Innovation and Advances in Commercial Dairy Farms in India
1Abhijeet Kumar, 2Prasanna S.B & 3Sunil Bhandekar (1 Farm Manager 1CPDO&TI-Central poultry Development Organization and Training Institute, Bangalore-560088, 2Associate Professor & Head, Dept. of LPM, VCH, Bengaluru & 3Livestock Officer & Head, Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Bangalore-560088)
Introduction
The Indian dairy industry has progress consistently ever since the White revolution of the 1970s, making India, the world’s largest and fastest producer of milk with 17 per cent global share. According to (BAHS, 2019;20th Livestock census, 2019), India ranks first in Milk production with 187.7 MT/year with a growth rate of 6.5 per cent.The Indian dairy market is expected to double within the next 10 years, primarily driven by over 16-20 per cent growth in value added dairy segment. To catch this high growth potential and to meet the rising demand, a sustainable and strong dairy farming base will be critical. For achieving this, it becomes critical to address key problems or challenges faced by the industry such as, low milk yield, improper breeding, improper nutrition, deficient veterinary care, poor farm management and low financial inclusion among others. With dairy farming in India dominated by smallholder marginal farmers, with an average herd size of less than 2 or 3, it becomes all the more challenging to address these problems, in the specific context of making small holder dairy farming globally competitive. Dairy farmers are increasingly modernizing their farms: automatic concentrate dispensers and automatic milking systems (AMS) have been utilized for years and several manufacturers have introduced automatic feeding systems (AFS) during the past decade.
The following modernization adopted by a farmer in India to improve the economic parameters of the dairy cattle:
Housing:
Fig.1: Thermal Insulation Fig. 2: Wide spanned ridged roof
Thermal Insulation: Insulation acts as a barrier to heat flow, reducing heat gain in summer to keep the house cool and reducing heat loss in winter to keep the house warm. Thermal insulating material like Aluminum bubble sheets can be used as false ceiling material by placing it under the asbestos roof (Fig. 1). Thermal Insulation in addition to other cooling mechanisms would provide more comfort to dairy animals resulting in higher milk production.
High pressure fogger system: Foggers are small nozzles which produce very fine water droplets which look like fog or mist. These are also called mist sprayers or mist system. Most of these generated droplets evaporate before they can reach to the ground. As they evaporate, they reduce the shed temperature. The HPFF system played an important role in the body comfort of the animals which is evident from the body temperature and respiration rate of the dairy animals under this system. As per the study and research, the HPFF system yielded a significantly higher milk of 0.309 kg per animal/day.
Fig.3: Fogging system in Dairy Shed
Automatic milking system: Automatic milking systems (AMS) have been available in India since the beginning of 1998. The major advantages of AMS are the reduction of labor for milking and the enhanced production per cow due to higher milking frequency than conventional milking parlour (CMP).Milk yield increases from 2 per cent to 8 per cent and labour decreases by about 18 per cent. Automatic milking systems (AMS) present an opportunity for dairy farmers to not only improve their lifestyle and conditions of work, but also save on labour costs and/or increase the time available to focus on overall farm management.
Herringbone (Fishbone) milk Parlour where 12 cows can be milked at one time. Cows stand on an elevated platform in a 45º angled or herringbone manner with their back to the centre of milking area. This exposes enough of the back half of the cow to access to milk her from the side. The milking cup was attached from the sides. There was a single entry and exit point for this milking parlour.
Figure 1: Design and Schematic diagram of Herringbone (Fishbone) milk Parlour
Parallel (Side by side) milk parlour for the lactating cow. Cows stand on an elevated platform at a 90º facing away from the operator area. Access to the udder between the rear legs, reduces the visibility of forequarters.
Figure 2: Design and Schematic diagram of Parallel (Side by side) Milk parlour
Sensor driven grooming brushes: brushes swings left and right, about 45° in each direction. These brushes access the cow’s back and is easier for her to use. Rotation is activated when the cows moves the brush and continues until the arm remains horizontal for a period of time. The advantages of this equipment are 1) reduction of the number of parasites and organisms on the cow’s coat. 2) It allows cows to bond with their herd mates and reduces the impact of the boss cow/submissive cow hierarchy within the herd. 3) Cows also use grooming as a way to cope with stressful situations.
Figure 3: Sensor Driven Grooming Brushes
Legend Heat Detection system: The pedometer is an electronic device that transmits information about the number of steps that the cow takes over a set time. The system serves as a tool to assess a cow’s activity and how it relates to overall animal health. The system requires the use of three main components: the pedometer; a receiving system (which consists of antennas, a receiver and a connection box); and the software program. The system collects and transmits cow activity data in real-time via an antenna and receiver to the software program. The data from the pedometer is transmitted through radio frequency, which is picked up by antennas. The com card organizes the data, transfers it to the computer and finally to the Legend Track a Cow software program. The end result of using this product is to increase a dairy producer’s profitability by reducing the amount of reproductive drugs used in breeding programs and lowering services per conception while increasing conception rates and pregnancy rates.
Figure 4: Legend Heat detection system
Sex Sorted Semen Technology: The dairy farm entrepreneur is strictly using imported sexed semen straw from ABS, India. The ABS, India group is known for their quality production of sexed semen straw with high genetic potential includes purity of breeds, less dystocia incidence etc. Semen having X or Y bearing sperm to produce progenies of a desired sex either female or male (with about 80-90% accuracy) is known as sexed semen. Sex sorting technology was developed by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The technology was patented as “Beltsville Sperm sexing technology”. Sperm are sorted by identifying differences between the X- and Y- bearing sperm. The X-chromosome (female) contains about 3.8% more DNA than the Y-chromosome (male) in cattle. This difference in DNA content is used to sort the X- from the Y- bearing sperm. Among several methods for semen sexing, flow cytometry based sorting has emerged as most efficient. The technology is refined through the decades and finally sex sorting is possible at the purity of more than 90%. The technique is well standardized, patented and commercialized in USA, Europe and other countries. Other methods for sex sorting of sperm (Albumin Gradient/ Percoll gradient/ Gradient swim down, Free flow electrophoresis, Identification of H-Y antigen, Centrifugal counter current distribution, Genetic approaches etc.) have also emerged though these techniques needs further fine tuning for commercial viability.
Conclusion:
In principle innovations and modernization of dairy farms have better productivity and profitability over conventional system of dairy farming. It provides greater flexibility in routine work of commercial dairy farming.
References:
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Siddhartha S. L, 2015. Animal Breeding Group, NDDB, Anand, Sexed Semen-an overview Accessed on https://www.dairyknowledge.in/article/sexed-semen-overview.
Dario Martinez, 2011. Lightweight pedometer offers activity monitoring versatility Accessed on https://www.progressivedairy.com/topics/a-i-breeding/lightweight-pedometer-offers-activity-monitoring-versatility.
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BASIC ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND FISHERIES STATISTICS., 2019, Government of India, New Delhi, India
VEYSSET, P., WALLET, P. AND PRUGNARD, E., 2001. Automatic milking systems: Characterizing the farms equipped with AMS, impact and economic simulations. ICAR Technical Series, 7, pp.141-150.
PICHLER, O. AND OLIVER, C.K., DeLaval International AB, 1998. Herringbone-type rotary milking parlour. U.S. Patent 5,718,185.
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