Dairy cows are seen at Vinamilk farm in Nghe An in this September 20, 2009 file photo.
Vietnam’s largest dairy producer, Vinamilk on Tuesday received 220 milk cows shipped from Australia via airfreight. This was the first batch of 5,000 cows to be brought to the country this year.
These dairy cattle are pureblood Holstein Friesian cows, which are known as the world’s highest-production dairy animals, the company, fully known as Vietnam Dairy Products JSC , said.
The cows have been carefully selected and undergone strict quarantine and health checks by Aussie agencies prior to their arrival in Vietnam.
Vinamilk said these are just the first of 5,000 milk cows the company planned to import from Australia and the US this year, in preparation for the establishment of its four new dairy farms from now to 2015.
These include a 10,000-cow farm based in southern Tay Ninh Province , and a similar facility in central Ha Tinh Province which will be raising some 3,000 cows.
Two more farms will be set up in northern Thanh Hoa Province with a total herd of 23,000 cows.
The total dairy farms of Vinamilk countrywide will thus amount to nine with 46,000 milk cows. This is enough to meet 40 percent of the demand for raw material milk for its dairy production, the company said.
Vinamilk has previously imported cows for production, and the imported animals have proven they are worth the investment, said Vuong Ngoc Long , acting technical director of Vietnam Dairy Cow Co , a Vinamilk subsidiary.
These imported cows are producing around 7,200 kg of milk a year each, equaling to the productivity of milk cow herds in European countries, Long said.
Source: TuoiTreNews
