Dairy farming has turned out to be a money making business, thanks to the a group of entrepreneurs, who have invested in the Allied Sector of Agriculture.
These entrepreneurs are happy as the rates of return from their investments are not only good but also growing at a much faster speed. While they are trying to improve the farms with their initiatives, they also need support of the Department of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (FARD).
Incidentally, FARD Secretary Bishnupada Sethi, who was on a regular district tour recently, visited the Jharanai Dairy Farm in Ganjam district that is spread over 10 acres of land and can be a model for other dairy farmers in the State.
Enterprising promoters have set up the farm. A total of 74 cows are in milk, and 38 are in dry while 58 cows are in advanced pregnancy stage. The rest are heifers and calves. The farm yields 700 litres of milk per day, which is procured by the local Milk Union.
For milking the cows, the promoters of the farm have set up an automatic milking parlour, which enables milking of 60 animals in one hour.
There is an additional area of 10 acres, which is used for fodder production. The farm has contracted 26 farmers who are growing fodder over 30 acres of their own land. All inputs for fodder cultivation are supplied by the farm including transportation.
From one acre, a farmer gets a yield of 12 tonnes in 90 days that fetches him `6,000 per acre. He takes up two crops of fodder after rice cultivation and gets an additional `12,000 per acre of land.
There is a shed for 300 animals, and presently 231 animals have been inducted.
The project cost of the farm is `6 crore, and the promoters have plans to increase the animal strength to 5,000 with 2,000 cows being in milk. They would like to set up a biogas plant and want to become the best dairy farm in the country.
The promoters have requested the district administration for supply of water from the nearby dam, which is located only at a distance of 200 meter from the farm and a good road for transportation of milk to the chilling unit.
After visiting the farm, Sethi felt that the farm can be used for sourcing of good quality bulls for the State, for which a suitable programme needs to be chalked out. He directed the Chief District Veterinary Officer (CDVO) to provide proper support including timely vaccination, artificial insemination services, treatment and de-worming to the farm.
The local Veterinary Assistant Surgeons (VAS) and livestock Inspectors (lIs) should be closely associated with the farm, he said.