Milk yield: Billo of Ludhiana breaks national record

JAGRAON: Six-and-a-half-year-old Billo, a Jersey cow, of Cheemna village in Ludhiana district set the national record for highest milk yield during the Progressive Dairy Farmers Association’s International Dairy and Agri Expo here on Monday. Yuvraj, a Neeli Ravi breed bull, from Ferozepur district won the first prize in the baby (bull) breed competition in the same event.

Talking to TOI, Billo’s owner Amarjit Singh, a dairy farmer from Cheemna village, said the previous national record for milk yield for 24 hours for a Jersey cow at national level was 46.467 kg, but his cow broke the record by producing 46.753 kg milk in a day. He said it is a very big achievement for them and his son too worked with him to make this happen.

The owner of Billo said he has 125 cows, including Jersey and Holstein Friesian (HF) breeds. He said he has visited international cattle expo, including one organised in France.

Kuldeep Singh, who was with HF (two teeth) cow (aged 23 months) belonging to Parveen Singh of Makhu, said the cow won the first prize in the category with milk yield of 49.80 kg.

Dr Lakhvir Singh and Dr Sumit Singh of a reputed dairy animals nutrition brand said there were competitions for milking, breed etc at the event. They said even as in HF (two teeth) cow competition, Parveen Singh’s cow won the first prize, Chaman Singh’s cattle won first place in HF (adult) competition by providing 63.813 kg milk.

Meanwhile, Gurjant Singh, owner of Yuvraj, which won first prize, said it is priceless for him. “It won because of it’s better body shape and breed,” said Gurjant.

The organisers said that the response has been great this year. “This year the response was double the previous years as gathering was more. More than 750 animals participated in the breed, milking competition and 180 animals won in 18 categories. A national record was set by a Jersey cow as it produced 46.75 litre milk,” said PDFA president Daljit Singh Sadarpura.