Kupang imports 1,500 Australian cows

Kupang imports 1,500 Australian cows

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The administrations of East Sumba and West Sumba regencies have imported 1,500 Brahman cows from Australia to develop a special breed that is of a high quality.

Samuel Rebo, the chief of the husbandry section of the local agriculture office, said over the weekend that the importation of cows was aimed at preventing the extinction of local cows, which were of the Ongole variety.

He said that this year the number of cows in the province had fallen to 486,000, which was a 33 percent drop from the figure two years ago.

Samuel said that 350,000 cows were in the West Timor regency, while others were on Sumba island.

He added that the demand for beef from other islands was so high that farmers had to send young cows outside the province. The provincial administration has reduced the supply of beef to Jakarta and other provinces in Java in a bid to preserve the Brahman cows.

The province supplies 36,800 cows to the national market. --JP