Sh Ishwar singh is a progressive farmer of village Singhwa Khas which is famous for Murrah buffaloes in the state. He possesses about 25 acres of land. At present he is Vice President of Murrah Buffalo Breeders welfare Association which was formed and registered with the facilitation of CIRB. Sh. Ishwar Singh is very well-known amongst the fraternity of Murrah buffalo owners because he possessed “Dhanno”. This buffalo got prize “Animal of the show” in 7 competitions conducted in different parts of the country and won prizes of Rs. 11.5 lakhs. During the Buffalo Mela organized at CIRB, Hisar, Sh. Ishwar Singh’s father Master Hoshiar declared that Dhanno will not participate in future competitions. Thus, took formal retirement from participation in competitions during buffalo Mela organized at CIRB HIsar on March 18, 2015.

Dhanno’s daughter Lakho Rani also won first prize at prestigious livestock show organized at Muktsar and won Rs. 2.50 lakhs. This year during March 19-21, 2016 Sh. Ishwar Singh was sponsored by CIRB to participate in Krishi Unnati Mela along with ‘Lakho Rani’ for livestock exhibition, where this animal became the star attraction of the show. He interacted and motivated farmers of different parts of the country regarding rearing of superior quality of Murrah buffaloes on this occassion. Thus, Sh. Ishwar Singh is not only contributing immensely to the cause of buffalo development in Haryana but also proving a role model for farmers of the country who can be followed for rearing buffaloes like ‘Lakho Rani’. He frequently visits CIRB along with fellow farmers for advice on improved buffalo husbandry practices. He also guides his peers regarding availability of semen of superior bulls.

The story pertains to Shri Bhale Ram a farmer of Juglan village who started practicing improved buffalo husbandry after the efforts of the team working under Field Progeny Testing Program in 10 villages. Bhale Ram is a progressive dairy farmer of village Juglan which is one of the 10 adopted villages of the Institute. Before 2001 Sh. Bhale Ram preferred Natural Service to artificial insemination. His attitude towards the practice was poor. However, with regular meetings and motivation, he agreed for artificial insemination in buffaloes. He was particularly trained by scientists and technical officers of the institute to observe and identify heat symptoms correctly so that timely insemination could be done. Slowly and over the years the results were startling. Today he prefers artificial insemination services provided by the Institute to natural service. At present, he has 6 buffaloes of different categories. Out of these 2 heifers and one female calf are the progenies of bulls of CIRB. One of his heifers won the first prize in Buffalo Mela organized by the institute in February in 2013. He is also earning a lot of money through sale of these animals. He sold one of his animals on 30th August, 2013 for Rs 17 lakhs. He frequently participates in calf rallies organized by CIRB in village Juglan and also interacts with the scientists of the Institute during Kisan Goshthies regularly. Previously, animal husbandry was his subsidiary occupation but now he is giving more importance to buffalo husbandry than agriculture.

The institute initiated field progeny testing (FPT) programme in village Juglan in the year 2001 which was further extended to five more villages namely Dhiktana, Bir, Kheribarki, Kirada and Jewra. During the year 2009 four more villages Sarsod, Bichpari, Baado Patti and Bugana were added to this list in order to achieve the target of more than 4000 inseminations in a year. At present, the institute is working in 10 adopted villages under this programme. The frozen semen of test bulls under Network Project on Buffalo Improvement is being used in these adopted villages of CIRB Hisar. This was followed by pregnancy diagnosis, calving of buffaloes, ear tagging and follow up of progenies till the completion of first lactation milk records on the basis of monthly test day records. Data on different aspects were recorded as per specified format. The frozen semen of test bulls of 6th to 15th set was used in this project and 16th set was initiated from Jan., 2016. Under the programme, from April 2001 to March 2016, 37660 artificial inseminations were done with the overall conception rate of 50.50%. The conception rate was 18% at the time of initiation of the project in 2001 which increased to more than 50 %. In the beginning, hardly 10 percent farmers opted for artificial insemination but at present most of the farmers prefer artificial insemination to natural service.

The identification of progenies using microchip, eartags is being done in all female progenies available at various field unit centers. After calving, test day milk recording of progenies in first lactation is documented and daughters are available in the field for future recordings. Impact of FPT programme was studied with regard to two parameters i.e. average age at first calving and average peak yield. The data on 368 recorded progenies calved till 2014 using the semen of institute bulls revealed that average age at first calving was 42.11 months and their peak yield was 9.16 kg as compared to 43.6 months and 7.63 kg respectively from first calvers born from village bulls. Thus significant decrease in average age at first calving and increase in peak yield was observed in randomly selected animals.

Nili-Ravi Buffalo is a valuable germplasm for farmer’s livelihood and food security. The breed is distributed in Punjab, adjoining part of Jammu and HP through graded Nili-Ravi and also few farmers rearing good quality Nili-Ravi buffaloes in Haryana and Rajasthan (Ganganagar area). The report of ICAR-NBAGR, Karnal reported decreasing trend of Nili-Ravi buffaloes in its breeding tract (2010). The non-availability of pure and superior quality Nili Ravi bulls is the main limiting factor. Keeping above facts in mind, ICAR-CIRB, Sub-Campus, Nabha, first time organized Nili-Ravi buffalo Mela on its foundation day Celebration – December 01, 2012 and invited a progressive farmer Sardar Roop Singh ji, Vill. Rasida (Tohana), Haryanafor participation of their animals in various competitions organized in Buffalo Mela. Sd. RoopSinghji visited Nili-Ravi buffalo farm, Nabha and impressed with the elite Nili-Ravi herd of ICAR-CIRB, Nabha. RoopSinghji also maintained good quality Nili-Ravi buffalo herd (with average herd sizearound 25-30 buffaloes in 2012) from many generations. But the breeding bullwas not of good quality, might be due to the effect of inbreeding in small population size as he was maintaining the herd since last 50-60 years. RoopSinghji, requested for one superior quality breeding bull for breeding their buffaloes and also for other farmers of the area through natural breeding. ICAR-CIRB-Nabha given one elite bull No. 891 (Set-IV) after completion of test mating and storage of required semen doses as per technical programme of network project in January 2013. Bull was accustomed to the village/farm condition in 3 to 4 months and started natural breeding from July 2013. Presently, 27 progenies of superior quality (heifers, young males and calves as given in photographs) are available at SardarRoop Singh farm. He appreciated the guidance, scientific inputs and support given by the CIRB-Hisar / Nabha for revitalizingthe his Nili-Ravi buffalo herd and created his interest to conserved and maintained elite germplasm of Nili-Ravi buffalo.

Roop Singh ji planning to purchase another Nili-Ravi breeding bull from CIRB, Nabha and nine heifers (≥ two years) born from Bull No. 891 attained maturity and will be bred with the bull to be provided from CIRB, Nabha to avoid inbreeding. He sold two young bulls to Gujjar Muslims of Rapper Dist., Punjab for breeding purpose and bargaining going on to sold another two young breeding bulls. He also decided not to sale the heifers born from 891 bulls, but step by step planned to sale older dams to maintained herd strength to 30-35 elite buffaloes.