Good Management Practices for Successful Dairy farming in India

May 27, 2021

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Good Management Practices for Successful Dairy farming in India

“THE TRUE INDIA RESIDES IN ITS VILLAGES”

This was very well quoted by Chaudhary Charan Singh, a famous farmers’ leader and the fifth Prime Minister of India who is well-known for his policies in favour of Indian agriculture. Truly, India is an agricultural country where agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries added the gross value estimated to be Rs. 19.48 lakh crore (US$ 276.37 billion) in FY 2019.

India has a total geographical area of 329 million hectares out of which 50 % is covered by agriculture. 62% of the farmers in India are marginal (land below 1 hectare), 19 % are small (land between 1-2 hectares), 12 % are semi-medium (land between 2-4 hectares), 6% are medium (land between 4-10 hectares) and only 1 % are large farmers (land more than 10 hectares). Since a large population of farmers comes under marginal and small farmer category, Indian farmers rear livestock along with practicing agriculture to support their livelihood, which is otherwise not fulfilled solely from agriculture. In this way, livestock rearing provides them with an additional source of income.

Agriculture contributes 19.9 % in the country’s total GDP in the financial year 2020-21 which has increased from 17.8 % in 2019-20. This share has hit to 20% after a long time of 20 years as per the data by the economic survey. The contribution of livestock in the country’s GDP is 4.11 % while in agricultural GDP is 25.6 %. Livestock provides employment to two-third of the rural Indians with a total of about 8.8 % of the population in India. Livestock is reared in India mainly for their milk followed by meat, draught, wool and hide purpose. India ranks first in total milk production in the world with its production being 187.7 million tonnes in the year 2018-19 and per capita milk availability being 394 gm/ day which is more than the recommended ICMR standards (300 gm/ day). Out of the total milk production of the country, a major percentage is obtained from cattle and buffaloes which is 46 % and 49 % of the total milk, followed by goat (4%). Hence, cattle and buffaloes are a major contributor in country’s milk production.

According to 20^th livestock census 2019, out of the total livestock population of 535.78 million numbers, the population of cattle in India is 192.49 and that of buffaloes is 109.85 million numbers. Commonly reared milch breeds of cattle in India are Sahiwal, Red-Sindhi, Tharparkar, Gir and Deoni. Out of these, Sahiwal, Red-Sindhi and Gir are mostly reared in commercial dairy farms along with their cross breds with Holstein Friesian (HF) and Jersey due to their high milk yield per lactation length (305 days). Commonly reared milch breeds of buffaloes are Murrah, Jaffrabadi, Bhadawari, Surti, Mehsana and Nili Ravi due to their high milk yields per lactation.

BENEFITS OF GOOD DAIRY FARM MANAGEMENT :

A good dairy farm management leads to an optimum production of dairy animals. It helps to maintain a logarithmic production and profit curve of the dairy farm. It leads to a stress free environment for the dairy animals as well as the farm laborers and the manager. Manager has a big role to play in the management. He is the person who is the go-to man for all the functioning of the dairy farm and knows every bit of the procedure of farm functioning. Hence, it is necessary that the manager is cool-headed and flexible in its methods of management. It will lead to proper dairy farm management which would increase the profits of the farm along with improving the welfare of farm animals.

VARIOUS GOOD PRACTICES OF DAIRY FARM MANAGEMENT IN INDIA :

The basic aim of a dairy farmer is to attain maximum economic return from his farm or farm animals. The dairy farmer will never prefer to undergo losses in production and monetary gains as it would cause the farm to close down soon. Running a dairy farm is just like maintaining an expensive car where the car would provide you with proper mileage and comfortable driving experience only when it is undergone proper management by its owner like periodic servicing, tyre pressure checks, filling of good quality fuel, no rash driving etc. Similarly, a dairy farm yields optimum production and profits if its management is done with utmost precision by the dairy farmer. The management of the dairy farm is broadly divided into categories : feeding management, water management, housing management, economics management and miscellaneous.

The managemental aspects and good practices to be followed under these categories are discussed as follows :

Housing management :

A good housing management is necessary to keep the dairy animals in proper health and vigor thus keeping the production of the farm at optimum level. Housing management includes the construction and repair of floors, walls and roofs of the farm sheds and buildings. We would discuss each aspect as follows:

Floors – The floor of the dairy farm must be durable enough to hold the weight of hard hooves of farm animals and for carrying out routine dairy farm operations of cleaning, transport of fodder etc. The floor should be laid on solid and compact foundation and should have a gradient of 1/60 from manger to the rear dung channel. It should be non-slippery and should have grooves on it. Common materials used for construction of floors are cement concrete, paving bricks, building bricks, stones and gravel.
Walls – Walls of the farm should be high enough to protect the animals from hot and cold drafts. They should be made of strong concrete material and must be durable. Height of the boundary wall of the farm must be high enough to prevent thieves and predators from tress passing the farm premises. Common materials used for construction of walls are bricks, concrete and stones.
Roofs – Roofs provide protection to the animals from heat and cold. Hence, its construction must be to the optimum quality. It should be simple and should have high insulation value especially in warmer regions. The roof should be 8’ high at sides and 15’ high at center. The height at eaves is 3’. There are various types of roofing patters like gabled, semi monitor, monitor etc. Common materials used for roof-making are tiles, asbestos sheets, aluminium sheets, galvanized iron sheets and straws for thatched roofs.
Mangers & water troughs – A continuous manager should be constructed so that it can accommodate all the animals. The height, depth and width of the manager should be 60, 50 and 40 cm respectively for each animal. Water troughs should also be made by partitioning the continuous mangers at the corners. Both mangers and water troughs must be made of cement and brick concrete.

Along with these, proper drainage and ventilation facilities must be provided in the farm. Besides, periodic repairs must be done to ensure the longevity of these housing arrangements.

Feed management:

Abundant supply of greens & dry fodder, concentrates, mineral mixtures etc. is very necessary to maintain farm production. A well-balanced diet to the adult dairy animals containing 25-30 kg greens, 5 kg dry fodder, 2-3 kg concentrate feed and about 100-200 gm of mineral mixture is a major part of the dairy farm management which should be fulfilled on a daily basis.

Water management :

The dairy farm should have perennial supply of water because water is required in ad-libitum amount by milch animals for drinking and for farm cleaning purposes. A 24-hour availability of clean and fresh drinking water ensures that the dairy animals are hydrated which leads to their well-being. Water contaminants can cause various diseases in animals. Water is also required for fodder growth in the areas of fodder production in the dairy farm.

Economics management:

Besides, the basic management which directly affects the health of dairy animals and productivity of the farm, economics of the farm affects the profits earned by the dairy farm. It is very necessary on behalf of farm manager that he maintains proper economical records of the farm which includes land cost, cost of construction of sheds, mangers, water troughs etc, the expenses on their periodic repairs and their annual depreciation. It also includes the cost of animals and farm equipments purchased and their annual depreciation. It also includes the economics of milk production and sale, fodder production along with salaries to farm labourers, manager and veterinarians. The farm is said to be in profit when total revenue is greater than total input cost. This should always be kept positive by the farm manager by properly managing the economics of the farm.

Miscellaneous management:

Management under this category includes maintaining various farm records, deciding a proper dairy farm schedule, maintaining duty chart of laborers and their supervision, repairs of houses and equipments and their record keeping, maintaining proper electricity and water supply in the farm etc. Labor management of the farm also comes under this category which includes proper work-load management of the farm laborers keeping in mind their well-being too. Proper hygiene must be maintained and periodic vaccinations must be done. Periodic checkups of animal health must be performed by the veterinarian. Foot baths and water baths must be well maintained to prevent entry of pathogens in the farm.

USE OF PRECISION DAIRY FARMING IN SUCCESFUL FARM MANAGEMENT:

In the recent times, many new technologies have been developed which use technological tools like RFID chips, various sensors, signal transmitters, transducers and GPS along with computers to monitor the dairy farm functions along with keeping check on the health of animals. These technologies are together termed as Precision dairy technologies and the term for managing a dairy farm using these technologies is said to be precision dairy farming (PDF) whose adaptability to the Indian conditions is increasing day by day. In common terms, precision dairy farming is the collection of data from animals and their environment by using technological tools followed by its analysis using computer-based models.