Buffalo dairy farm closed due to labor trouble - Balinder Dhull (Dairy Farmer), Haryana

Just like farming, there is a lot of hard work in the work of dairy farming, so this work is not everyone's bus. In this profession, the same people come, who do not steal from hard work. But people who do dairy farming point out that it takes more effort to rear a buffalo than a cow. Blinder Dhull, a young progressive dairy farmer who has been doing dairy farming for the past seven years in Kaithal, Haryana, said he had initially kept buffaloes on his farm. His dairy farm had 80 buffaloes and produced more than 600 liters of milk. For four years he ran a successful dairy farm of buffaloes. He said that the hard work in the buffalo dairy farm was very much and from feeding fodder to milking milk, one had to depend on labor for every work.

Removing buffaloes on dairy farms and putting cows

Three years ago, dairy farmer Balinder Dhul started placing cows of HF and Jerseybreed on the farm by removing buffaloes and gradually removing all buffaloes from the farm. Today, there are 80 cows, big and small, on their dairy farm and 500 liters of milk is produced from them. When asked the reason for removing buffaloes and bringing cows, he said that he wanted to modernize his farm through technology, but there are many problems with buffalo. As the buffalo does not give milk through a machine, there was always a need for staff on the farm to milk the buffalo's milk. Due to the dependence on the employees, there was always a problem on the farm, but now there is no such problem with cows.

Modern dairy farms created through technology

Balinder Dhull, a dairy farmer, said that he has converted his farm into a modern dairy farm through technology. The milk of all the cows is milked from the milking machine. There are many cows on his farm that give 35 to 40 liters of milk. Milking milk by the hand of such high-yield cows is a difficult task, but this work is easily done by machine. Removing milk from the machine has eliminated the dependence on the employees, as well as saved time and reduced the labor cost. Apart from this, they have placed a bulk milk cooler of 1200 liters capacity on the farm, which can cool the milk for a long time. The dairy farm has a fogger system to control the temperature, there are big fans. He said that they keep the cows in different enclosures according to the breed and feed them accordingly.

In dairy farming, the data determines the profit and loss.

Along with technology in dairy farming, dairy farmer Balinder Dhull also considers data very important. He said that in dairy farming, the data determines profits and losses. The more data of cows, the more profit it will be. How much milk the cow gave, when it came to the heat, which cow got ai done from what kind of seaming, what feed was given, all this data they note down in a register. He said that when a cow has to be sold, the buyer asks for all the information related to the cow and this data helps in that. He said that the cost of online apps is very high, so they do not use any app.

It is very expensive to insure animals.

The experience of dairy farmer Balinder Dhul on animal insurance is mixed. He said dairy farming does not get the benefit of livestock insurance through government schemes and it is very expensive to insure private insurance companies. All the animals in the dairy farm will cost around Two lakh rupees to insure them in a private insurance company, so they avoid it. However, he said that four to five cows die on his farm every year, but he suffers the loss himself. It is not that he has never had cattle insurance before, Blinder Dhull said, adding that for the first three-four years, he insured the cattle, but later he stopped insuring. When asked the reason, he said that when the cow dies, the insurance company suffers a lot in giving the claim. Representatives of the insurance company try to reject the claim in one way or the other so that they do not have to pay a single penny. He said that when there is no benefit of insurance when needed, what is the benefit of getting it done.

Breeding on dairy farms

Balinder Dhull, a dairy farmer, said that they prepare good breeds on their dairy farms. For this, the seamen of imported bulls are used for the insemination of cows. They have prepared an advanced breed of cows through 15-litre HFcows, which are today giving up to 35 liters of milk.

Both advantages and disadvantages in calf rearing

Asked about the importance of calf rearing in dairy farming, dairy farmer Balinder Dhull said it has both advantages and disadvantages. He said that according to one calculation, it costs almost the same amount to raise a calf as a new cow in the market. Therefore, there is no use in rearing a calf in this regard. But if you look at the other aspect, the calf that is prepared on its farm is of an advanced breed and we have full knowledge about its breed. Obviously, the calf of a cow that gives 15 liters of milk will turn out to be more milk-giving. But there is no guarantee in the market that the amount of milk being claimed by the cow will be fulfilled and its breed will be pure. He said that if the big dairy farms are to make good profits in the future, then calf rearing should be taken seriously and should continue to work towards continuous breed improvement.

He said that they prepare calves every year on their farm, so they do not have to buy cows from outside, rather they sell the cows of their farm every year and this gives them good profits. Balinder Dhull, a young dairy farmer, said he had heard of online animal trading but had never bought animals from him. According to him, there is a lot of fraud in the animal trade, and then how can the online animal trade be trusted.

Vaccination is necessary to prevent disease.

Dairy farmer Balinder Dhull is very much aware of the vaccination of animals and gets the cows vaccinated every year. He said that this saves medical expenses at the time of illness. If there is an epidemic and the animals are not vaccinated, then the entire dairy farm is destroyed. Similarly, he is also very conscious of the deworming of cows. He said that every three months, all the cattle on the farm are dewormed and use different medicines every time. He said that if the same medicine is used, the drug becomes ineffective and has no effect on the worms. Whatever feed and concentrate are given to the animal by not dewarming, it does not feel in its body, but it is eaten by stomach worms. As a result, while the animal becomes weak, the milk also starts giving less. Therefore, deworming should be done regularly. However, he also said that the facilities of government and private veterinary medicine in his area in Haryana are quite good. If needed, the cattle get proper treatment only at an affordable cost.