Fodder farm to increse profit

ALTERNATIVE: A fodder unit at the Card-KVK farm in Pathanamthitta district.

Farmers are earning Rs. 15,000 as net profit annually by selling the grass

In Kerala, even though 60 per cent of the milk requirement is met by procurement from other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, cattle rearing is fast declining due to high cost of production, labour shortage and shrinking land.

Heavy dependence on other states for raw materials pushes up the cost of concentrate feeds.

“Dry straw (hay) used to feed cattle has become scarce due to decline in area under rice cultivation. It becomes a dire necessity for dairy farmers to start growing green fodder (grass) if they desire to run their unit profitably,” says Dr.S. Prabhu Kumar, Zonal Project Director, ICAR, Zonal Project Directorate, Bangalore.

Grow own fodder

And he adds that mere distribution of milch animals by the Government is of no use to farmers.

Along with the animals they must be also made aware of the importance of growing their own fodder for the animals.

Buying several commercial feeds available in the markets today is not profitable for a small farmer and is sure to burn a hole in their pocket, according to him.

Take the case of the Koipuram Milk society established on the banks of river Pampa nearly 20 years back by one Mr. Gopalakrishnan Nair to prevent dairy farmers from being exploited by middlemen who were not providing timely price for the milk supplied.

During peak production time farmers used to get only Rs.2.40 per litre of milk while the market price was Rs. 6 per litre.

The society was initially started with 400 members and 1,500 litres of milk was sent daily to the milk marketing federation of Kerala for further processing and sales. The price was fixed by the society.

Cultivated acreage

Since 1995 the society encouraged fodder production for its members and introduced different fodder grasses like Congo Signal, Gunnie grass, Hybrid Napier like CO1, CO2 and CO3 in the area. By 2009, 150 hectares in the region were brought under different types of fodder cultivation.

“We brought four cuttings of CO4 Hybrid Napier grass from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University Coimbatore, and multiplied it in our KVK farm.

“Today our farmers are selling this fodder to several private farms in Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam and Idukki Districts. On an average 800-1,200 Kg of green fodder is being sold today by the farmers of this society,” says Dr. C. P. Robert, Programme Co-ordinator, CARD-KVK (Christian agency for rural development- Krishi Vigyan Kendra), Pathanamthitta district, Kerala.

CARD KVK has been in the forefront of fodder promotion in the Pathanamthitta district and has been conducting many trials to identify suitable forage varieties for the district.

Dairy farmers are given training on scientific fodder management practices as and when the need arises.

Feeding ratio

“Feeding one bundle (15Kg) of CO4 grass has been found to increase milk yield by almost 200 ml per cow. Seeing this superior growth characteristic, farmers are replanting CO4 variety today and it has almost replaced the previous CO3 variety,” says Dr.Robert. Till date several lakh cuttings of this grass have been sold to different agriculture project areas in Kerala.

Marketing

Farmers are selling this fodder for Rs1.30 a kg and are able to harvest 7-8 cuttings a year (the cuttings may vary with the availability of water). Many are able to get an average yield of 270 tonnes per hectare and earn Rs. 15,000 as net profit annually.

The society also generates 300 days of employment through this activity a year, according to Dr. Robert.

For more details contact Dr. C. P. Robert, Programme Co-ordinator, CARD-Krishi Vigyan Kendra-Pathanamthitta District, Kolabhagam Post Office, Tiruvalla(Via), Pathanamthitta Dist, Kerala.

 email: cardkvk@yahoo.com, Phones:0469- 2662094 and 2661821, mobile:09447139300.

 Article Courtesy :

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/article3551839.ece

http://www.sab.ac.lk/journal_agri/papers/agri_vol2_1_2006/agri_vol2_1_2006_article3.pdf

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/agriculture/story-276425.html

40 liters of milk per cow per day

12,000 Liters Milk per Cow

By ZAC B. SARIAN

(MB.com.ph) High-tech agriculture in Israel is producing record yields in both animal and field crops. Vegetable farmers produce as much as 300 tons of tomatoes per hectare per year under greenhouse. And in the case of dairy cattle, they also have the highest production in the world – some 12,000 liters of milk per cow per lactation of 305 to 310 days. That’s 40 liters of milk per cow per day.

In comparison, the Philippine dairy farmer is making just about 10 liters a day per animal. A former senator who has a dairy farm in Laguna says they are getting an average of 9.7 liters per day per cow.

At the SAE Afikim(Afimilk) dairy farm which we visited during the Agritech press tour we participated in from December 4 to 7, the 900 cows being milked at that time were giving 40 liters each day. They are milked three times a day.

There are a number of reasons why milk yield is high in Israel. One is superior genetics. The Israelis have developed their own Israeli Holstein which is claimed to be adaptable to harsh and varied climatic conditions. Most of the cows are inseminated artificially with semen from proven sires.

Research in feeding and nutrition is contributing to the economical production of milk. Dairy cows are raised in confinement and are fed based on a total mixed ration (TMR). The milk cow’s TMR contains around 33 to 35 percent of forages (dry matter basis, mainly wheat silage). The remainder, 63 to 65 percent, is concentrates (grains and meals) and byproducts. The fact that the diet of Israeli cows contains relatively high percentage of agricultural and industrial byproducts lowers feeding costs. At the same time this reduces environmental contamination.

At a big kibbutz that we visited, we saw a wide planting of wheat. We were told that it was planted not for the grains but for silage making for cows.

Advanced technologies developed in Israel are also making a big impact on the efficiency of dairy farming in the country. One example is a flow-meter which is attached to the milking equipment. This automatically measures the milk flow and milking duration. It is also used as a means for early detection of mastitis and udder infection.

A typical dairy farm in Israel

Another is a tag containing an “activity meter” which is used to identify the cow and transmit the information to the computer regarding the cow’s general activity, detecting the sick cows as well as those that are in heat and need to be inseminated immediately.

Other recently developed tags can detect daily rumination-duration and lying duration, supplying information about a cow’s nutritional and welfare status.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, linear programming software developed in Israel assists in formulating the lowest cost rations for optimized feeding and production programs. A feed controller is a mobile unit attached to the mixing wagon which stores group-feeding data, and downloads it to the main computer. Data are interlinked with the herd management software to generate intake reports per head or group.

Also, cooling systems developed in Israel and based on Israeli-made equipment, are used in most dairy herds to help maintain relatively high production and fertility levels in summer, and reduce production seasonality.

Israel produces enough milk for its growing population. It could produce much more than its present production but dairy farming is regulated by means of production quotas. These quotas are set by the Dairy Board and prices are controlled by the government. According to special government regulations, no dairy farm may produce or market unprocessed milk.

This procedure helps to maintain the balance between supply and demand in the sector, while allowing continued growth and reasonable profitability.

Milk consumption in Israel has increased tremendously since the country was established in 1948. In 1950, milk consumption in Israel was about 90 million liters. By 2008, total milk consumption reached 1,280 million liters. Each Israeli, man, woman and child, now consumes an average of 180 liters per year. That’s about half liter a day.

Milk produced in Israel is made into many processed products. After milking, the milk undergoes a laboratory and quality test. It then continues through the pasteurization process, after which it can be manufactured into butter, yoghurt, cheese or other dairy products through totally automated systems. There’s a wide range of over 1,000 dairy products.

Back to the Afikim (Afimilk) dairy farm, the milking cows are really pampered. They are given feed throughout the day and are milked three times daily. The animals feed in a lower portion at the edge of the house where they also defecate. Each day, the manure is collected by a contractor who brings it to a biogas company. Afikim pays the manure contractor $140 per animal per year. The biogas company, on the other hand, uses the manure to generate methane gas for the generation of electricity.

Afikim’s Daniel Hojman estimates that their high-milking cows eat $8 worth of feed everyday. That’s small compared to the value of the milk produced. On the average, after deducting the expenses on the non-milking animals (the replacement stocks and dry cows), the estimated profit is between 23 and 25 percent of gross revenues.

Afikim employs a user-friendly software called AfiFarm Management Program developed specifically for the dairy farm. In a herdsman’s hands, AfiFarm is a powerful analysis tool used for the management of daily operations and long-term strategic planning. The program processes automatically gathered real time data and provides a wide range of analysis reports covering all the many different factors that the herdsman must know about the herd – yield, health, fertility, nutrition and more.

Afimilk’s Rojman said that AfiFarm supports strategic decision-making by using scientific models for individual and herd milk yield prediction, planning of cow replacements and strategic planning of nutrition.

AfiFarm also supports import/export data to and from external sources and features self-diagnostic and control capabilities.