How to turn old cows profitable?

  

How to solve India’s cattle menace?

An average cow has a milking span of only seven years, whereas it has a lifespan of about 18-25 years. This indicates that for a dairy farmer, a cow becomes a burden after the milking span. This burden is highly reflected on Indian roads in the form of stray cattle. In some parts of the country, the cow protection groups take care of these abandoned cattle. Even though they protect them on religious grounds, these cattle are economically a burden for them.

This is where cow-based farming shows us that an Indian-origin cow is a profit in every aspect. Let us know how this farming model works!

  

Crop farmer earns, not a dairy farmer!

 An Indian-origin cow is not only about A2 milk, but also the quality of dung and urine they produce. A freely grazed Indian cow’s dung is full of beneficial microbes, which can be augmented by using nutrient supplements like jaggery. With some more additions, this becomes excellent manure for crops. Similarly, cow dung and urine can be utilized for the formation of crop insect and pest repellents.

If crop farmers utilize cows for soil health enhancement and pest repellent production, they save fertilizers and pesticides.

 

 Sustainable and regenerative.

 The usage of fertilizers and pesticides has trapped the farmers into the cycle of increasing the doses in subsequent years. This usage harm the soil’s health, and thus, the soil turns lifeless. Here comes the importance of making farming sustainable by staying away from such chemicals degrading the soil, and utilizing natural soil supplements like cow dung and cow dung products like Jeevamruth.

Just allowing cows to graze through the fields after a crop harvest enrich the soil. The cows eat tender leaves. If it is allowed to feed through Vetiver fields, they eat the tender vetiver shoot and triples the yield as the crop will regenerate.

 

 Take care of the soil; then it will take care of the rest.

 When soil health is kept well by enhancing the microbial wealth in the soil with the applications of cow dung mixtures, it:

●     helps the growth of the plants,

●     reduces the input cost of farming, and also

●     saves water by reducing evaporation loss.

Evaporation losses are reduced due to the increased organic matter available in healthy soil, which can adsorb the soil moisture.

  A man cannot make better seeds than god.

 The usage of man-made hybrid seeds cannot be successful in the above-explained cow-based farming model since the hybrid seeds can only give good results with fertilizers and pesticides. Thus the cow-based farming should be practiced with indigenous seeds which can sustain with natural supplements and can tolerate pest attacks.

 

 And finally, the approach.

Rather than keeping the old cows in cowsheds in the label of cow protection or allowing them to be stray animals, let the crop farmers adopt these cows and practice cow-based farming.

If practiced dual will be the benefits:

1.    Turning these cows from a burden to profit.

2.    Serve the people with agricultural produce, free of harmful chemicals. 

 

Conclusion

 Preserving the diverse cattle breeds in India are of utmost importance since the specific qualities of many breeds are unexplored. This cannot be achieved if only the milk yield is focused but can make it possible by practicing cow-based farming. 

Author: R Anantha Krishnan

Pashushala.com