Livestock Research Station, Thiruvazhamkunnu (Silent Valley)

The Silent Valley Farm of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), located at the foothills of the Western Ghats, is involved in livestock production research under humid tropics in the changing climatic scenario. Sprawled over 163 hectares, it has cattle and buffalo farm, native goat conservation unit, fodder plots, agro-forestry plots, plantation crops, aquaculture and natural forest area. KVASU is in the process of transforming this into a Model Integrated Farm where utmost importance is paid to sustainability and ecosystem services.

The station has herd strength of about 290 crossbred dairy cattle, 40 Murrah breed of buffaloes, 50 Attapady and 30 Malabari breed of goats with a well-knit recording system on their production and reproduction traits. Besides the station has a large stretch of fodder cultivation with different high yielding Hybrid Napier fodder varieties including CO-3, CO-4, Killikulam, IGFRI-1, HN-1. The other fodder grass varieties like Guinea grass, Para grass, Congo-signal, Signal grass, Setaria, Andropogon, and cereal fodders like Maize and Sorghum are also cultivated in the station. The fodder tree varieties in the station include Gliricidia  sp., Sesbania sp., Subabul and Calliandra sp. There are two Bunker silos each of 80 tonne capacity and seven pit silos of 50 tonne capacity for ensiling of grass.

The Biodiversity in the Silent Valley Farm Platform include:

150+ species of trees
130+ species of birds
100+ species of butterflies
40+ species of dragonflies and damselflies
30+ species of amphibians
20+ species of reptiles
Spiders, scorpions
Mammals & Other wild animals