ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – THE Ministry of Agriculture’s initiative to bolster the number of cows in its stock through artificial insemination has been proven a success by ministry officials as the department is keenly anticipating calves to be born early next month.
News coming out of that island indicates that after many attempts to maintain the number of cows owned by the ministry, government officials moved to devise a plan to breed Black Angus, Jersey, Zebu and Senepol (Red Pole) through artificial insemination.
According to Antigua Sun, the ministry imported semen from the United States in order to meet its mandate to provide livestock farmers with breeding stock. In the report, Livestock Officer Astley Joseph gave an overview of the first course of artificial insemination...
"Semen from selected bulls was used because it gives you the ability to select high quality bull. We were able to select the best breeding animals; after the semen was collected, it was stored in a tank with liquid Nitrogen that keeps it frozen," Joseph said. "The first insemination session was conducted on 21 heifers at Betty’s Hope Livestock Station. Eleven of those bred successfully and will give birth in July,” he added.
The second course of the project is slated for March and, once successful, should see 14 cows give birth by December of this year. Joseph explained that since the project is now based on about 100 acres at the Betty’s Hope Livestock Station, the ministry has embarked on increasing the stock to make maximum use of the land.
According to Joseph, the cows that are not sold to farmers for breeding would be sold for meat to “provide a revenue-making stream for the ministry”.
Antigua News