Farm festival puts focus on goodness of native breeds

Coimbatore: Kumaragurubara Swamigal of Kaumara Madam and Vanavarayar Foundation’s managing trustee Shankar Vanavarayar performed gau mata puja for 108 cows and inaugurated the fifth edition of Kongu Naattu Velaan and Kaalnadai Thiruvizha on Friday.
Twenty-five agriculture business models spread across four acres display different types of cultivation. “The whole point is to offer suggestions for farmers to earn an additional revenue,” said a spokesperson. “The students of Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture and the Vanavarayar Institute of Agriculture, who prepared these models, had been working for the last six months. The models include poultry farms, cattle farms and mixed millet farms, among others,” he told TOI.

About 5,000 people visited the event on Friday. The organisers are expecting 60,000 people to visit the event over the next couple of days. “We expect large crowds at our cattle show that will see about 12,000 native cattle from across the country. Besides the majestic Kangeyam, which will be the focus of the event, other breeds including Gir, Tharparkar, Ongole and Hallikar will be on display,” said the spokesperson.

The animals will be paraded before a panel of judges, who will judge them based on their health, maintenance and purity of breed. There are more than 15 categories of competition.

The third day will see horses, canines and rams native to the region at the show. Visitors can take photos and even pet some of them, organisers said.