficient in milk and often has to get it from other districts, including Indore,” said deputy director (animal husbandry) of Burhanpur Dr Manoj Sharma.
Karamveer said Yuvraj has already given his semen to over two lakh buffalos across the country in last six years. “Yuvraj’s mother Ganga (also of the Murrah breed) yielded 26-litre plus milk daily. “Yuvraj fetches Rs 50 lakh plus yearly, which is enough to take care of the needs of 30 buffalos at our shed in Sonariyo village in Kurukshetra,” Singh said.
The monthly expenditure on Yuvraj’s diet costs around Rs 1lakh. Yuvraj has won All India Buffalo breeding championship in the Murrah breed segment 22 times in last six years in UP, Punjab and Haryana. Last year, a buyer from South Africa had quoted Rs 9.50 lakh to buy Yuvyraj.
Singh said he’s willing to send Yuvraj’s semen to needy farmers in MP, if the state government worked as a facilitator.