Pashu Palan Mela kicks off at vet varsity

The two-day Pashu Palan Mela of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) was inaugurated by S Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, Cabinet Minister for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Food Processing, Punjab.

Advertisement

He visited different stalls and showed interest in learning about the different species of livestock. He said the government was running different schemes for the welfare of the farming community. He also motivated farmers to develop their own livestock entrepreneurial ventures for a better income.

Dr Jatinder Paul Singh Gill, Vice-Chancellor, said the varsity was promoting value addition of livestock products. The mela’s slogan was also based on this objective, ‘Uttpadan ton Uttpad Banaiye, Aao Vadh Munafa Paiye’. He said that through value addition of products, farmers could improve their income. He said that value addition of products also provided add-on profits in comparison to traditional way of livestock farming.

The GADVASU showcased all its research, education and extension programmes at the Pashu Palan Mela for the benefit of the livestock farmers.

The two-day event at the mela ground provided a platform for farmers, scientists, extension workers, dairy officials, fodder and fisheries officials, various veterinary pharmaceuticals and agribusiness firms and banking sectors to share their experience and information about the latest knowledge, technologies and schemes in the livestock sector.

Mineral mixture for fish, developed with joint efforts of the Department of Animal Nutrition and College of Fisheries, was launched by the dignitaries during the event.

Various departments of the university provided useful literature to the farmers. A special interactive session on livestock rearing in scientific way was organised, consisting of live lectures from experts and questions-answers for participants.

The College of Fisheries had put up a stall displaying various carp fish, ornamental fish, azolla, duckweed cultivation and integration of fish farming with other aspects of livestock farming. People inquired about ornamental fish, shrimp farming and saline water fisheries. Value added products of the college were also displayed on stalls for sale.

Several vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies such as sweetened and salted lassi, flavoured milk, yogurt, sweets, paneer, milk cake, dhoda barfi, meat patties, different types of meat delicacies were prepared by the College of Dairy and Food Science Technology and the Department of Livestock Products Technology. Meanwhile, GADVASU conferred Chief Minister’s award to three livestock farmers.

In the cattle farming category, Harpreet Singh from Sohal village in Tarn Taran district, got the award for using modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to record every activity of animals. In poultry farming category, Gurdarshan Singh Tiwana from Chanarthal Khurd village who gets feed customised according to the age of the birds in crumb form to improve the feed conversion ratio, bagged the award. In the category of value addition of livestock produce, Kuljas Rai Arora of Wadala Viram village in Amritsar district, took the award home for marketing 618 tonnes of dressed meat and 49 tonnes of ready-to-eat products (sausages, nuggets, seekh kabab etc) per month with a force of 245 employees in a state-of-the-art processing unit. These awards carry a plaque, shawl and citation along with a cash reward.