Nothing happens by deworming, it’s a waste of money! - Manjeet Kumar (dairy farmer), Uttar Pradesh
The only mantra for success in the development of dairy farming is a good breed of cattle and their better health. But it is often seen that people engaged in dairy farming ignore even such a basic thing. Dairy farmers are still aware of the breed, but they seem to be very careless about the health of the animal. However, there should be no negligence about the health of the animal. Cattle are unruly, they cannot tell their suffering, so their suffering must be felt by the dairy farmer and livestock will have to get proper treatment in time. Only by proper care of the animal, there can be more milk production and profit can be made in the business of the dairy farm.
Deworming once a year
What is the importance of healthy animals in dairy farming and what should be done for it?
We spoke to Manjeet Kumar, a dairy farmer who runs a dairy farm in the Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Manjeet Ji, a science graduate, has been doing commercial dairy farming for the last three years and has reared 18 buffaloes at his farm. He does not give the milk of his farm to any dairy company and supplies it directly to the customers so that he gets good prices of milk. During the conversation, he told that the health of the animals on his farm is not good, always the health of some buffalo is bad. When we asked dairy farmer Manjeet Ji if he knew about deworming and regularly deworming buffaloes, he said that he knew about deworming, but once a year, he brought medicine from the market and fed the animals. But that medicine did not have many benefits, feeding deworming medicine is in a way a waste of money. During the interaction, it was found that they did not know that in dairy farming, deworming should be done at an interval of every three months for better health of the animals and more milk production and asking the veterinarian and using a different medicine every time.
Vaccination of animals to protect them from disease
Though dairy farmer Manjeet Kumar was aware of the vaccination of animals, he said that vaccination of milch animals is necessary to prevent diseases like FMD, brucellosis, mastitis. He said that if a single animal gets infected during the pandemic, then all the animals on the farm can be infected with that disease and it can cause a lot of damage. He said that vaccination is done free of cost from the government veterinary hospital in their area, if there is ever a shortage of vaccines, they get the animals vaccinated by private doctors. Manjeet Kumar, a dairy farmer, said that there is a government animal hospital in his area, but there is no doctor and other staff, so he has to call a private veterinary doctor if needed.
Disadvantages from calf rearing in small dairy farms
On the issue of breed improvement, Manjeet Kumar, a dairy farmer, said that it has not been long since he came into this profession, so he has not been able to concentrate on breeding. Although a year ago, he had thought of starting work on it, due to being stuck in other problems due to corona, he could not start work on breeding. He said that Abhi and he are paying attention to this. He uses good quality semen and inseminates buffaloes through AI. He said that in the coming years, when there are children of these buffaloes, they will be of good breed and that will be beneficial in the future. Talking about the importance of calf rearing in dairy farming, he said that it is a very expensive task and the income of a small dairy farm is not enough to bear the expenses incurred on it. However, he certainly believes that the calf should be reared and prepare a good breed of buffalo on his farm. This frees one from the hassle of bringing new animals from the market, as well as the advanced breed of buffalo is prepared on its farm.
Awareness is essential when buying cattle
Manjeet Kumar, a dairy farmer, said that he had bought a good Murra breed of buffalo from Jind in Haryana. He said that now if needed, they buy one or two buffaloes from the farmers from nearby villages. Stressing on alertness while buying animals, he said that it is very important to know the breed for this. If you don't know yourself, then buy animals only by taking a reliable expert with you. He said that buying cattle in cattle fairs should be avoided because cattle traders commit fraud in the crowd there. These traders make a lot of claims about the animal, but when you buy it and bring it to your farm, it does not come out according to the animal claims. Therefore, the animal should be bought with a lot of care. On online animal trading, dairy farmer Manjeet Kumar said he does not understand the concept. There is no sense in how an animal can be purchased by looking at a photo or video on a website.
Animal insurance should be done in professional dairy farming
On the need for animal insurance, he said that in professional dairy farming, it is very important to ensure animals, but its premium is quite high. He said that the buffaloes which he has bought with a loan, it is mandatory to insure them, but the rest of the buffaloes have not been insured by him. Manjeet Kumar Ji said that the Pradhan Mantri Livestock Insurance Scheme is run by the government, but this scheme is only for small dairy farmers and cattle rearers of two to four animals. More animals are not insured under this scheme. The premium of government animal insurance is low, so it should be available to all dairy farmers. He said that so far they have not been required to avail animal insurance.
No knowledge of the importance of data collection
When asked about other sources of income besides milk production, dairy farmer Manjeet Kumar said that they sell milk directly to customers. For this, they have hired employees, who also take care of the animals on the dairy farm and supply milk. At the same time, they also prepare khoya, paneer, and desi ghee on the demand of the customers, this also gives them good profits. Asked about the need for technology and data collection in dairy farming, he said that when he had collected information about it before entering the field of dairy farming, he had read about the importance of data. But their farm is small, there are not many animals, so there is no problem at the moment because of the data. However, they note in a register how much milk each buffalo gives. He had no idea about online data collection apps.