Supporting the development of the agribusiness sector is one of the SARD III Project’s priorities in Turkmenistan. As part of these activities, the SARD III experts provided consultancy services to Zamana dairy enterprise and solved the problem of high mastitis levels in the dairy herd.
The SARD III experts have visited Zamana dairy farm three times over the last two years. Specialists of Zamana dairy farm took on board the recommendations of the experts, with visible results.
“We tackled the problem of the cows experiencing high mastitis levels,” – David Pepper, agricultural expert of the SARD III Project, explained, “the levels have remained low since then and are still low 18 months later”.
A package of tailored measures proposed to the dairy farm included advice on cow fertility and breeding using sexed semen from high merit Holstein bulls from a world class leading bovine semen supplier Cogent, UK to enable faster dairy herd expansion.
To improve the genetic mix and bolster cattle numbers, in January 2018, the SARD III Project helped Zamana to purchase 200 straws of sexed semen of two high merit Holstein bulls from Cogent. This activity has proved to be successful, when in December 2018, the first seven high merit Holstein heifer calves were born at Zamana dairy farm.
“We advise and help local farmers improve their knowledge and consequently dairy herd productivity in the long run,” said Arthur Russell, Team Leader, SARD III Project. “Our collaboration with Zamana enterprise is a good example of how the SARD III project works with the local dairy farming enterprises to maximize the impact of our activities on further development and improved performance of the privately managed agricultural sector in Turkmenistan.”
Following this success, Zamana farmers are determined to use more sexed semen and import a substantial number of cattle from the Western Europe to raise herd numbers to 1000.
