Defence & security

CURRENT AFFAIRS 3 apr

Military Farms Service

Issue
The Indian Army has closed the Military Farms Service that managed more
than 130 military farms across the country.

Details
 The first military farm was set up at Allahabad in 1889 by the British to
ensure supply of nutritious milk to the troops deployed in India.
 The farms were initially were located in central, western and Southern
command of the army and were later expanded to Northern and Eastern
Commands when they were raised.
 They were also tasked with supplying hay to the Animal Transport Units
of the army, apart from supplying milk and butter.
 Military farms were pioneers of artificial insemination in cows. They
undertook ‘Project Frieswal’ in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture for
cross-cattle breeding programmes.

Project Frieswal
 Project Frieswal was aimed at developing milch cattles through cross-
breeding that were suitable for tropical countries such as India.
 The project was intended to produce and rear Holstein Friesian cross
bread with Sahiwal breed for high milk productivity.
 Freezing semen, planned breeding, progeny testing and gene mapping
were some of the aspect in which the project research was carried out.

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