July 27, 2009
Philippines imports dairy animals to boost milk production
The Philippines has imported a total of 812 dairy animals from New Zealand to help boost the country's milk production in farms nationwide, the National Dairy Authority (NDA) said in a statement on Friday (July 24).
Around 212 will be distributed to Mindanao dairy farmers while 171 will be sent to the Visayas region, and the rest to Luzon.
As per government rules, the animals will be quarantined for a period of 30 days to ensure that they acclimatize to local conditions and are proven free from any disease or abnormality.
Some 383 animals allocated for Mindanao and Visayas are under quarantine at the Del Monte Philippines Inc. feedlot project in San Miguel, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. The rest are quarantined at San Simon, Pampanga.
Of the 812 animals, 600 are Holstein Friesian-Sahiwal crossbreeds, 199 are Kiwis (cross between Holstein-Jersey), 8 are brown Swiss, 2 Jersey are bulls and 3 are Holstein Freisian bulls.
The animal exports was delivered via MV Hereford Express and arrived on the country on July 13.
