Dairy Dynamo: Transforming Indian Livestock Productivity for a Bountiful Future

Dairy Dynamo: Transforming Indian Livestock Productivity for a Bountiful Future

Shreemathi R, Final Year B. V. Sc & AH.,

Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal

Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai

Email: shreemathi2609@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

India is blessed with huge livestock wealth of 535.78 million and produces approximately 24 percent of global milk production. However, India’s share in the global trade is less than 1% in spite of being largest milk producer. Inadequate knowledge, lack of modern machinery, lack of market knowledge are the reasons for low milk processing and ultimately poor economic condition of rural dairy farmers. Padma Vibhushan Dr Verghese Kurien, was the father of white revolution. Operation Flood, as it is otherwise known, transformed the dairy-deficient nation into the global leader in milk production. The movement was against the exploitation of farmers by the middle men/contractors. The two primary factors that impede milk production are physiological (intrinsic) factors and environmental (extrinsic) factors. The intrinsic factors includes species, breed, individuality, age, health, parity, lactation etc., and the extrinsic factors includes season, climate, management, feed and water supply etc. The key factor that affects the dairy animals is deficiency of adequate feed and fodder. As to address this issue, new farming techniques has to be implemented like hydroponics, introduction of hybrid grasses with increased nutritive value. Educating the farmers about the government plans and schemes for the benefit of cattle.

INTRODUCTION

India is blessed with huge livestock wealth of 535.78 million, which includes 15% of world’s livestock population and produces approximately 24 percent of global milk production with 231 tonnes of milk. However, India’s share in the global trade is less than 1% in spite of being largest milk producer. The major reasons for this scenario are poor product quality and price competitiveness. Now a day’s milk is emerged as the second largest agricultural commodity and it provides job opportunity to the farmers and also to the educated unemployed people and contributes around 40% in the world’s agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Rural communities play a vital role in a nation’s milk supply chain. Their contributions from small-scale dairy farms and local milk producers help ensure a steady and diverse milk supply for the country, supporting both domestic consumption and various industries reliant on dairy products. The nation’s milk supply comes from billions of small producers dispersed throughout rural areas. But the economic condition of rural dairy farmers is not good because they afraid to jump in milk processing due to various reasons. Milk processing and marketing is very less at village level in rural area. Inadequate knowledge, lack of modern machinery, lack of market knowledge are the reasons for low milk processing and ultimately poor economic condition of rural dairy farmers. This article encounters the various constraints and their mitigation strategies encountered in the low productivity of Indian dairy animals.

DAIRY INDUSTRY IN INDIA AND ITS DEVELOPMENT

Before independence, only about 60 organized dairy farms were in India, without any organized collection, processing and marketing of milk. A beginning was made in education and research in dairy field with the establishment of the Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry and Dairying at Bangalore in 1923 with substations a Karnal and Wellington. Dairy Industry in independent India is almost synonymous with AMUL. The Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producing Union is known by the trade name AMUL (Anand Milk Union Limited). In 1965, the NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) was created in response to the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri call, which drew up a project called “Operation Flood/White Revolution” in the late 60’s. Operation Flood was implemented in three phases – I (1970-1981), II (1981-1985) and III (1985-1986). Padma Vibhushan Dr Verghese Kurien, was the father of white Revolution. Operation Flood, as it is otherwise known, transformed the dairy-deficient nation into the global leader in milk production. The movement was against the exploitation of farmers by the middle men/contractors. Through this a network of cooperative institutions have been created, which comprises now of about 70,000 dairy cooperative societies encompassing 8.4 million milk-producer families. Operation Flood had three phases – I (1970-1981), II (1981-1985) and III (1985-1986).

REASONS FOR THE LOW PRODUCTIVITY OF INDIAN DAIRY ANIMALS

 Source: Gupta (1997)

The two primary factors that impede milk production are physiological (intrinsic) factors and environmental (extrinsic) factors.

Intrinsic factors affecting milk yield:

Species of the animal – The production of milk in decreasing order as follows, Exotic breed > cross breed > milch breed > dual purpose breed. Cow produces more milk than buffalo. But buffalo produces more milk than pure-indigenous cattle breeds.

Breed of the animal – The exotic breeds like Holstein Friesian produces more milk than indigenous breeds but having less resistance to pathogens compared to native breeds. Indigenous/Non-descript animals are more in number however their production capacity is generally very less as compare to that of crossbreed or exotic animals. The reason behind this is mainly due to the unavailability or less of indigenous/exotic bulls of high genetic merit.

Individuality of the animal – Even though the species, breed are same, the quantity and quality of milk production may differ between animals. It is mainly contributed by nutrition, health status of the animal, body weight, age of the animal, its microflora and the managemental practices.

Length of dry period – Dry period is referred as he non-lactating period in the reproductive cycle of cattle. Dry period may vary between 45-60 days. Dry period more than 60 days may not significantly increase milk yield. When dry period is less than 40- days milk yield decreases by 25-30% and longer dry period also decreases annual milk production as the inter calving interval is increased as it may go beyond 13-14 months and finally less milk yield at the end and economic loss to the farmer.

Age and Body weight of the animal – As the age advances, body weight also increases. With increased ruminal digestion and rumen microflora, the udder also increases in size with more no. of secretory alveoli cells and ultimately leads to increased milk production. But the milk production ceases over certain age.

Number of lactation – As the no. of lactation increases, milk production also increases. The peak milk production occurs at 4^th – 5^th lactation, as the secretory alveoli cells are more as age advances. According to some research, the milk production may increase 1.3 times in 4^th – 5^th lactation compared to first lactation.

Pregnancy and hormonal status of the animal – As the pregnancy progresses, nutrients are redirected to support the developing fetus. This shift in nutrient allocation reduces the amount of energy available for milk production, leading to a decline in milk yield. Mostly reduction in milk yield starts after 5^th month of gestation. This is due to the hormonal changes occurring during pregnancy. There is a increase in estrogen [E2] and elevated progesterone [P4] has inhibitory effect over the milk yield. Progesterone inhibits milk yield by inhibiting alpha lactalbumin.

Health status of the animal – Mastitis is potent infection of udder tissue parenchyma that causes pathological changes in the glandular tissue and abnormalities in milk leading to significant economic loss. The two most burning problems of animal husbandry sector in the nation are Repeat breeding and infertility in cattle which is often not taken care upon. Poor conception rate of artificial insemination (AI) which may be due to poor heat detection, poor insemination timing, lack of maintenance of freezing chain, etc. Non-availability of timely treatment facilities and lack of knowledge of common contagious diseases, their prevention and control measures is also a big problem of the country.

Extrinsic factors affecting milk yield:

Season of calving – High temperature and humidity can led to heat stress in dairy animals. More than 25% area of India suffers through thermal humidity index (THI) more than 85 during summers which poses severe heat stress to dairy animals. Heat stressed cows may reduce their feed intake, spend more time trying to cool themselves, and experience physiological changes that can decrease milk production. Season, temperature and humidity doesn’t have greater effect in well maintained farms.

Nutrition of the animal – Adequate feed and water supply is necessary for maintaining a healthy cattle. Unbalanced nutrition is one of the key causes of lower productivity in most developing countries, such as India. Feeding of lactating cows are more crucial as they require more energy for milk production. Feeding of good quality green roughages increases milk yield. Under feeding leads to negative energy balance and results in the production of ketone bodies (ketosis). On the other side, more than 75 percent of the milk production is from rural areas by the farmers. Due to urbanization, the availability of feed for the cattle become insufficient and which ultimately resulted in hike in the price of feeds and fodders. High price of concentrate mixture, and feed and fodder further add up to this issue. As the economy of the farmers are too low even for their survival, they can’t offer a good nutritive feed for the animals, leads to low productivity of the animals.

Milking interval and milking frequency – Commonly milking is done twice a day at an equal interval. Milking at an unequal interval or milking by different milkman cause stress and results decrease in milk yield. Milking at an unequal interval, incomplete milking may accumulate milk and may invade micro-organisms leads to mastitis. Now a days, in most of the farms Automated Milking System (AMS) has been adopted, which pays way for hygienic milk production. Two times milking a day yield more milk compared to single time milking. Such that thrice a day milking yield mare compared to twice a day milking. But the damage to the teats are more in three time milking. Proper care and management should be taken while milking. Avoid knuckling practices, it causes pain and may damage the teat.

MEASURES TOWARDS A BOUNTIFUL FUTURE

Breeding management – Though there are may causes for low productivity, the root cause is the breed predisposition. Exotic breeds like Holstein Friesian yield more milk than indigenous breeds. Selective breeding and cross breeding in cattle is an undeniable cornerstone of improving herd’s genetic potential and enhancing specific traits. Selective breeding in cattle involves choosing specific animals with desirable traits, such as milk production, meat quality, disease resistance, or certain physical characteristics, to be parents of the next generation. This process aims to improve the overall quality of the cattle herd over time. The cross breeding of non-descript zebu cows with semen of exotic dairy cattle creeds has resulted in enhancing milk production by 5 to 8 times to that of non-descript cows, reducing age at first calving and shortening calving intervals. Holstein Friesian and Jersey inheritance with non-descript animals should be maintained around 50-62.5% exotic inheritance for better production performance. Through careful selection and breeding strategies, breeders can enhance the genetic potential of cattle for various purposes, ultimately benefiting the dairy industry. Repeat breeding has a negative impact on dairy farmer profitability because calving intervals are increasing, requiring farmers to incur additional feeding, treatment, and breeding costs. Research shows, that 64% of farmers who use artificial insemination have found that crossbreed and exotic cattle frequently suffer from repeat breeding due to low conception rates. As a result, the loss of one calf and longer calving intervals have a negative effect on total profitability (Sharma et.al., 2021). But, hard side of the story is that AI coverage of India is low to around 28-30% of dairy animals. Nevertheless, this may be attributed to several reasons including poor heat detection, improper timing of insemination, etc. Moreover AI centres should be maintained in more numbers with superior Germplasm semen and may be obtained by the farmers at affordable rates. Veterinary and para-veterinary staffs should be placed in right proportions in an area per number of animals so that they may work in efficient way rather pushing them for very hard works which a human body may not perform with considerable efficiency.

Feeding management – Dairy farmers facing a booming challenge to ensure the availability various feed stuffs to their livestock according to a study conducted by Sharma et al. (2021). While there is an undeniable shortage of available feed and fodder for dairy animals both nationally and globally, advancements in storage and preservation technology offer potential solutions to alleviate this issue significantly. The silage, hay, and baling process can aid in storing and preserving feed and fodder resources, ensuring their availability throughout the year. Dairy farmers are unaware of latest technologies in the field of animal nutrition, particularly in enhanced utilization of prevailing feed resources, augmentation of roughage-based diets, feeding of mineral mixture, common salt for enhancing the animal’s milk production and reproductive health.

Improved methods in fodder production can be considered under four aspects which includes :

1. Seed Technology

• In-vitro rooting in Bajra Napier hybrid
• In vitro maturation of guinea seeds
• Defluffing of deenanath seeds

2. System approach
   • Intercropping
   • Sequential cropping
   • Agroforestry
3. Hi-tech Farming
   • Fertigation
   • Vertical farming
   • Fodder on terraces
   • Hydrophonics
4. Mechanisation

The animal should be given feed based on the body weight and requirement. During lactation period, animals producing more than 5kg/day milk may be offered 1 kg extra per 2.5kg milk production per animal as a thumb rule. Additionally, Providing supplements during the transition period of the cow may help in promoting the production performance of the dairy animals. Given the feed and fodder shortages for livestock, exploring alternative resources is imperative to meet their needs in India. Azolla has emerged as a highly promising source, boasting rich protein content, essential minerals, and vitamins crucial for livestock health. Among various Azolla species, Azolla microphylla stands out as particularly well-suited for tropical climates and livestock diets. Notably, its fresh yield can reach approximately 200-250 grams per square meter daily (Singh, 2016).

Green roughages 2/3

Roughages 2/3

Feeding management                                                           Dry roughages 1/3

Concentrates 1/3

Health management – Due to unhygienic management, animals may suffer from diseases without adequate veterinary services. Diseases like FMD, Rinderpest, IBR, Tuberculosis, Paratuberculosis, Brucellosis, Haemorrhagic Septicaemia, Dermatitis, Theileriosis, Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis are common in dairy animals. Mastitis is the most commonly encountered disease affecting the milk yield. Owing to tropic temperature and decreased disease resistance, mastitis is more common in cross breeds (12.4%) compared to indigenous breeds (8.9%). Repeat breeding has a negative impact on dairy farmer profitability because calving intervals are increasing, requiring farmers to incur additional feeding, treatment, and breeding costs. Research shows, that 64% of farmers who use artificial insemination have found that crossbreed and exotic cattle frequently suffer from repeat breeding due to low conception rates. As a result, the loss of one calf and longer calving intervals have a negative effect on total profitability (Sharma et.al., 2021).

Enhanced Government Policies and Trainings for the Farmers – National dairy Plan Phase I (NDP-I) a Central Sector Scheme (CSS) with a outlay of Rs. 2242 Crore was implemented during the year 2012 across 18 major dairying states. The objectives of NDP-I as follows:

1. Increase productivity of milch animals and thereby increase milk production to meet the rapidly growing demand of milk.
2. Provide rural milk producers with greater access to the organized milk processing sector.

NDP I was able to make available more than 2,456 High Genetic Merit Bulls to A & B graded semen stations across the country which propelled the production of quality disease-free semen.

The strategies to promote animal husbandry sector in the Twelfth Five Year Plan include: bringing landless labourers and marginal farmers into the fold of organized livestock rearing, distributing 24 lakh goat/sheep and 48,000 milch cows at no cost to rural poor women, improving and involving youth in diagnostic services, providing veterinary delivery system and breeding services at doorstep, increasing fodder availability, strengthening extension services, providing marketing access and improving the cold chain. There is need to create livestock calamity fund in the event of outbreak of major disease to compensate a large number of small & medium scale dairy farmers.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) offering various schemes, favoring the  enhancement of dairy farming. They are:

• Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM)
• National Livestock Mission (NLM)
• Livestock Health & Disease Control (LH&DC)
• National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)
• National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP)
• Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF)
• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF)
• Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations (SDCFPO)

CONCLUSION

Though the milk industry has checks in three phases such as production, processing and marketing, the key constraint is the milk production. If the production is low, there is a beginning of bad luck for dairy industry and is getting ready for its declining path. By utilizing a range of extension activities to educate farmers on the critical role of balanced nutrition and the supplementation of vitamins and minerals. Animal reproductive health is significantly influenced by the presence of essential minerals in their diet, with both excess and deficiency impacting reproduction outcomes. In conclusion, the issue of low productivity among Indian dairy animals is a pressing concern that requires immediate attention and concerted efforts from various stakeholders. The factors contributing to this challenge, including inadequate nutrition, suboptimal breeding practices, limited access to veterinary care, and outdated farming techniques, have significant implications for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and the overall dairy industry. To address this issue effectively, there is a critical need for collaborative actions involving government support, research and innovation, policy reforms, and sustainable farming practices. By investing in improved nutrition, promoting advanced breeding methods, enhancing healthcare services, and fostering knowledge sharing and technology adoption, India can unlock the full potential of its dairy sector. This not only benefits farmers by increasing their incomes and livelihood security but also contributes to the nation’s food security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. It is imperative that we prioritize these initiatives and work together towards building a more resilient and productive dairy farming ecosystem in India.

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