Calf Rearing Programme (CRP) envisages to promote Scientific Feeding of female calves
- Challenges faced by dairy farmers in India:
o High mortality rate in calves
o Higher Age at First Calving (AFC) caused by delayed sexual maturity
o Lower lifetime productivity
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- To create awareness among dairy farmers on scientific feeding of female calves and its impact on productivity and dairy farm profitability, NDDB has conducted large-scale field trials on the Calf Rearing Program (CRP) through dairy cooperatives.
- Special types of feed such as pregnancy feed (two months for advanced pregnant cows, calf starter (six months for female calves) and calf growth meal (7-24 months to growing heifers) are offered to animals.
- Outcomes of the scientific calf feeding
o Reduced calf mortality by about 50%
o Improved birth weight of calves by 20-30%
o Enhanced growth rate of young calves by about 30%
o Reduced average AFC by 6-10 months
- NDDB is now expanding the implementation of CRP across multiple states with the support of government schemes.