Two Filipino scientists said the local dairy industry needs a massive upgrading, particularly of its cattle stocks, to reduce the country’s dependence on imported dairy products.
Dr. Johnny Alibay and Dr. Arceo Bautista said an “honest to goodness” dairy industry development in the country can be achieved with the massive upgrading of domestic cattle using artificial insemination from genetically superior Holstein and Jersey sires in the United States.
Alibay and Bautista said the industry could be developed through active involvement of local government units in the barangays (villages) all over the country, where 90 percent of about one million female cattle are being cared for by individual cattle owners.
The duo projected that even if only 10, 000 of the 43, 000 barangays in the Philippines will each inseminate 10 cattle a year, at a calving rate of 40 percent and 50:50 sex ratio, there will be 20,000 female calves born in a year or 200,000 in 10 years.
Alibay studied the country’s dairy sector as a Balik Dairy scientist of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) while Bautista is a partner advocate of the Dairy Products and Technology Development Division of the of the Animal and Dairy Science Cluster of the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños.
Bautista studied the “backbone” for disseminating superior dairy cattle genetics, involving good and well documented mating and breeding plan on established pedigrees and breeding values or pedigree index wherein one can match parents to produce the best outcome.
They believe that simultaneous to the massive cattle upgrading program, the creation of genetically superior Philippine breeds of dairy cattle is the most practical, realistic, and inexpensive approach that can generate the strongest leverage to develop a progressive and sustainable Philippine dairy industry.
Albay and Bautista said the country in 2006 imported US$500 million worth of milk and dairy products with only one percent of its consumption sourced from locally produced milk. A successful dairy industry not only will reduce importation but boost the country’s milk-based feeding program for children, they said.
They also said that having a dairy industry will shield us from health risks that come with dependence on imported milk and dairy products.
Alibay and Bautista recommended the implementation of a “Master Plan to Help and Develop a Progressive and Sustainable Dairy Industry, which is a re-formulated Philippine dairy cattle breeding program that has already produced initial results – Philippine pedigreed sires used for semen collection and distribution in a massive artificial insemination program.
”Our country’s dairy cattle numbers are expected to increase by 500 cattle to 1,000 cattle annually, on account of the government program, but this does not mean an increase in milk production since it depends much on the ability of the herd to produce milk,” they said.
Alibay cited neighbor Thailand which has more than 400,000 dairy cows that produce an average of 14 kilograms of milk daily using genetically superior dairy cattle to improve the performance of its dairy heads.
Bautista said local dairy cows produce an average of four kilograms of milk per day while those of the US which can produce as much as 30 kg milk/day. The country’s 13,000 head dairy cows compared to the 9.2 million head dairy cows of the US put the Philippines in the cellar among milk producing countries all over the world, he said. [Francis M. Bilowan/PNA]
Abilay said his visits to dairy farms in 17 provinces of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao made him realize that the local dairy cattle has a low milk output because of their low genetic potential, as well as unwise, indiscriminate, and random use of genetically unknown and inferior bulls, on top of fairly remediable environmental conditions, like high temperature and humidity, inadequate and low-quality dairy feeds and improper feeding practices, disease problems, shortage of scientific knowledge and experience in effective and efficient dairy production.
”If we are serious about developing genetically superior dairy cattle, we must source genetic material from the US which has the best dairy genetics in the whole world.
Abilay and Dr. Bautista said the milk performance and planned mating of selected cows had produced 58 offsprings, 22 of which are female. In Larena, Siquijor, cattle raisers have produced 22 calves, including 12 females. At the Lanao Foundation Dairy Farm, at least 200 calves were produced as a result of the breeding program.
Last June 11, Abilay and Bautista supervised the semen collection on one of the sires whose parents produced 39 kg milk/day and 13 kg milk/day, respectively. Female offspring are projected to produce about 14 kg milk/day, which are more adaptable to Philippine conditions than pure imported breeds. The semen collected could be used to artificially inseminate up to 300 cows/sire every week, he said. [PNA]
