Cow Breed clarification for Dairy Farm

[keerthigowda]

Hi,

Please clarify which breed of cows is the easiest to maintain and high profitable for my dairy farm.

I am planning to start the farm with 10 Cows and expand the same to 100 in 3 years

Looking forward for help. Please do the needful

Keerthi Gowda

 

[manas reddy]

Depends on land available

Hi Keerthi,

All cows need maintenance in varying degree, the type of cow you want to maintain will depend on the available land and water resources, there are different types of approaches, Intensive farming, pasture based and pasture crop based dairy farming.

if your land availability is 1 acre per cow and you have irrigation for all the land then you can go for pasture or pasture crop based approach, and maintain jersey or gir cows on pasture these cows should be able to tolerate high temperatures as they will be grazing in the sun all day.

if you do not have irrigation but plenty of land with medium to high annual rainfall you can maintain native Indian breeds such as gir or sindhi.

if the land availability is around 1 acre for 5 cows with sufficient irrigation, you should go for intensive farming with high yielding HF cows, these cows cannot survive hot climate and you have to provide housing during the day.

Land availability of anywhere between 1 to 5 acers with limited irrigation can be used for intensive farming however, you will have to grow lot of fodder crops in the rainy season and silage it for use in other seasons, and maintain little land with year round green fodder production, in this method you can go for intensive dairy farming with any of the high producing breeds

 

[venkategowda2006]

Dear Friend
I am also planning to start dairy farm, i have constructed water tank for water, now i m planning buy 1st dry fodder,, then i ll buy HF or Jersy cow in 3 to 4 batches, summer is very good time to buy cattles

 

[keerthigowda]

Attn Mr.Manas Reddy

Mr. Manas Reddy.. Thanks a lot for your reply

I will be having cows at a ratio of 8 cows per acre. So 120 cows for 15 acres of land. This land will be utilized only to grow fodder for the cattle.

Please suggest if this is a wise idea

Keerthi Gowda

 

[keerthigowda]

Attn Mr. Venkate Gowda

Dear Mr. Venkate Gowda,

Thanks for the valuable inputs. Will surely consider the same

Keerthi Gowda

 

[manas reddy]

Dry Matter

Hi Keerthi,

As a thumb rule minimum requirement of land per cow should be 0.25 acres for green fodder production (Hybrid Napier) other forage crops require more land for same production level.

this also changes based on the type of cows kept, following is a brief idea of what you will need

a cow of 450 kg body weight will require 11.25 KG of dry matter at 10 liter milk production per day (morning and evening), 13.5 KG dry matter at 15 liter production and 15.3 KG dry matter at 20 liter a day production

Different cows have different nutritional requirements in terms of energy, CP and minerals

it is a very vast subject and requires deep knowledge on the subject, i am only a novice and what i can suggest you are broad inferences and generally followed recommendations

there are two ways you can go since you are looking at small scale, visit some successful dairy farmers locally and follow the best practices or do extensive research and devise your own approach, hiring consultants is the best approach however it will be a costly affair for small farmers,

on my farm we are producing CO3 fodder on 3 acres and it is not sufficient for the 20 HF cows and the milk production has come down drastically, we are hoping the newly planted Hybrid Napier in an additional 2 acre land will grow soon to meet the need

you had earlier posted that you have a farm of 10 animals, how are you managing that one

manas reddy

Mr. Manas Reddy.. Thanks a lot for your reply

I will be having cows at a ratio of 8 cows per acre. So 120 cows for 15 acres of land. This land will be utilized only to grow fodder for the cattle.

Please suggest if this is a wise idea

Keerthi Gowda

 

[vetbharathi]

Plan fodder production before starting the farm

Season : Throughout the year in all districts Hybrids recommended : CO-4
Yield Potential and Quality Characters

Characters CO 4

Green fodder yield (t/ha/yr) 400

Dry matter yield (t/ha/yr) 65.12

Crude protein yield (t/ha) 5.40

Mean plant height (cm) 300 - 360

No. of leaves per clump 450

No. of tillers per clump 30 - 40

Leaf-stem ratio 0.70

Leaf width (cm) 3.00 - 4.20

Leaf length (cm) 80 - 95

Dry matter (%) 17.08

Crude protein (%) 10.5

Calcium (%) 0.86

Phosphorus (%) 0.24

Oxalate (%) 2.51

IVDMD (%) 60

PREPARATORY CULTIVATION
1. PLOUGHING
Plough with an iron plough two to three times to obtain good tilth.

2. APPLICATION OF FYM
25 t/ha
3. FORMING RIDGES
Form ridges and furrows using a ridger, 60 cm apart.

4. APPLICATION OF FERTILIZERS

i. Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendation as for as possible. If soil testing is not done, follow the blanket recommendations of 150:50:40 of NPK in kg/ha.
ii. Apply full dose of P,K and 50% N basally before planting. Top dressing of 50% N on 30 DAS.
iii. Repeat the basal application of 75 kg N/cut for sustaining higher yield
iv. Application of Azospirillum (2000g) and phosphobacterium (2000g) or Azophos (4000g) along with 75% of recommended dose of N and P fertilizers enhanced the yield besides saving of 25% of fertilizer dose.

5. PLANTING

i. Irrigate through the furrows and plant one rooted slip/stem cutting per hill.
ii. Spacing 50 x 50 cm and 40,000 planting material are required to plant one ha.
iii. As a mixed crop, 3 rows of Cumbu Napier Hybrid and one row of Desmanthus can be raised to increase the nutritive value.

6. WATER MANAGEMENT

Immediately after planting, give life irrigation on the third day and thereafter once in 10 days. Sewage or waste water can also be used for irrigation.

7. WEED MANAGEMENT

Hand weeding is done whenever necessary.

8. HARVESTING

First harvest is to be done on 75 to 80 days after planting and subsequent harvests at intervals of 45 days yields around 400 t/ha.

9. GREEN FODDER YIELD

400 t/ha

NOTE:
1. Quartering has to be done every year or whenever the clumps become unwidely and large.


Contact:
STAR ANIMAL NUTRITION
488, Vazhudavoor Road, Muthirayarpalayam,
PUDUCHERRY – 605 009.
Email: staranimalnutrition@yahoo.com
Mobile: 9442633623

 

[nellai deepak]

controlling large amount of milk

hi friends when u starting dairy with 20 cows ...u get almost 100 litre daily...but how can u manage excess milk????????????.... machinery is available to manage tat or we get ghee it wil give extra price amount of our product..if u hav any doubt plz mail me tvrock.0@gmail.com

 

[dhoodhpremi]

To nellai deepak sir

sir
u said for 20 cows 100 litrs
please explain
in my calculation
u have 20 cows

only 65-70% will be milking
that means around 12-14 cows milking at various stages

average yield of 12-15(take 12 as average at worst)
then yield will be atleast 150-180 litres/day

 

[venkategowda2006]

Freind if you have any doubts n suggestions call me 9243220200

 

[keerthigowda]

Mr.Manas Reddy

Dear Mr.Reddy,

Currently we hae enough space and not finding any issues with 10 Cows. Its been handled by my Uncle

I have a plan to start my Dairy Farm in a big way with 15 acres. As per my knowledge and discussion with many of the Dairy consultants, we can have 8 cows per acre of which 6 will be in the Lactation period. It means the Farm will be working on 70:30 Lactationry cycle

Also let me know whether HF cows yields 25 litres per day (Morning and Evening) All my projections are as per the above mentioned figures.

Please correct me if am wrong and suggest. I shall be discussing your points as well with my consultant

Keerthi Gowda

 

[manas reddy]

HF milk yield

Hi Keerthi,

Yes HF cows yield more than 25 liters a day during peak production time from 21 days of lactation to 3 months of lactation after which the production gradually reduces, we have experienced this in our farm.

the type of cows kept and the yield also is a factor in how much land is required, what is your average production in lactating cows at the farm your uncle is managing ?

 

[keerthigowda]

Mr.Manas Reddy

Hi Mr.Reddy,

Yes you are right, that is reason i am planning to work on Lactation and Dry Period method. I shall also procure cows as per the same.

My Uncle is just running a Farm with 10 cows without any scientific method as its not his prime focus in agriculture. He is into other commercial cropping.

Is there any ways we can discuss on the phone. Kindly confirm

Keerthi Gowda

 

[satishkataria]

Thanks a lot fellows for such a valuable information..............i am also planning to start a dairy farm in north India (Haryana).....but what i have deduced from above discussion is that limited land availability becomes a hurdle in scaling up of dairy operations.....so my question is aren't there any feeds available in the market which could take place of green fodder.

 

[manas reddy]

contact details

Hi Keerthi,

i have sent you my contact details

Manas Reddy

Hi Mr.Reddy,

Yes you are right, that is reason i am planning to work on Lactation and Dry Period method. I shall also procure cows as per the same.

My Uncle is just running a Farm with 10 cows without any scientific method as its not his prime focus in agriculture. He is into other commercial cropping.

Is there any ways we can discuss on the phone. Kindly confirm

Keerthi Gowda

 

[keerthigowda]

Kind Attn Mr.Satish

Hi Satish,

Yes, Since fodder is one of the most important factor, land availibility is also essential.

I suggest start your operations in a small scale and then you can expand step by step

Keerthi Gowda

 

[manas reddy]

Replacement for green fodder

Hi Satish,

there is no replacement for green fodder apart from silage, this again will require land.

a good idea will be to own 40% to 50% of land required for fodder production and get the rest of the land on lease or get the required fodder through contract farming,

there is no commercial feed replacement for green fodder, some farms use less green fodder and more feed this works in a short run however the health of the animal will be affected and the costs will be high

Manas Reddy

Thanks a lot fellows for such a valuable information..............i am also planning to start a dairy farm in north India (Haryana).....but what i have deduced from above discussion is that limited land availability becomes a hurdle in scaling up of dairy operations.....so my question is aren't there any feeds available in the market which could take place of green fodder.

 

[satishkataria]

Thanks Keerthi & Manas for the replies....yeah its better to go for lease but given the high crops prices the lease rentals are also touching the roofs......anyways thanks again for the valueable info

 

[purush_rao]

Hi Keerthi,

All cows need maintenance in varying degree, the type of cow you want to maintain will depend on the available land and water resources, there are different types of approaches, Intensive farming, pasture based and pasture crop based dairy farming.

if your land availability is 1 acre per cow and you have irrigation for all the land then you can go for pasture or pasture crop based approach, and maintain jersey or gir cows on pasture these cows should be able to tolerate high temperatures as they will be grazing in the sun all day.

if you do not have irrigation but plenty of land with medium to high annual rainfall you can maintain native Indian breeds such as gir or sindhi.

if the land availability is around 1 acre for 5 cows with sufficient irrigation, you should go for intensive farming with high yielding HF cows, these cows cannot survive hot climate and you have to provide housing during the day.

Land availability of anywhere between 1 to 5 acers with limited irrigation can be used for intensive farming however, you will have to grow lot of fodder crops in the rainy season and silage it for use in other seasons, and maintain little land with year round green fodder production, in this method you can go for intensive dairy farming with any of the high producing breeds

Hi Manasa Reddy,

It looks you have a wide knowledge in the dairy farm field.

Can you please provide me ur contact number. I want to set up a dairy farm and I am new to this field and want more information.

Thanks,
Pradeep

 

[keerthigowda]

Kind Attn Mr. Pradeep

All the best Mr. Pradeep !!!

Keerthi Gowda