Genetic Improvement

NDDB Dairy Services (NDS) is a fully owned subsidiary of NDDB and manages the two largest semen stations in India – Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala (Gujarat) and Animal Breeding Centre (Uttar Pradesh).

Over the last two decades, Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala and Animal Breeding Centre have been the leading semen stations producing and supplying quality genetics for use in the artificial insemination programme implemented across India. Considering the requirement of frozen semen doses in the country, NDS recently set up two new stations at Alamadhi (Tamil Nadu) and Rahuri (Maharashtra) which are now fully operational. The semen doses produced at these four stations are marketed under the common brand name ‘SAG’ – ‘Superior Animal Genetics’.

NCDFI partnered with NDS in Distribution of SAG brand Semen Doses.

What sets the SAG brand apart from the rest is;

• Best genetics at affordable rates
• Unwavering commitment to quality
• Constant strive to improve and bring in latest technology
•  Quality Assurance to customers

These factors have ensured that SAG is the top selling and also the most revered semen brand in India.

The five semen stations maintain more than 1000 high pedigreed bulls belonging to major dairy breeds of cattle and buffalo. In the recently concluded quality evaluation of semen stations by Dept of Animal Husbandry, Government of India, Animal Breeding Centre and Alamadhi Semen Station were awarded as the top 2 semen stations in the country.

The SAG manufacturing facilities are the best in the country and have the following features:

• ISO 9001 certified.
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) environment which ensures high quality product.
• Effective contamination control program.
• Objective quality evaluation devices- Computer Aided Semen Analyser (CASA) and flow cytometry
• The best in the world bio-security protocols to ensure that the bulls are disease free.

In order to meet the demand for high quality HF and Jersey genetics in the country, high genetic merit genomic HF & Jersey bulls were recently imported from Germany and Denmark.

Other than the semen doses from imported bulls, semen doses from bulls belonging to various dairy breeds of India like – Sahiwal, Gir, Red Sindhi, Hariana, Tharparkar, Rathi, Kankrej and buffalo breeds like Murrah, Mehsani, Jaffrabadi, Banni, Bhadawari, etc. is also available under the SAG brand.

To improve upon the productivity of the Murrah population in the country, Progeny Testing programmes is carried out in the state of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and breeding values of more than 150 buffalo bulls have been estimated till date. Progeny Testing programs for the Crossbred HF (HF X Sahiwal and HF X Gir) are also being carried out. The semen from the Progeny tested CBHF and Murrah bulls is also available for sale.

Pedegree Selection programmes for improvement of Gir and Jaffrabadi animals is being carried out by the NDS and semen doses from the High Genetic Merit bulls of these breeds is also available.