BIJNOR: In Bijnor, demand for foreign cows has been increasing. Farmers say that foreign cows give more milk than the Indian breeds. However, if the

is to be believed consumption of milk from foreign breeds like Holstein, Jersey can cause several incurable diseases.

The department has asked the farmers not to rear foreign cows as their milk contain Beta Casein A1 protein which causes diseases like autism, diabetes etc. The officials said they would be launching an awareness campaign soon to explain about the pros and cons of both the varieties in Bijnor

As per a data provided by the husbandry department, 10 types of cattle are being reared in the district. Out of these, three lakh are ‘

’ while one lakh are cross-breed and foreign cows.

“The numbers of foreign cows, including Holstein, Jersey, HF cow etc., are increasing here. A senior scientist at National council of agriculture in his research has proved that Beta Casein A1 protein is found in their milk which causes incurable diseases, including diabetes, heart diseases, autism, schizophrenia, sudden infant death syndrome etc,” chief veterinary officer (CVO) Bhupendra Singh said,

“On the other hand, Beta Casein A2 protein, which is found in most of the Indian cows like Gyre, Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, is anti-poison. The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources, Karnal, recently conducted a study where they found that most of the Indian breeds have Beta Casein A2 protein,” he added.

Farmers, however, said they would continue to depend on foreign breeds as they have been proving economically beneficial for them.

“Foreign cow gives more milk than Indian cows. Therefore, we are rearing them. We do not know about the quality standard of a foreign cow, but we know that it is economically beneficial for us,” said a farmer from Madhusudan Pur village Sudhir Kumar.