Brands of Murrah bulls worth crores, but not for sale

Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, March 15

Golu, Yuvraj, Virat, Arjun, Sultan, Sheru, Rustam and Bhisma Pitamah. Don’t mistake these names with the names of street boys. These are the brand names of Murrah bull on display at the Agri-Leadership Summit in Gurgaon.

These bulls are famous for their quality germplasm and are at exorbitantly high prices of Rs one crore and above, though attached with ‘not-for-sale’ tags.

The demand for Murrah breed of buffalo, which is known for high milk yield, has also increased because of the quality progeny of the breed. While earlier, panchayati bulls were used for mating with the buffalos, these brand names have been in demand among farmers for artificial insemination for better quality of progeny.

The owners of these bulls earn handsome income by way of selling semen dozes. While Golu, a bull owned by Narender Singh Poonia of Didwari village in Panipat, is a veteran.

Narender said he earned more than Rs 50 lakh by selling doses of semen. “Golu is invaluable. I am not ready to sell him even if anybody offers Rs 20 crore. Already, many people have offered prices in crores,” he added.

The female progeny of Golu are high yielding buffalos, while the male offspring too are equally better specimen of Murrah semen.

Another bull, named Yuvraj, owned by Karamvir Singh, from Kurukshetra district, is also equally valuable.

Yuvraj is 14 feet in length and 5 feet 9 inches in height.

“It drinks 20 litre of milk daily and eats a rich diet of apples, almonds and cattle feed,” said Karamvir, adding that he too had been offered Rs seven crore. Another farmer Naresh Beniwal of Budha Khera village in Kaithal owns Sultan, a five-year-old bull. There are about 15 bulls on display at the summit.