Scheme for Rearing Purebred Gir / Kankrej Male Cow Calves with Excellent Genetic Quality

What is the scheme for rearing purebred Gir and Kankrej male calves?

The Scheme for Rearing Purebred Gir / Kankrej Male Cow Calves with Excellent Genetic Quality is run by the Directorate of Animal Husbandry under the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat. It provides financial assistance to registered gaushalas and pinjrapoles that take on the job of rearing genetically superior male calves of Gujarat's two indigenous cattle breeds, Gir and Kankrej, until they are old enough to be used for breeding.

The problem the scheme addresses is specific to indigenous cattle. A dairy household values a female calf because she will give milk, but a male calf costs money to feed for three years and returns nothing in the meantime. Well-bred bull calves are therefore lost every year, even though they carry the genetics of the best cows in the herd. By paying a gaushala to rear a selected calf, the state keeps those bloodlines alive and builds a pool of bulls for natural service and for semen collection.

Gujarat's breeding infrastructure gives this scheme its context. According to the Directorate of Animal Husbandry, the state has 9 cattle breeding farms, 3 with the Department of Animal Husbandry's livestock branch and 6 with the agricultural and Kamdhenu universities, along with 5 buffalo breeding farms. The directorate also reports 14,38,136 artificial inseminations carried out under the Integrated Cattle Development Programme in 2022-23, all of which depend on a supply of high-quality bulls.

Who can and cannot apply for this scheme?

Who can be considered:

• Registered gaushalas and pinjrapoles in Gujarat with the shed space, fodder and manpower to rear cattle.
• Other registered cattle-breeding institutions and trusts working on indigenous breed conservation.
• Institutions rearing purebred Gir or Kankrej male calves whose parentage and genetic quality can be documented.

Who is not eligible:

• Individual livestock keepers and dairy farmers applying for a household benefit. The assistance is institutional.
• Institutions rearing crossbred cattle or buffaloes, or breeds other than Gir and Kankrej.
• Institutions that cannot establish the purity of the breed and the genetic merit of the calf's parents.
• Applicants who want assistance for female calves, which are covered by other cattle development programmes rather than by this one.
• Unregistered cattle shelters, since registration is the basic qualification for institutional assistance.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Gir and Kankrej calf rearing scheme

1. Confirm with the district Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry that the scheme is open for the current financial year and ask for the sanctioned number of calves and the current rate of assistance.
2. Identify the purebred Gir or Kankrej male calves in your gaushala and assemble their parentage records, including the dam's milk yield and the sire's identity.
3. Get every calf ear-tagged and recorded so that it can be identified at verification.
4. Submit the application with the institution's registration certificate, calf records and bank details to the district or taluka animal husbandry office. Where the department invites applications online, file through the ikhedut portal, which is Gujarat's single window for agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries schemes.
5. Present the calves for physical verification by the veterinary officer, who checks breed characteristics and health.
6. Maintain the calves as required and submit periodic progress reports so that the instalments of assistance are released.

How is the assistance paid?

Assistance under animal husbandry schemes in Gujarat is normally sanctioned per animal for a defined rearing period and released to the institution's bank account in instalments after verification. The rate for this scheme and the number of calves an institution may claim are fixed by the Directorate of Animal Husbandry for the financial year, within the budget provision made for cattle development. This guide does not state a rupee figure because the current-year rate could not be confirmed on an official Gujarat government source at the time of writing. Ask the district Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, for the current sanctioned rate before you plan your budget, and insist on the written sanction order rather than an oral assurance.

What conditions apply after sanction?

• The calf must be retained and reared by the institution for the period specified in the sanction. Sale or disposal during that period is a breach.
• Health cover; vaccination, deworming and treatment records — is expected to be maintained for each animal.
• The ear tag must remain intact, since verification is done animal by animal.
• The institution must allow inspection by the veterinary officer and the district animal husbandry office at any time.
• Records of feeding, growth and body weight are usually required at each verification stage.
• A calf found to be crossbred or of a different breed at verification is removed from the sanction and the assistance for that animal is recovered.

Why do applications fail?

• Breed purity not established, especially where dam and sire records are missing.
• No registration of the gaushala, or registration papers that have lapsed.
• Untagged animals, which cannot be verified or tracked.
• Application filed outside the notified window for the financial year.
• Bank details mismatched with the institution's registered name, which stops the payment even after sanction.

Where do you get help?

• District Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, in your district. The Directorate of Animal Husbandry publishes district-wise and regional joint director contact lists on doah.gujarat.gov.in.
• Taluka veterinary officer for animal identification, health records and verification.
• ikhedut portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in for online application windows under agriculture and animal husbandry schemes.

Note on accuracy: this guide records only what could be verified on Government of Gujarat sources. The scheme's per-calf rate, the exact selection criteria for "excellent genetic quality" and the current application window are administered through departmental circulars that are not published as machine-readable pages, so they must be confirmed with the district animal husbandry office before you act on them.