The Science and Art of Dairy Farming: the Godrej Maxximilk Way
By Godrej Maxximilk Team
This Ganesh Chaturthi, the Godrej Maxximilk Farm located at Nashik in Maharashtra, produced 7500 kg of milk a day. The average yield for the farm that day stood at 22.6 kg/cow/day. There could not have been a better day to reach the milestone! And ever since, till the end of September, we have touched 8000 kg in a single day and 23 kg/cow/day of yield. This is just a snapshot of the recent successes of a journey that has just begun and is all set to achieve bigger landmarks.Indian dairy sector, however, has had its own problems lately. Milk prices in Maharashtra, for instance, on an average have been lingering below Rs. 23/liter for the most part of 2020. This has not been sufficient to even cover the cost of production. Though the pandemic has certainly made things worse, such long spells of low returns are not unusual for the sector. In November 2021, we will celebrate the birth centenary of Dr. Kurien and year 2022 would be the deadline set by the Prime Minister of India for his ambition of doubling farmers’ income. This is probably just the timely wake-up call the sector needed.As such, Indian dairy sector has come a long way in last few decades. India has been world’s biggest milk producer for many years now. Also, in a protein deficit country, the sector’s contribution has been immense in improving the per capita availability of milk. According to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) data, per capita availability of milk grew from 225 g/day to 394 g/day between 2001-02 and 2018-19. Besides, the role dairy co-operatives have played in improving the livelihood of the farmers has been phenomenal. Co-operatives have built infrastructure and reached to the doorstep of farmers for collecting milk. Amidst of all these success stories, however, what remained unaddressed, is the productivity of the cattle. The average per lactation yield (for 305 days) in India is still less than 2000 kg per cow. For the United States, the average yield per cow is more than 10000 kg while the corresponding number for Israel is more than 12000 kg per cow. Therefore, despite the progress the sector has seen, through decades of breed improvement programmes, which have focused largely on artificial insemination, only a limited success has been achieved. It is important to acknowledge the role organizations such as Bhartiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF) have played in introducing and implementing breed improvementprogramme which has made sure that average per cow lactation yield has reached around 1700 kg which was less than 1300 kg till as recent as 2009-10 (Source: Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 737 Dated 22.11.2019). Lower yield means higher cost of production eventually translating into lower profits for the farmers. This is where the learnings from the journey of the Godrej Maxximilk farm show the way ahead.Genetic improvement does the trick.
Typically, genetics account for only two percent of a farm’s total expenses but is the most critical factor in a farm’s profitability. In January 2018, during the initial days of the Godrej Maxximilkfarm, the average yield per animal was meagerly 10.15 kg/day which improved to more than 23 kg/day by September 2020. Usually breed improvement is a slow process and may take more than 4 generations or 12 years to make significant progress through artificial insemination. At the Godrej Maxximilk farm, we used Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) to expedite the process. Little less than three years later,the benefits of the progress are evident from the fact that the yield has more than doubled and is still growing. The complete picture is even better seen from the comparison of different groups of animals in the farms. The lowest yielding milking group, largely comprising of low yielding animals bought from outside, on September 16, 2020 produced average of 13.6 kg/day per cow while the highest yielding group, which has high yielding animals bought from outside as well as reared at our farm, had an average of 27 kg/day per cow on the same day. The feed cost for the lowest yielding and highest yielding groups on the same day stood at Rs. 27.2 per liter and Rs 14.3 per liter respectively
(Pic 1).Pic 1 Comparison of High and Low Yielding Groups in the Godrej Maxximilk FarmHolistic approach is the key to exploiting the potential Everything under the Sun, or shed in this case, counts. The Godrej Maxximilk Farm has been designed by one of the most renowned architects of livestock farms in Asia. The cows are placed in well ventilated sheds designed for their comfort where they are free to move with round the clock availability of feed and water. The fodder and the feed are regularly tested and the formulation is done according to the life stage and the lactation stage of the cows. Trained veterinarians take care of their health and reproduction. And milking is done at state of the art parlors. How do the cows pay us back? They give more, or rather, much more milk! This is evident from a number of cows we purchased which have produced significantly higher quantities in our farm than they were doing before we bought them. For instance, cow No. 763 was brought to our farm just before her first lactation. She yielded a maximum of 45 kg/day in the first lactation. Being at our farm has done wonders to her performance. In her second lactation now, she has already touched 60 kg on just 36th day (Pic 2).
Pic 2 Milk yield for Cow No. 763 in 1st and 2nd lactations
Track to improve .
At Godrej Maxximilk farm, we track and keep record of almost everything that matters. Some of the things that we track and record at our farm are pedigree of the calves born at the farm, milk yield on daily and lactation basis, health, medication and vaccination history of all animals and heat detection for all cows and heifers. This helps us in making timely amends whenever needed.More from less is sustainable Going ahead the demand for milk will be driven mainly by two factors – the growing demand for value added products and the potentially higher per capita consumption. Besides, evolving food safety regime and growing awareness among people is likely to push the demand for quality traceable milk. If we combine these factors with the growing stress on land, water and other resources, it becomes potentially clear that the key to profitable and sustainable dairy farming is going to be the ability to produce more milk from less number of cows. For achieving this, there is also need for entrepreneurs who can be the drivers of change and build and exploit high yielding herds with impeccable management. Godrej Maxximilk farm has shown the way. ”Dairy farming is a multidisciplinary professional business. At our farm, we have been able to display that dairy farming can be profitable through a scientific approach, implementing cutting edge technologies and proper management practices. Dairy farming presents many challenges alongside plenty of incredible joyful and satisfying moments”. says Dr Saar Yavin, the Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of Godrej Maxximilk Private Limited.
