Monday, May 10, 2021

My Visit To a Local Dairy Farm

Vivek Kumar

GEHU, Dehradun

Dairy farm Visit in Bihar:

I visited a dairy farm located in Supaul district Bihar, near NH57, here is the details of farmer's and summery of what i saw and learnt:

Farmer’s name – Ramchandra Yadav

Village name - majhari

Block name- Nirmali

District name- Supaul

State – Bihar

No. of cow he has: 12

No. of bull: 1

· No. of heifer : 3

· No. of calf: 4

Mr. Ramchandra Yadav gives brief introduction about dairy farming and he also tells in their Herd how much cattle are there and how they manage a large no of population of cattle in simplest way,

for management of all cattle he has 2 male labours and 1 female labours.

firstly he gives brief idea about housing system of cattle and their advantages, he said there are 2 types of housing:

• 👉The loose housing barn in combination with some type of milking barn or parlor.

• 👉The conventional dairy

but he kept 2nd type of housing pattern for cattles their details are as follows

conventional Dairy Barn

• The conventional dairy barns are comparatively costly and are now becoming less popular day by day. However, by this system cattle are more protected from adverse climatic condition.

• The following barns are generally needed for proper housing of different classes

👉 Dairy Stock in the Farm

• 👉Cow houses or sheds

• 👉Calving box

• 👉Isolation box

• 👉Sheds for young stocks

• 👉Bull or bullock sheds

Cow Sheds:

• 👉Cow sheds can be arranged in a single row if the numbers of cows are small.

• 👉Say less than 10 or in a double row if the herd is a large one.

• 👉Ordinarily, not more than 80 to 100 cows should be placed in one building.

• 👉In double row housing, the stable should be so arranged that the cows face out (tails to tail system) or face in (head to head system) as preferred

Advantages of tail to tail system:

• Under the average conditions, 125 to 150 man hours of labour are required per cow per year. Study of time: Time motion studies in dairies showed that 40% of the expended time is spent in front of the cow, and 25% in other parts of the barn and the milk house, and 60% of the time is spent behind the cows. Time spent at the back of the cows is 4 times more than the time spent in front of them.

• 👉In cleaning and milking the cows, the wide middle alley is of great advantage.

• 👉Lesser danger of spread of diseases from animal to animal.

• 👉Cows can always get more fresh air from outside.

• 👉The head gowala can inspect a greater number of milkmen while milking. This is possible because milkmen will be milking on both sides of the gowala.

• 👉Any sort of minor disease or any change in the hind quarters of the animals can be detected quickly and even automatically.

Advantages of face to face system:

• 👉Cows make a better showing for visitors when heads are together

• 👉The cows feel easier to get into their stalls.

• 👉Sun rays shine in the gutter where they are needed most.

• 👉Feeding of cows is easier, both rows can be fed without back tracking.

• 👉It is better for narrow barns.

✋ he said for housing requirements each cow takes 4.5- 5 m2 area.

In cold season he also gives beddings for cattle

For beddings he generally used rice straw, sometimes he also used rubber mat

If extreme cold is there than he also take some jute cloth for cattle.

Where as in warm season there should be proper ventilation, exhaust fans & ceiling fans should be there.

Cattle breed: (@ Mr. Yadav farm’s)

1. Sahiwal :

Character-

• Highest and sweetest milk.
• Originated in Montgomery district in present Pakistan.
• This breed otherwise known as Lola (loose skin), Lambi Bar, Montgomery, Multani, Teli.
• The colour is reddish dun or pale red, sometimes flashed with white patches.

☺The average milk yield of this breed is between 2,725 and 3,175 kgs in lactation period of 300 days

2. Jersey :
Character-

• It is the smallest of the dairy types of cattle developed on island of
Jersey, U.K.

• In India this breed has acclimatized well and is widely used in cross breeding with indigenous cows.
• The typical colour of Jersey cattle is reddish fawn.
• Dished fore head and compact and angular body.

• These are economical producers of milk with 5.3% fat and 15% SNF.

3. Holstein Friesian:

Character-

• This breed was developed in the northern parts of Netherlands, especially in the province of Friesland.
• They are ruggedly built and they possess large udder.
• They are the largest dairy breed and mature cows weigh as much as 700kg.
• They have typical marking of black and white that make them easily distinguishable.

• ☺The average production of cow is 6000 to 7000 kgs per lactation. However, the fat content in their milk is rather low (3.45 per cent).

Feed management:

In Mr. Yadav dairy farm, crop residues and by product
are the major components in livestock feed. In their farm dry fodder affords the largest proportion of fodder accounting for about 84% of the feed requirements. Straw of paddy and wheat both together contribute to about 92 % of dry fodder feeds for livestock in their farm.
He also used green fodder like maize, berseem, napier grass and some legume crop.
sometimes He also used leaves of some trees for feeding of livestock
Leaves like bamboo leaves and banana leaves, mango leaves etc…
For feed He also used oil cakes , chokar, sugar cakes, and banana (this is given mainly those cows which is currently milching).

Government Schemes for Dairy Farming in Bihar :

Doodh Ganga Yogana :

This schemes gives finance for:

• Establishing small dairy units upto 10 aniimals.

• Finances for rearing heaifer calves.

• Vermi-compost

• Purchasing the milking machines, cooling units and other dairy equipments

• Dairy processing equipments.

• Transportation facilities and cold chain , cold storage for milk and milk products.

• Establishment of veterinary clinics.

• Dairy parlors

The scheme approves loan upto 15 lakh rupees for setting of machines and cooler for the purpose of milk production and conservation.

For the transportation of dairy product, a loan of 25 lakh can be availed under the scheme.

Loan from rupees 1.2 lakh to 4.8 lakh are given for purchasing cattle and set up another animal husbandry venture.

This information is taken from and local news paper, and some basic information given by village Pradhan.

General term which is important in dairy farm:-

Body temp. of cow:- 38.5`C

Respiration rate/min. :- 12- 16

Pulse rate/min:- 45-55

Onset of puberty :- 24- 30 months (females)

Length of estrous cycle:- 21 days

Length of heat period:- 18 hrs

Gastation period:- 282 days

Common diseases of cattle:

1. Mastitis: inflammation of udder

2. FMD: viral disease

3. Riderpest: viral, known as cattle plague

4. Anthrax : bacterial disease, it is called splenic fever

5. Cow pox: viral disease.

Few things that i observed there:

in local dairy farm farmers do not have own dairy unit for processing of milk . In their herds he has generally 10 to 30 cows and he milked each cow twice a day (6:00 am & 5:00 pm) and after milked dairy staff come there and collect whole milk

milking is generally done by hand or somewhere also by machine. if machines were used than 4to 4.5 mins take each cow to milked where as by hand it takes 15 to 20 mins each cow

Every morning hormones or drugs are injected into the cow to increase there milk yield

Since cow produce the most milk after pregenancy, they are kept pregnant for their entire fertile life through AI

every year each cow delivers a baby. the local cowherds can not absorb all the baby calves that are born every year in their business. hence they sell the baby calves( 80 to 85% of them) to the beef industry where they raised the calves for beef and are slaughetered in three to four years or to an illegal veal industry where they are being slaughetered in 6 months .

Also after 4 to 5 deliveries, the milk yield of an adult cow drops significantly and hence the cowherd replace the old cow with a young one and sells the old cow to a slaugheter house for cheap meat. only few cows (7% or less) end up in a cow shelter place.

👉 Slaughtering the mother cows after five years of their fertile life while their life expectancy is 15 years.

Organic Milk:

The Organic farm is generally smaller than the huge factory-style farm. The Organic milk is produced without using antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones. There are no milk additives added into the milk. However there are no legal regulations that prevent farmers from engaging in similar abuses such as keeping the cows in tie stalls and using electric milking equipment, etc. Only few organic farms treat cows properly during her milk producing life.

Also to ensure steady milk production the organic farms:

👉Keep cows pregnant all the time through artificial insemination or other means

👉Sell baby calves to veal industry, where they are slaughtered in six months

👉Sell the adult cows to the slaughter houses after four years when the milk production yield drops

Hence the Organic milk is not cruelty free milk.

@vesaliusvivek

THANK YOU 🙏

❔ What is your opinion about Slaughter houses & Organic milk.........must write in comment section

Monday, May 3, 2021

Farm Bill 2020

Vivek kumar (B.Sc.Agri)

GEHU , Dehradun

Introduction:

The introduction of the bill is based on the concept of “One India, One Agricultural Market”. It aims at opening the gates for farmers to the corporate world to create additional trading opportunities beyond the APMC market yards to help farmers to get remunerative prices due to additional competition.

1. Bill on agri market Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020

Provisions

👉To create an ecosystem where farmers and traders enjoy the freedom to sell and purchase farm produce outside registered 'mandis' under states' APMCs.

👉To promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade of farmers' produce.

👉To reduce marketing/transportation costs and help farmers in getting better prices.

👉To provide a facilitative framework for electronic trading.

Opposition

👉States will lose revenue as they won't be able to collect 'mandi fees' if farmers sell their produce outside registered APMC markets.

👉What happens to 'commission agents' in states if entire farm trade moves out of mandis?

👉It may eventually end the MSP-based procurement system.

👉Electronic trading like in e-NAM uses physical 'mandi' structure. What will happen to e-NAM if 'mandis' are destroyed in absence of trading?

👉It will lead to the destruction of the mandi system.

2. Bill on contract farming The Farmer (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020

Provisions

👉Farmers can enter into a contract with agribusiness firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or large retailers for sale of future farming produce at a pre-agreed price.

👉Marginal and small farmers, with land less than five hectares, to gain via aggregation and contract (Marginal and small farmers account for 86% of total farmers in India).

👉To transfer the risk of market unpredictability from farmers to sponsors .

👉To enable farmers to access modern tech and get better inputs

👉To reduce cost of marketing and boost farmer's income.

👉Farmers can engage in direct marketing by eliminating intermediaries for full price realisation

👉Effective dispute resolution mechanism with redressal timelines.

Opposition

👉Farmers in contract farming arrangements will be the weaker players in terms of their ability to negotiate what they need.

👉The sponsors may not like to deal with a multitude of small and marginal farmers.

👉Being big private companies, exporters, wholesalers and processors, the sponsors will have an edge in disputes.

3.Bill relating to commodities
The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020
Provisions
👉To remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. It will do away with the imposition of stockholding limits on such items except under "extraordinary circumstances" like war.
👉This provision will attract private sector/FDI into farm sector as it will remove fears of private investors of excessive regulatory interference in business operations.
👉To bring investment for farm infrastructure like cold storages, and modernising food supply chain.
👉To help both farmers and consumers by bringing in price stability.
👉To create competitive market environment and cut wastage of farm produce.
Opposition
👉Price limits for "extraordinary circumstances" are so high that they are likely to be never triggered.
👉Big companies will have the freedom to stock commodities- it means they will dictate terms to farmers which may lead to less prices for the cultivators.
👉Recent decision on export ban on onion creates doubt on its implementation.

Farmer's demands:

✋A roll back of all 3 ordinances.

✋The mandi system to remain in place.

✋Their loans be cleared.

✋A law should be made for msp to be at least 50 % more than the weighted avg. cost of production & if the msp is not paid , it should be a punishable crime.

✋A law should be put in place that gurantees payment from thr buyers through middleman that has always been the norm to ensure that banks don't deduct the money in the name of loan recovery.

How MSP affects farmers-

MSP is the minimum price paid by the government when it procures any crop from the farmers. It is announced by the state-run Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) for more than 22 commodities on an annual basis, after calculating the cost of cultivation.

Food Corporation of India

(FCI) which is the main state-run grain procurement agency .largely buys only paddy and wheat at these prices. The FCI then sells these foodgrains at highly subsidised prices to the poor and is thereafter compensated by the government for its losses.

What the government says:

The three farm laws have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country. Until 2020, the first sale of agriculture produce could occur only at the mandis of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). However, after the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 came into force it allows farmers to sell outside APMC mandis in India

GOI OPINION ON FARM BILL 2020:

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture, said both of the bills would fulfil the country's expectations and needs for agriculture.

The farmer will be attracted to relatively good crops, and his income will naturally increase if the farmer grows expensive crops, and he will also support agricultural growth.

"These bills would also help to export agriculture." Tomar said that small farmers are about 86 per cent. "When these farmers manage to know in advance the fixed price of their produce by some legislation they can do profit farming."

The Minimum Support Price (MSP) will not be impacted by these bills and this will help make farmers more advanced. "The MSP was, the MSP is, and in the future the MSP will continue."

Through these changes, farmers will directly link with the major traders and exporters, adding benefit to farming. "Those bills would bring revolutionary improvements to farmers' lives."

Through the bill, the Minister of Agriculture aims to provide a national structure for agricultural agreements that will protect and enable farmers to engage with agri-business companies, processors, wholesalers, exporters or major retailers.

That bill would bring independence to the agricultural sector.

These bills have no effect on the State APMC Act. "APMC will be in the state, but beyond its periphery, there will be inter-state trade, and farmers will be able to sell their goods from their field, home, and elsewhere after the law comes into being."

@Vesaliusvivek

THANK YOU 🙏

❓ WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON FARM BILL 2020 MUST WRITE IN COMMENT SECTION................

Saturday, May 1, 2021

How we can control locust swarms?

Vivek kumar

Nirmali, Supaul

Introduction-

locust are the crop eating insects belong to the family of grasshopper. i.e family ;Acrididae .the life cycle passes through the three stage Egg,nymph,and the adult stages.they are differ in many more colour. the solitary phase has shorter wings, longer legs, and naarrow pronotium. these are consider as the danger pest because even very small one square locust swarm(Schistocerca grregria) can eat the same amount of food in one day as about 35000 people.the desert locust is consider as the most danger paste because the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across grate distance. it has two to five generations per year.locust swarms are typically in motion can cover a vast distance some species may travel 81 miles(around 130.35 kilometers) or more a day. they can stay on the air for long period off time ,regularly taking non stop trips across the seas.

Control measure for the pest-

while talking about the control measure for the pest we can adopt different measure;

1. Biological measure

while talking about the biological measure one duck can eat more then 200 locust swarm.as they are not dangerous to the animal and human beings.beside that these insect are of canibal structure if we managed to interact with at least two neighbours the insect can not reproduce

2.physical measure

while talking about the physical measure we can use the different instrument for its control foe example using bigger mosquito net in nursery ,playing a sound can also some how manage to remove the insect more ever due to the canibalism activity they are not going to stay at the particular place for longer time..

3.chemical measure

while talking about the chemical measure we cam to clouding spray with the insecticides fibornial spray as they act on the nervous system of these insect. one spray eventually stopping the insect from fee