Ban on transportation of milking animals from Punjab demanded

Former Punjab Livestock Minister Mumtaz Ahmed on Monday demanded the government to put a ban on the transportation of milking animals from Punjab to Sindh as 800,000 highly milk-producing animals are being slaughtered in Karachi and most of them are being purchased from Punjab, causing a decrease in production of milk in the Punjab.
He was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day seminar titled: "Enhancing ruminant production through nutritional manipulation" at New Senate Hall, University of Agriculture Faisalabad as a chief guest. The seminar was organised by the Institute of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, UAF and was presided over by UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan.
He said slaughtering of the highly producing milk animals is decreasing the breed of the animals in Punjab. He said that the milk should be transported to the Sindh via chilling trains that is in the best interest of the country. He pointed out that the country is having 40 percent fodder deficit animals. He urged all stakeholders and government to take tangible steps to overcome the deficiency. He stressed the need to increase milk production from per animal by quoting the example of neighbouring counties that are getting 30 litres of milk per animal at the average.
He urged the farmers to cut the fodder in evening as in night the fodder eat its calcium and in morning it started producing it again so in evening the plant contains maximum calcium. Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan vowed to leave stone unturned to transfer the technology and researches at the doorsteps of the farmers. He said that the knowledge is increasing with each passing day and effort to transfer it would be expedited. He said that the seminar is a step toward it, as farmers from of the four corners of the country are invited for capacity building.
Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan said that the world has started using grains as feed of animals but our country needs time to adopt the technique, as we can not sufficient resources to do so. Only in the poultry industry, grains are being used in our country. Faculty of Animal Husbandry Dean Dr Muhammad Sarwar thanked the farmers and other guests for attending the seminar. Dr Javed I Sultan, Director, Institute of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology briefed about the functioning of the institute. He said that the institute has produced 45 PhDs and 417 MSc.
He said that the Institute has four divisions, including ruminant nutrition, non-ruminant nutrition, nutritional biotechnology and feed technology. The mission of the Institute of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology is to play a key role in food security, capacity building of livestock farmers and to improve the basic rural socio-economic infrastructure to sustain under free trade market system, he added.