Farm

Farm at Medziphema

                     The mithun in the Institute Farm are reared under semi-intensive as well as intensive systems. Three hectors of farm land are under fodder cultivation where Congo signal, Hybrid Napier, Maize and some fodder trees are grown. Preventive measures for prevalent diseases for mithun like FMD, BQ and HS are taken by vaccinating the animals. Till 2019, the farm had a total herd size of 104 mithun comprising of 44 males and 60 females. 

1. Traditionally, mithun are reared under a free range of forest eco-system where regular care is not possible for which many mithun used to die from epidemic diseases, predators and many environmental factors. Institute has introduced a Semi-intensive system with some refinement as a model farm for the rearing of mithun.

2. Utilization of Mithun as Draught Animal Mithun can be used as a valuable draught animal by the farmers in the remote hilly slopes where traditional draught animals are not available. Its the strong well-built body and sure-footedness make it an excellent specimen for ploughing in the hills. However, in doing so the mithuns must be conditioned and trained. At the Institute Farm, young mithuns (age less than two years) were selected and trained successfully for work and are under regular training for estimating its draught capability. Preliminary estimation of the power of the trained mithun bulls has been done based on the draft and walking speed of the animals.

Farm at Porba

In the Porba farm, there are seven animal sheds and one feed godown. The farm area has completely been fenced. In this farm, 51 mithuns of three strains (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur) are being maintained. More than 100 local fodder tree saplings and 800 Ficus hookerii have been planted in an area of 10 acres.