Dairy farming is a good business these days as demand of quality rich milk is on constant rise. To set up a commercial dairy farm selecting the right breed of cattle, fodder, breeding and farm operations are the important factors.
Breed: Based on my personal experience I would strongly recommend indigenous breeds as it is more enduring and economical than the hybrid dairy cattle. In my dairy unit we have 4 desi Sahiwal cows and 31 HF cattle. The herd size is between 38-45 cows. The main problem I am facing with HF cattle is that being the hybrid breed it is extremely sensitive towards native diseases and change in weather conditions. We spend lot of money on its health management while Sahiwal cows requires no medical attention thus no-expenses at all. Now to resolve the problem in my farm mostly by July 2018 year we plan to switch completely to Indian desi breed cows. One of the farmers in my Jashpur village, Chhattisgarh learnt from my mistakes and has started dairy unit of 10 cows (all desi cow breeds). He is doing really well! Based on farm location desi breed cows can be sourced locally. Gir, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Tharparkar and Kankrej are the breeds viable for a commercial dairy farm. All these yield A2 milk that is sold at premium price.
Fodder: Fodder namely napier and maize sailege are fed to the cows along with maize and wheat dust, oil cakes like mustard (local) and groundnut. To feed our Sahiwal cows we mostly use the waste from our farm and green grass produced in the farm using the bio-agri inputs. Cows are also fed with oil cakes procured locally. Dung and urine of Sahiwal cows is used for producing agri inputs and ayurvedic medicines so these cows are strictly fed with organically produced fodder.
Breeding: In-breeding should be avoided stringently therefore the dairy farm owners must invest in the dairy software to maintain the detailed information of every cow and bull in the herd. Artifical insemination must be opted only when natural mating is difficult.
Farm Operations: Cows should never be tied. In my farm cows are tied to the post only during feeding and milking while rest of the time they are allowed to roam freely in the open yard having shade and 24/7 water availability. Desi cows prefer milking manually however a good quality milking parlour can be set up if the pocket allows.
Dairy farm of desi Indian cows might initially generate less revenues but it is more hassle free and long-lasting. Higher profits can be earned if A2 milk is sold directly to the end consumer. A lot depends on marketing efforts in the beginning then the goodness of work would spread and incomes would multiply.