Comparison and economic analysis of artificial insemination and natural service practices in Murrah buffalo: A comprehensive field study

Abstract:

Artificial insemination (AI) is a quickly expanding technology with significant socioeconomic implications, but the facts and practices around AI are vastly different. Because of a variety of factors, including ineffective heat detection and longer days open in the case of artificially inseminated buffaloes, many dairy farmers still opt for the usage of natural service (NS) sires. Using this theoretical basis, an attempt was made to assess the cost-effectiveness of AI and NS in villages of district Muzaffarnagar (UP), India. Both breeding systems i.e., AI and NS were directly compared in the farmer’s herd. A herd budget accounting for all costs and revenues was created. Results revealed that an average number of days open in Murrah buffaloes differed significantly (P<0.01) between natural service (140.48±2.25 days) and AI (164.93±2.69 days). Days open cost is a significant component of operational costs in dairy farming that are hidden, especially. The sum of milk loss, extra feed cost, calf loss, and additional labor cost represented the overall loss attributable to extended days open per buffalo. The results revealed that the total cost of extended days open (i.e., 24 days) in the artificially inseminated buffaloes was 14124 INR/buffalo or a loss of 588 INR/buffalo/day. The net cost for the NS program during the field trial was 1971 INR/buffalo/year and for the AI program, it was 14486 INR/buffalo/year. But after calculating the relative advantage of AI daughters over NS daughters, AI stands out to be more beneficial. This paper outlines the costs of AI versus natural mating in farmers' herds, enabling buffalo owners to ascertain whether the adoption of AI will be lucrative for their farming operations.