If one is to say to average Indian -be it in villages or cities, that you can earn millions of rupees by milking the cows, 99 out of 100 will laugh you out.
But for this person it does not matter if 9999 out of 10000 laugh him out. He will speak for hours, show demos, on how to make dairy farming business a profitable one, just to convince that 1 person who shows interest.
There are very meager returns on his investment of time and expertise. It is taking a toll on his health. But he has decided to go for it. He won’t stop. He is a man on mission.
Meet Dr. Shailesh Madane, Bachelor in Veterinary Science and animal husbandry consultant. Borne and brought up in Mumbai. Now he hails from Piliv, a small village in Western Maharashtra, of hardly 9000 strong headcount in Malshiras taluka, Solapur.
He’s a veterinarian by accident, joined Veterinary college at the insistence of his father.
After completing his college, he has had a successful stint with pharma companies in sales. That’s not a surprise for people who know him. After all, from school days he’s been a social person, talking to all whom he meets with same interest, humility, and genuineness. He’s an excellent orator. Writing, directing and acting in plays, winning trophies has kept his extracurricular resume strong. Some of the skills he acquired and honed in school and colleges are helping him now when he’s touring bits and parts of Maharashtra convincing farmers to adopt modern dairy farming as their main business. He’s the force responsible for the way Dairy Farming in Maharashtra is changing for good.
Dairy farming in India has been traditionally and chronically loss making business – laborious, expensive. With a few exceptions of excellently managed dairy farms – Chitale Milk Dairy in Bhilawadi, Sangli, Bhagyalaxmi Dairy farm in Manchar, near Pune are some of the examples.
Cattle are reared in Maharashtrian villages as a tradition. Catering to milk requirement of own house members. Only additional milk is sold to milk collection centers or dairies. Doodh sankalan kendra (दूध संकलन केंद्र) as referred to in Marathi.
This milk business has been in perennial losses. Average dairy farmer only uses the business to roll the money, to fund for some petty expenses.
Even the milk collection centers are chronically loss making, resorting to fat cutting to keep their profits up. Mostly the collection centers are co-operatives, used more as a political tool rather than to boost milk business in the region they operate.
Traditional Dairy Farming in India – causes of losses
The milk business should ideally be very profitable, advocates Dr. Madane. A farmer starts business with 2 milk producing cows. His livestock strength should go up to 5-10 in 5 years. And every year it should continue to increase.
Instead, the average no. of cows with the Indian dairy farmer has remained only 2-3. And the cow milking is loss making.
There are multiple causes of why the business is in loss.
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Extensively lengthy Labor time
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Failure in fodder management, high fodder costs
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Failure of breeding management or lack of quality breeds
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Lack of loose housing or lack of stress free farms
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Lack of regular health check-ups
Let’s see all of them one by one below.
Extensively lengthy Labor time
In traditional dairy farming, the farmer has mortgaged his freedom to his milk business, to his cows.
Those of who have livestock cattle in their house or farm, are tied perennially tied up to their dairy farm business. Believe me, it’s worse than 9 to 5 job (stretched to 12 hours) in cities. In 9 to 5 you feel to have surrendered your freedom to your employer.
The schedule of a typical dairy farmer goes like this-
Everyday early morning he’d clean the premises of his dairy farm.
A typical Indian dairy farm would be constructed using hard flooring – tiles or cementing. Lot of efforts go towards keeping it clean from the excreta of cows. If not cleaned, the risk of Mastitis goes up.
Then he’d serve them water and fodder.
The fodder is not stored. So it has to be cut every day or bought from the market. In summers, it is mostly buying from market.
There would be 2-3 such rounds of cleaning, fodder and water. Water and fodder is served to the tied cow at farmer’s convenience.
There would be two-three times during the day, when the cow would be milked.
Also, every once in a while he needs to clean the cows as well. Their skin gets dirty by sitting in the same place as their excreta.
Then he has to travel twice to milk collection centers to sell the milk generated everyday.
Now, if you are intelligent enough, his whole day has been swallowed by this business. He cannot travel anywhere, unless someone else is there to replace him and carry out his dairy farm related tasks during his absence. It is like raising a new borne baby every day.
He cannot use his time to generate money making ideas. Cannot dedicate his time towards other productive activities. And not to say the time cost, labor cost of his own is also non-productive.
This was okay if the milk business itself was extremely productive. He could hire a laborer and pay him some salary and work with reduced profit, giving his time away to other activities or increasing the milk business itself.
But it’s not. Traditional milk business in India, even after such dedicated hard work put in by the farmer does not generate enough money even to cover costs.
Why ? We’ll see it later in the article.
Dr. Shailesh Madane’s teachings are oriented towards reducing this labor time in dairy farming.
The ideal dairy farm or PowerGotha as referred to by Dr. Madane, requires only 1-2 hours of work everyday and can be outsourced.
How ? We’ll see it later.
Failure of fodder management, high fodder costs
If properly managed, the fodder costs should be around 50-60% of the milk rate received by farmer by selling his milk daily.
However, milk business being carried out the way it is, does not enjoy this luxury.
When the rain gods are happy, during monsoons and in winter, there’s plenty of green fodder available in the fields as well as the market. That’s cheap fodder and healthy fodder for cows. The cows are happy, the farmer is happy.
It keeps the help of milk producing cows at the top level. And the volume of milk is higher during these times.
But the scenes are different as summer approaches. The green fodder vanishes. The cows are presented with dry fodder, which is not bad but it does not help in volume of milk produced. The milk volume goes down.
Also, due to failure of irrigation policies in Maharashtra, almost every year has been a drought like in many areas.
This pushes the cost of fodder to unmanageable levels. Unlike the opportunity costs of his continuous labor we saw above, these costs are directly felt by the farmer.
Many of the farmers are unable to cope up here. They are either forced to sell the cows or to send them in fodder camps.
Those who continue with the milk business, continue to raise 1-2 cows only. And it is mainly to sustain own need of milk and not to sell the milk for commercial benefit.
Failure of Breeding Management – Lack of Quality Breeding
Traditionally the breeding is carried out using bulls in the village or in nearby villages. No records are kept.
As modern ways are adopted, with reach of veterinarians in remote villages also, artificial insemination methods, using stored sperms of quality bulls are used to breed cows. Still no records are kept.
Therefore, often the cow and her lineage below is impregnated by the same bull.
Result : In-breeding.
Cows thus produced have deformities, they fall ill very quickly and gradually the milk volume goes down. Some cows become infertile. They never produce milk.
There’s dearth of education in this aspect of dairy farming. People have no knowledge. They know it is harmful for humans to marry within relations, but fail to recognize this fact when it comes to the cows.
Producing quality cows, bulls through breeding is also a part of revenue generating sources of the milk business. Failure of breeding management puts another nail in the coffin.
Lack of Loose Housing – Lack of Stress Free Dairy Farms
As average Indian would have envisage, the cows in the dairy farm are always tied on both sides with big ropes to a pillar or something. And they actually are!
Traditional dairy business knows no modern thing. The cows are perennially tied in the farm shed. They sit and stand in the same place 24 hours.
With some exceptions only for water feeding, or eating grass in the fields they are liberated.
Absolutely no freedom. Whether the cows are sleeping, eating, drinking water, standing, sitting, urinating or excreting.
This puts the cows under lot of stress. It takes toll on their health.
If the farm premises, specially where the cows are sitting, is not cleaned up regularly, it exposes the cows to risk of infections, diseases and puts the milk business in danger.
Overall it results in reduction of milk volume, quality of milk, and reduces health of cows.
Lack of regular health check-ups
Modern or traditional dairy farm, even otherwise also, requires regular health check-ups. Check-up of cow health as well as the dairy farm itself.
This check-up needs to be carried out for possibility of fungal infections, bacterial infections, farm temperature, cleanliness etc.
Now, in traditional system there’s no concept of health check-up.
Only when a cow is visibly ill, she stops producing milk, becomes, infertile, gets infected, udder illness, the farmer then rushes to see the savior, the doctor, the veterinarian.
Result: Frequent illness, diseases, failed pregnancies, reduction in milk volume, loss of revenue.
Loss overall.
Doomsday.
Solution
Is there a solution to above limitations ?
Is it viable economically ?
Is it easy to implement ?
Dr. Madane says, “The answer to all above doubts is a big – YES”
Enter the Modern Way to do Milk Business. Enter PowerGotha – The ideal dairy farm as advocated by Dr. Madane, overcomes all of the shortcomings of traditional dairy farming.
PowerGotha – Modern Dairy Farming
Dr. Madane was in US for few months working at Cornell University, NY in the Quality Milk Production Services Department conducting research on udder diseases.
He learned all the aspects of modern dairy farming there.
Dairy farms in Europe and US are huge. They actually do farming. Thousands of cows being raised.
All the aspects of modernization can be seen there.
Loose Housing – Tick
Stress Free Farms – Tick
Quality Breeding – Tick
Quality green fodder 365 days a year – Tick
Regular Check-ups – A big tick. In fact a lot of research is always being carried out.
Low labor costs, automation – Tick tick tick
All these dairy farms were Power Farms. Power Gothas.
Dr Madane was more than impressed with what he saw there.
Earlier he had spent 3+ years practicing veterinary medicines in his native Piliv. He knew the problems of Maharashtra dairy farmer. And he was aggrieved and sad that the modern techniques have not reached till the tail end of this farmer population.
There was all this knowledge available in India, in Govt schemes and in books, and also with Veterinarians practicing. It was never effectively disseminated. It was never practiced.
Dr. Madane, came back to India with a resolution – to help Maharashtra dairy farmer perform the business the modern way. To help him be in profit. Earn regular cash income.
He was man on mission. He had found a solution to stop the suicides of farmers.
Lectures and Workshops
After returning to India, Dr. Madane started educating farmers on modern methods to do milk business.
He started from his house, his native village. After all if your own backyard, own village is doing it old way, who will listen to your blah blah.
People imitate success. Rarely do they go for experimenting.
Dr. Madane was initially advocating only two things – Loose housing and Silage making for fodder.
Dr. Madane withdrew a little from his veterinarian practice and started this awareness campaign.
His own dairy business had suffered and started making losses while he was in US. He won’t care.
People were reluctant. He had convince individually. He won’t relent.
There were high costs involved in setting up loose housing if it was done in US way. Dr. Madane devised solution, cost effective, economical methods to construct barricades, compound, shade and mangers. He was genius man on mission. He was now engineering the Power Gotha.
Perseverance paid off. Slowly and steadily there were open housing or loose housing farms taking shape in Piliv.
The farmers started seeing the actual benefits of loose housing and started adopting new methods.
Today there are 40 + loose housing farms in Piliv, almost all constructed following advice and design provided by Dr. Madane.
The milk collection gone up to 40,000 liters – one of the highest in drought hit areas.
The news spread, people started flocking Piliv from surrounding as well as remote areas. Trucks and jeep full of people would visit on weekends or otherwise to see the modern loose housing farms.
He started getting invitations to speak in educational seminars and workshops. He was an orator. He ruled those workshops. Audience was impressed.
Dr. Madane’s daily schedule got haywire. 16 hours a day won’t suffice the demands of all the activities including his own practice. Family life was affected. Health suffered. He was advised to completely avoid riding bike due to spinal disc problem.
Remote village areas could only be toured with a two wheeler. A solid jerk could cause complete paralysis, he was warned by the doctor.
Again, he won’t care. He was man on mission.
He started touring giving lectures on modern dairy farming, strongly advocating loose housing and silage making to make a profitable milk business. His style was impressive, ingenious. He would talk the language the farmer spoke. He would use local idioms and phrases. He would use laughter to draw attention to the chronic problems of traditional old ways of dairy farming.
Audience enthralled.
Dr. Madane got assistance from Virbac pharma company (one of the biggest in India, sells veterinary medicines). They appointed him as animal husbandry consultant, to train their staff and also to conduct awareness campaigns in the various parts of Maharashtra. Finally he was getting paid for a noble cause. His loss in private veterinary practice was somewhat made for. Still the dairy is making losses.
Dr. Madane toured extensively. Toured all parts of Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Marathwada, Pune, western Maharashtra, Konkan etc. Lectured in 100s of workshops. Tens of thousands of farmers were given preliminary knowledge of modern dairy farming.
A typical audience strength could be anywhere from 50 to 500. It didn’t matter to him if he was speaking in front of only 10 farmers. He spoke with same vigour.
However, the results were not so assuring. Only a handful farmers would go and start modern housing farms in their backyard. The number ranged between only 4-5% of those who would attend the workshop.
Many different villages saw birth of modern farms, but the numbers as compared to the efforts put in by Dr. Madane, were still low.
He needed a bigger stage.
He was genius. He envisaged a bigger formula.
The services of government health officials in the animal husbandry sector who were working at district, taluka and village level were under utilised.
Dr. Madane’s new idea was to educate these health officials, who in turn would go at village level and conduct frequent training of farmers in their work area. He started pursuing the Governement officials with the proposal.
1-2 years passed without any result.
In 2014, the ruling party changed. And also, in meanwhile, his friends had started recognizing his selfless efforts, his social service. He got references and got a chance to present his ideas to ministers and top officials of Animal Husbandry department of Govt of Maharashtra.
He was scared at first. Only 31 year old to show the ministers the formula to help dairy farmers or farmers in total.
He was given 10 minutes to convey the message. He spoke for over an hour. The audience listened.
Ministers were more than impressed.
Instructions were given to implement the suggestions and avail services of Dr. Madane.
The proposal got tied up in red tape for a short while. But the idea being so strong and noble, it was deemed to succeed.
On December 01, 2016, Dr. Madane was invited to provide guidance to District Health Officials of western Maharashtra. These were big officials. Commissioners, asst commissioners. Again, Dr. Madane was scared to speak in front of such a senior audience. Failure to convince these people, would send message to the ministers of ineffectiveness of his teachings.
He carried on nonetheless. The workshop was a success. Many of the attendees were already knowing Dr. Madane for his hard work. Many were happy to see him succeed. Now, he was to cover other areas of Maharashtra.
A milestone was achieved.
Many more remain.
He is the man on mission.
