REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- The Animal Husbandry office of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) said it hopes to sell to other regions in the country 65,300 live cows this year. "This year we set target to ship 65,300 live Bali and Subawa Ongol cows to other provinces," head of the provincial animal husbandry office Danny Suhadi said here on Saturday.

The target is slightly higher than last year's shipments of 63,400 live cows, Danny said. So far a number of shipments have been made and 2,000 live cows have been sent to Jakarta, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi, he said. "Around 1,000 cows were shipped through sea toll ship, the Cemara Nusantara, and other with cargo ships to other areas in Kalimantan and Sulawesi," he said.

According to Danny, shipments of live cows to other regions are based on condition in population and the requirement in NTT . "Shipments are not as many as possible, but on quota by taking into account the strength of population , productivity and the population structure about the number of females and males," he said.

In a bid to improve productivity the animal husbandry office has set target for artificial insemination of 25,965 cows this year, he added. Danny said coordination has been made with the district office of the animal husbandry service to conduct artificial insemination routinely.

Earlier, the district of North Timor Tengah (TTU) of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) said it hoped to sell 11,000 live cows to other islands in the country this year. "I ask for a quota of 11,000 live cows from TTU for inter island shipments this year. Hopefully the provincial administration would approve," TTU District Head Raymundus Sau Fernandes said here recently.

Last year, the inter-island shipment quota for the district was only around 6,000 to 7,000 cows, he said. "Last year many cows could not be sold because of the limited quota. It hurt many of our livestock farmers," Raymundus said.

Therefore, the quota should be increased this year to at least for 11,000 cows to help the farmers in disposing of their cows, he said. "Based on the census in 2014, the number of live cows in the district had already reached 138,000 , and now the number should be larger," he said.

The increase in the cow population in the district was partly attributable to "Sari Tani" aid program of Rp300 million for each group of farmers. The fund was used to buy feed-lot cows from other regions to increase the cow population in the district, the district head said.

Raymundus said TTU hopes to expand livestock farms in the district to increase the cow population and help in the marketing to improve the welfare of the people and increase regional income (PAD). "The animal husbandry sector contribute significantly to the region's original income," he said.

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