Lowlands Farm

At the heart of dairy goat farming are the goats. These animals are the smallest ruminants humans have ever domesticated. Goats have been producing milk and meat for human consumption longer than sheep and cattle. These animals are also tough, surviving in arid, tropical and mountainous regions. Today, goats are continuously domesticated all over the world as a form of livelihood.

In the global perspective, there are more people consuming goat’s milk than cow’s milk. The better texture of goat milk is primarily because the fat globules are smaller than cow’s milk. This aids in the digestion of milk, especially for people with sensitive stomach. Further, dairy goat farming is saved from too much feed because goats eat a variety of foliage. They are able to select nutritious parts of the plants. Thus, goats as tough survivors and can be seen living places where other livestock can't.

Most efforts to improve dairy goat farming are focused on producing more and better milk. To do this, breed and animal health are given special attention. Particular breeds are more valuable as milk producers. The most common high milk producing goats are the Saanen, Toggenburg, Anglo Nubian, Alpine and Oberhasli. Each of these has different physical characteristics and lives at different optimum conditions.

In animal health, internal parasitic control is currently at the center of research because parasitic diseases often lead to sickly animals and low milk yield. Proper nutrition is also very important that’s why what is fed to the goats is given considerable thought. Climate and weather are two other dictating factors on the quality and amount of milk. Goats can survive drought better than cows and sheep, but their milk production will also be less during dry periods.

In dairy goat farming, milking is done once to twice a day at least 12 hours apart. A single doe can give an average of 2 liters of milk per day. Noncommercial farms can manually milk goats. More advanced commercial companies have mechanical machines to do this job.

Dairy goats usually end up as meat after they're no longer economically viable for milk production. Exceptions are when the goats die or when they're killed for other reasons.

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Ted Allen -
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Dairy farming a profitable enterprise. By Ghulam.Mohyuddin wani BVC&AH,MVSC,PhD,DVM,ARS EMAIL fastwani@yahoo.com Agricultural growth has been showing a decline. Per hectare productivity gains have registered a decrease inspire of more and more nutrients available as fertilizers & fortification soil fertility has decreased. A total agricultural productivity fatigues has been estimated in the past few decades. The soil salinity, low water tables and environmental degradation is acute problems facing agriculture in general & agricultural research has become as point of criticism in India we may like to review the situation in these pages, in about five questions as follows. Q.No.1. has the funding for agricultural research been adequate. A review of Suresh et al 2005 in NCAP bulletin 21 shows that the government funding to agricultural research has been on a rise from 1961 to 1980. Thereafter a stagnation of funds has been registered. Research investment cheques and balances show an increase of 2.5 billion rupees to 7.5 billion between years 1961 – 1980. In 2000 it rose to all time high of 25 billion i.e. an increase of around 10 times the previous years. The slowing down of Govt. funding for agriculture around 1999′s from 7% in 1980 to 4.6% in 1990 is perhaps shown a negative impact of agricultural research in general & productivity in particular. The system of ARS starting in late 1976 has a latter effect on quality. The assessment and service grade & scale had linked the whole system as a progressive one. A change around 1980 -1990, now many “good scientists leaving ICAR and the system complicacies further deteriorated the filling of new position. A total black out and slow down was registered in these years. Competitive & capability was replaced with sub ordination and favoritism” this with slowing of Govt. funds from 7% in 1980 to 4.6% in 1990 saw a decline the extension delivery was at minimal edge as most of the ICAR funds were spent on research or education. The source of funding to ICAR is the main cause of decline in these years. The intensity ratio meaning expenditure on agricultural research as part of gross domestic products contributed by agriculture. The ratio increased to 0.4% in 1980, showed decline in 1986. Globally all countries spend more on agriculture than us in India. An intensity of 0.6 – 1% global record could not be a good indication with our 0.4% record chins spends 0.43% as against us 0.29%. This decline was supported by the decline of publications from 1980 when it was 1454 publication (ICAR + SAU) i.e. per scientist article base was 0.14. It reduced to 497 & 530 publication in 1990 & 2002 declining the score to 0.04 or 0.05 as per SCI record in CABA publication rare for 3014 to 6664 in these years thus putting score on hike from 0.29 to 0.51 in the period 1980-1998 the ISA publication score rose too from 0.43 to 0.53. The decline shows a depletion or depression. Is it because talented agric-animal graduate lost their interest in ARS or SAU system & moved to secure systems of IAS or even provisional services. Farmers in wheat –rice rotation have shifted to dairy farming on commercial basis. They have tried medicinal plants, vegetable, orchards like keno but failed to get market outlets and support price. Wheat – rice cultivation is still common because of the support price. The low water availability & higher cost of pumping water from low water tables have made agricultural pursuit tried as alternative diversified cropping unsuitable dairy farming is gaining momentum. It has low input needs & water requirement cost economics of Aliabad Bank specialist Mr. Lal Singh has been instrumental in this economic upliftment shift. Many option like Gaur, Brandi, seed production have failed. Milk fed provided a visible milk collection & marketing cover to the area in & around Mahrouli. A summary of interactions with emerging progressive dairy farmers & their associations or institutional support was the aim of this visit. Balbir singh GM of the local MILKFED company,a govt undertaking making profits says” Dairy farming is profitable, low input oriented and water requirements are lesser than the crop production. He refers to the book by a banker who estimated the comparative costs shown in the Tables 1-5,who clearly give dairy farming an advantage over the other crops. This shift is compounded by the low market availability of other diversification options like seed production, fruit production and even vegetable productivity. A cold chain mechanization as operative in milk supply and demand is missing link in other fame operations. The tractor and input costs of seeds, fertilizers and water are increasing with stagnant price of agricultural produce the farmers feel suffocated and economically devated.The division of land among farmers nuclear family decentralization has stimulated fragmented land holdings in India. The population increase, land costs and its fragmentation has reduced the profit margins. The entire dependence of over 60% population on agriculture is another limiting factor .The agricultural economic or GDP relation in America and other EU countries on agriculture is less than 1-2 % .Indian agriculture still contributed to more than more than 33 %to our GDP. Only 0.5-1% people are agriculture dependent in the west, here more than 60% are dependent on agriculture. Procurement manager of the Milkfed in merhruli says that he procures around 2-5 lack liters of milk daily and has adequate organization and cold chain base in about 1000 villages, comprising of 950 coperatives.The rural participatory co-operative movement is gaining momentum and is on rise.With few years the number has risen to 1190 in 2009 in the catchment area of the mahroli as reported by the said manager procurement Mr SONDE.The milk fed has nearly one crore profit per annum and the wastage losses are less than 1-5%.Milkfed provided free vet aid, priced A.I SERVICES AND PRICE INCENTIVES ON MILK FAT ASSESSSMENT VALUES. Chairman milk federation says he has swathed to dairy farming due to high input costs in agricultural crop production, The decline in water table have put more pressure on the eminent and economics too. The use of sugar cane tops and other agric wastes have reduced the cost of feeding cattle. They preferred cross bred cows to Buffaloe because none of the Buffaloe can give 30-35 liters of milk whereas the average milk produced by a cross bred Holstein Friesian cow exceeds 20-30 liters and there are cows yielding nearly 40-50 liters of milk per day in peak periods. The daily revenue and channelization of the manure and urine enriches the soil and encourages organic mode for vegetables which fetch him more price. The on farm economic models of various farming systems can be summarized as follows. Cost of 100 kg GM. Of MILKFED SAYS ,the dairy private venture is profitable. It requires less water and input and is cost effective .A known face of dairy farming banking finance Mr LALSINGH says .We have financed 160 commercial dairy farms. The sale price is assured here in dairy products. With processing and marketing done by milked and other commercial private concerns the farmer is always having cash flow per annum and has no pitfalls as in vegetable and grain marketing scenario. The experiments of loaning farmers for commercial vegetable farming. Wheat or rice or even Guava or Bandi did not yield them profitable living. This was true of Kenu.The marketing slur saw huge dump of farm produce staling on the footpaths of all Punjab-Delhi bound roadways or railway. The poor marketing and processing net work failed to help farmers in these diversified commercial croppings.On the other hand the milk is produced on daily basis and glut in the market never occure.There is more demand than sources to supply. In case of Bands or unfavorable rail road blockades the processing of milk into Dehi,lassi ,cheese or other milk products enhances its value. Thus it's a sustainable daily run business venture among farmers now. The cost of land has increased in whole of India. The minimum cost of 25 lakh per acre doesn't promise 2-3 lacks per year as profit by any cropping venture. The dairy farming does. The investment costs on tractor or draught power, water costs, seed and pesticides don't leave roam for big profit margins as in past. The depletion of soil nutrient, deeper water depths and resultant water costs coupled with draughts, disease hazarrads and consumer preference for organics have almost marginalized the profits to farmers from the cropping alone. The low govt approved rates of paddy and wheat have made them as cost prohibitive ventures. Nevertheless in areas of free or low cost canal waters and the sustenance costs of paddy and wheat still leaves a little profit than high intensive cropping of vegetables and fruit. Thus dairy is an alternative for the sustainable agriculture of future. It provides profitable enterprise with dignity and makes organic farming a dream true asset provides dung and urine to the farmer to venture low input high output organic products in future.

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PROF GHULAM MOHYUDDIN WANI -
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Prof dr Ghulam  Mohyuddin  Wani