Vinamilk continues to import high-yielding dairy cows from Australia

(Baonghean.vn) - On the evening of April 20, 2015, a Singapore Airlines plane carried 400 young cows imported by Vinamilk from Australia to Vietnam. Vinamilk's plan is to import nearly 1,000 dairy cows through Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi) in April 2015 to provide breeding cows for farms to increase the supply of raw fresh milk...

In the context of constantly fluctuating world milk prices, investing in dairy farms and proactively sourcing fresh milk locally is an important strategic goal and a long-term direction to help Vinamilk improve quality and increase the localization rate of raw materials. At Vinamilk's farms alone, the dairy herd has increased by more than 50% over the same period.

The Singapore Airlines plane carrying high-yielding pregnant cows was imported by Vinamilk on the night of April 20.

Since 2006, Vinamilk has started investing directly in the dairy farming sector through the construction of high-tech dairy farms. As of April 2015, Vinamilk has 9 farms in Tuyen Quang, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Binh Dinh, Lam Dong, of which 7 farms have been put into operation and are being completed, 2 farm projects are being implemented to plant grass and build barns (Tay Ninh farm and Thong Nhat farm, Thanh Hoa).

In the period 2015 - 2017, Vinamilk plans to continue importing high-quality cows from Australia and the US to meet the breeding needs of new farms. Currently, the total herd of cows supplying milk to the company, including Vinamilk farms and farmers who have signed contracts to sell milk to Vinamilk, is more than 90,000 cows, providing about 650 tons of fresh raw cow's milk every day.

The first "cows" boarded the truck to Vinamilk's new farm in Thanh Hoa

With the plan to develop new farms, Vinamilk's total herd of cows from farms and households will increase to about 150,000 by 2017 and about 200,000 by 2020. Vinamilk's expected milk production by 2020 will increase more than double the current (about 1,500 tons/day), ensuring an abundant supply of pure milk to serve domestic needs and export.

Currently, most of Vinamilk's dairy farms have been recognized as meeting the international standard Global GAP (Global Good Agricultural Practices), helping Vinamilk take a big step forward on the journey of bringing high quality and absolutely safe products to consumers.

The productivity of dairy cows at Vinamilk farms currently reaches an average of over 7,200 kg/cow/year - a high productivity compared to the world's cow productivity (equivalent to Europe and higher than farms in Asia). From this positive result, Vinamilk decided to continue importing breeding cows from Australia in large quantities to rapidly increase the herd, meeting the demand for raw fresh milk production for the company's milk processing plants.

Dairy cows are still healthy after the long journey across the ocean from Australia.

The entire herd of cows is directly selected from Australian HF breeding farms by skilled and experienced experts from the supplier and Vinamilk Company. This is a herd of purebred Holstein Friesian cows, with a three-generation pedigree and is certified as HF by the Australian Holstein Friesian Dairy Breed Association.

The imported cows will be raised in quarantine at Nhu Thanh Dairy Farm, Thanh Hoa - a new farm of Vinamilk that has just been put into operation since the end of November 2014, with modern technology and techniques from Europe - Sweden. The cows will be cared for and raised directly under the guidance of foreign experts supported by the supplier.

Nhu Thanh Farm, Thanh Hoa is located in Phu Quang village, Phu Nhuan commune, Nhu Thanh district, Thanh Hoa province. Nhu Thanh Farm, Thanh Hoa has a total investment capital of nearly 250 billion VND. The farm has a capacity of 3,000 milking cows. Vinamilk's deployment and operation of Nhu Thanh Farm, Thanh Hoa aims to provide more fresh milk for Vinamilk's factories in the Central region, develop dairy cow herds, provide more good breeds and develop the local economy through interactive activities.

To prepare for this cattle import, Vinamilk's Nhu Thanh, Thanh Hoa farm has carefully prepared food sources (high-quality green roughage and alfalfa hay), veterinary medicine and supplies (especially specialized vaccines imported from the United States), barns (disinfection, isolation, cooling system...).

With nearly 1,000 pregnant cows and heifers imported (from Australia) and nearly 2,000 cows under contract (400 from Australia and nearly 1,600 from the US), expected to be imported in 2015, they will start giving milk in the near future, contributing to rapidly increasing the milk volume of Vinamilk farms to about 50 million liters/year. In addition, this will be a source of promising dairy cow breeds to improve the production capacity of Vietnamese dairy cows, contributing to improving the quality and quantity of milk produced and increasing the number of dairy cows in Vietnam.

HH