Import of Live Animals & germplasm into India

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Dear Members,

For all of you who are interested to know the procedure involved to import live animal or its germplasm (semen & embryos).Here is my story which you might find useful.

As you know that we were into breeding of sheep for sometime now and out of the blue we decided to import an exotic breed into the state of karnataka for better.We zeroed in on the Dorper breed for its fantastic growth and adaptability, and also decided to bring it in the form of frozen embryos as it is very difficult to get AQCS clearance for live sheep.

This was our first live animal import except for a few dogs which we carried them as an extra baggage few years ago from USA.

We approached the local sheep development board in karnataka and put our proposal in writing to the managing director and requested him to recommend our proposal to the Union Govt through the state Govt to grant us import licenses for the import of Dorper sheep through embryos transfers into India.At the beginning of the discussion he was like " Are these guys in jeans and sport shoes serious and will they be able to pull it off ?"

But let me tell you,when we didn't have anything else to say he picked up his phone and had a word to the Director (Animal Husbandry) and also the The Joint commissioner (Live stock production) at Delhi and promised to get back to us on this.

After a week or so,There was letter from the karnataka sheep and wool development board recommending our project.Thus started the process of forming a company,applying for an IEC code and an application to the Joint Director general of foreign trade,Bangalore for the Import of Dorper sheep Embryos.

We knew that this was an restricted import and this has to go through the exim committee and without a NOC from the Ministry of Agriculture and AH this is not going anywhere.During my visits to Delhi on this i did get an opportunity to meet the Joint commissioner and Asst Commissioner (Live stock production) and they both took time but finally gave concurrence for the import with a condition that a proper post import documentation will be done on the adaptability,growth and reproductive parameters and shall be submitted by Siddharthfarms to the ministry and as we do that the flock is to be maintained as closed flock and not to be dispersed.I had to agree on that for better as some one has to do it so that the next doesn't have to...

Here comes the import permit from the DGFT with a clear print on it ( closed flock to be maintained untill growth parameters are documented).In the mean time we have finished selection of our embryos from the best of South African Lines (John Dell,Wolewater and TeinJordan) and paid the best of the price(400 $ for each) and also have involved an Australian company who had hands on experience in doing ET in India.

Along with the Import permit there was a very crucial paper (Sanitary Health Certificate) and most of the countries find it very difficult to give us health certificate recommended by the Indian Govt.Let me tell you the regional director told me very strictly not have grammar mistakes either and bring a replica and to our luck our exporter has given us a replica.

Finally after 18 months of hard work and waiting,The shipment containing the embryos arrived at the Chennai airport cargo complex and to my shock the Customs Department demanded 43% of the invoice value as Duty.We were expecting it to be 11% as these were embryos of purebred breeding animals imported for breeding purposes,they wouldn't listen and finally my project cost just go dearer and as we were not funded by any bank as the earlier importer goofed it up and has not repaid his loans and as our project was quite similar to his,the banks didn't oblige ,The duty for hard on us.

As we had a perfect health certificate the AQCS was very fast in giving u the clearance,The Customs duty was paid and had the shipment with us to be brought to Bangalore on the same day.

Sorry for being too long and my advice for small time sheep breeding and rearing units is that it is a quite tedious process ,it took us 18 months to get the Import permit as it is a restricted import and the Govt is very choosy in giving import permits for restricted items,Out of the 300 odd applications along with ours only 60 were considered for approval by the Exim Committee.

The the actual conception rate with frozen embryos varies from 60 % to 0%. (9% in the case of J&K Govt).Unless you really want to get into some serious and big time sheep rearing, don't bother to do this.


Best Regards
Ravi Prasad.D
Siddharthfarms@gmail.com
 
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antony_pratap

Senior Member
Hi Ravi,

Thanks for sharing, well if those who are reading this if you personally ask Ravi what is the total cost involved in this whole process of 18 months, i'm sure ravi will accept you will go crazy hearing about it.

All the best Ravi, all hard work with smart managment will surely pay off.

Thanks,
Antony
 

antony_pratap

Senior Member
Import of live stock

Hi Ravi,
Why don't you share the thought of brining in live stock, Cause apart from dogs and cows, importing of live animals is a very big task and many have failed, even when done researches the gov agencies took more than a year or two to get them in for research.

I wish somebody who has done it to share the experience if any.

Appreciate some factual information.

Thanks,
Antony
 

sampadafarms

Established Member
Great!

Dear Mr. Ravi,

You people had done it! Great.

It is very hardy to import semen & embryos. The entire saga of tight rope walk which was gone thru in 18 months, was explained by Mr. Ravi, in very simple way. True, its a herculean task. Keep it up.

Regards
Raghu Ram
Sampada Farms & Consultants
 

Dorper Sheep Embryos and Semen

Very useful information and I have been searching for the same. Thank you Mr. Ravi. Let us hope Ravi's initiative brings light in the economic well being of shepherds and those involved in livestock farming & business.

The govt. should end this redtapism in agriculture & livestock research and development. They should infact encourage and promote these types initiatives for the development of the society. It is very sad to learn that even after bringing Dorper breed to the world by South African scientists in 1950, our government was sleeping without promoting this breed in India. It is very sad that the govt. is making private entrepreneurs to incur more costs which can be done at cheaper rates if govt. had shown initiatives in this direction. They should learn from other countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, etc, they are always in forefront in bringing innovations into their countries very fast.

We also thank Mr. Mansoorbhai of Ananthpur, who brought this exotic breed first into India way back in 2007.

Suresh Heggade
Nairobi
 

Dear all,

Apologies for the delayed reply,It is fantastic to hear that you guys found that information useful......

Dear Mr.Anthony,

In regard to your question on import of live animals especially livestock,I would say it is very expensive and quite tedious too.The procedure for import is as good as the germplasm but its difficult to get a clearance from AQCS.

I have come across a few cases where the quarantine department found the animals showing signs of a particular disease although the health certificate accompanying the animal states negative.this could happen because of travel induced stress and mind you that once in qurantine station its like you take care of your animals,and they have only four facilities at Dehi,Chennai,Mumbai & Calcutta.

Thugh the success rate for frozen embryos is only 50%,all that you need is a liquid nitrogen canister and the health certificate accompanying the embryos is the document,no further qurantine all.


Syedbhai,how was bakrid?


Thank you all for appreciting it and love to share more in the days to come by.

Best Regards
Ravi
Siddharthfarms @gmail.com
 

Dear Mr.Hegde

I appreciate your concern,but things are changing for good and there are so many people with a postive mindset occupying the right places.It is all about being at the right place at the right time.

Unlike the earlier days,the athourities are willing to encourage private participation in agriculture.

Regards
Ravi
 

Dorper Sheep

Dear Mr. Ravi,

Thanks. I appreciate your initiatives. I may approach you for buying Dorper sheeps when I come back to Bangalore. I am interested in livestock farming, particularly sheeps and goats.

Suresh Heggade
Nairobi
 

gunda

Active Member
goat rearing

there are many indegeneous varieties of goats and sheepsin india itself. we have goats which can give 2 to 3 litres of milk everyday without any little botheration to the farmer.
perhaps, one might have not even attempted to look into the varieties of the locally available plenty of the reousrces. had the same efffort,time and money been spent on looking for the products inside, the result would have been much easier, and better.
such unwanted and wasteful efforts needs to the stopped for development of the country.
 

Hello,

Improvement of genetics for better performance was existant from the time man started raising animals for what they provide,be it meat, mik or skin.

The indigenous breeds what we have now are because of someone's hardwork late then.The most iliterate also go for genetic improvement by the way of natural selection on size and conformation.

Dorper sheep which supply to the world's 30% meat demand wouldn't have existed if someone wouldn't have taken the pain of putting the dorset and paersian ewe together.Today dorper is the most sought after breed in the world.

Sometimes we become very pocessive of our non performing assets,Insted of getting a little by doing nothing,we should look at acheving more with some efforts.

As this not a Govt aided project nor funded by any financial institution,there is no waste of tax payers money and i personally feel that my time,money and hardwork will not go waste.

Finally,I didn't mean to offend anyone and i do value our indegenous breeds which provide lively hood to many.I only said,lets do better.

Regards
Ravi
 
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Dorper Sheep

Dear All,

We should appreciate innovation and get maximum benefits out of it. This Dorper exotic breed has the following wonderful attributes which lacks in other breeds.

1) Maximum weight gain within a short period. Ewes can weigh 80 to 110 Kgs and rams 110-140 Kgs.
2) Early reproductive maturity of ewes (say within 5 months).
3) Dorper is a polyoestrus and hence breed continously throughout the year and hence lambs can be produced year round.
4) Naturally high twinning percentage.
5) No horns
6) Lambs graze very early.
7) High carcass yield as a percentage of live weight. High lean meat yield in the carcass and fine textured meat for better taste and tenderness.
8) Good Milk production.
9) Dorper sheep can thrive in low rainfall areas due to their adaptability and hardiness.
10) Superb browsers and utilize that available material in a pasture much better than other breeds.
11) Dorper sheep does not need shearing and sheds fleece automatically and hence no additional cost for shearing.
12) They are excellent mothers.

If Australians thought that it was not their native breed they would not have been a market leader today in mutton production.

If we had not adopted Aircraft saying that it is others' innovation, I would have not been here (Nairobi) today. If we had not been embraced Internet, I would not have communicated to you people. Therefore, appreciate innovations and get maximum benefits out of it within a shortest period, let it come from where ever.

My best wishes for the breeding community and the consumers.

Suresh Heggade
Nairobi
 

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