Can a good breed of cow be prepared on your dairy farm as well? -Jignesh Bhai (Dairy Farmer),Gujarat
In commercial dairy farming, if there is one of the most important, it is cow breed. The more advanced breed of cows are used in dairy farming, the more likely there is to be income. So you may have noticed that dairy farm owners are far and wide are in search of good breed cows. In Karnataka, Haryana and Punjab, breed improvement work has been going on for many years and there are farmers in the village to village engaged in this work. Therefore, there are many districts of these states where there is a high chance of getting cows of good breed and people from all over the country go to these areas to buy cows. But can a good breed of cow be prepared on its dairy farm as well? Can cows of good breed be prepared even in states like UP, Bihar, MP, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Assam?
Good breed of animals is not found in the market.
We spoke to Jigneshbhai, a progressive dairy farmer who runs a dairy farm in Mahemdabad in the Kheda district of Gujarat. Jigneshbhai has been in this profession for nearly five years and has 40 HF breed cows on his farm. When we asked him what things should be kept in mind while buying a good breed of animals, he asked the opposite question, "Where do we get good breed animals?" He said that no farm owner goes to the market to sell the good animals of his dairy farm. Most of the cattle found in the market are those who have a shortage, or which are not more milk-givers. According to dairy farmer Jigneshbhai, the best breed of HF cows is found in Karnataka, as the farmers there started work on breeding many years ago. At the same time, his experience with the cattle market of Punjab was not good. He said that there are more lies and lies in Punjab, and the animals are not what the traders claim there. Regarding online animal trading, he said that when there is so much difficulty in buying cattle face-to-face, then how can online trading be trusted.
Jigneshbhai, a dairy farmer, said that the best thing is to prepare advanced breeds of cows on their own dairy farms so that there is no need to buy cows in the future. Jigneshbhai said that when he started the dairy farm, he had bought 18 HF cows from Bangalore. After that, he did not buy a single cow. Today, there are 40 HF breed cows on his farm, which he has prepared on his farm.
Spending once on technology always benefits
When asked about the need and importance of technology in the dairy farming business, he said that it has a lot of benefits. Technology has to be spent once, but after that, the expenses of daily life are greatly reduced. As if he uses a milking machine to milk the milk of cows. Use the machine to cut fodder. Having technology reduces both the dependence on labour and the expenses on it. Along with this, dairy farmer Jignesh Bhai also considers data in dairy farming to be very important. He said that suppose the notification of heat detection of a cow comes through the online app and you are alerted in advance, then the heat cycle does not miss. If a single heat cycle is missed, then there is a loss of 5 to 6 thousand rupees. Similarly, by getting the data of milking of the cow and its diet daily, you can find out which cow is benefiting, which cow has given how much milk in the whole year. This makes it easier to decide which cow to sell and which cow to keep on the farm. What is lacking in which cow and what changes to make in its food, fodder.
Spending more on animal insurance premiums
On animal insurance, he clearly stated that there is no use in providing animal insurance for dairy farm operators like him. There is no problem with animal insurance in Gujarat, whenever there is insurance, agents of private insurance companies are immediately available. But in private companies, the premium of animal insurance is very high. He said that an animal costs three to three and a half thousand rupees in a year on insurance premium. If all the cows are insured, it will cost lakhs of rupees, so they do not provide animal insurance. However, he said that cows that give more milk are expensive, so it is necessary to insure them.
Calf rearing on dairy farms is profitable
On the issue of rearing calves in dairy farming, dairy farmer Jigneshbhai said that he has already said that there is a benefit in rearing a calf on his farm. It is only by rearing a calf that produces more milk within two years that the cow is produced and this trend continues year after year. He said there are many dairy farms that do not rear calves to avoid expenses, but such people do their own harm in a way. However, such people argue that it will cost 80 thousand rupees in two years to rear the calf and the new cow will be found for just 60 thousand rupees. Such people live in misgivings because you are well aware of the breed of the calf you prepare on your farm. There is no guarantee of the breed of cow from the market. He said that earlier his farm used to have 300 litres of milk from 23 cows, but today, thanks to the improved breed of cows prepared on his farm, 23 milch get more than 500 litres of milk from cows.
The cows get protection from vaccination.
On vaccination and deworming of cows, he said both are very necessary. While vaccination gives the cows a protective shield against diseases, deworming makes the body of the cows healthy. He said that by deworming every three months, the cow is completely refreshed and produces milk for a long time, as well as timely concierge. He said that in his area, there is a facility of veterinary doctors from Amul Dairy. If needed, the veterinary doctor becomes available to treat the cows on a phone call and the treatment does not cost much money. He said that they sell all the milk of their dairy to Amul. However, Jigneshbhai also said that in the last year, other items, including animal feed, have become very expensive and the rate of milk has not increased in proportion to that, so at present the profit in the dairy farm has come down significantly.