Supervision is the key to keeping a good cow and goat farm

Mrs.Elizabeth Walton inspects Cow project in Sirugamani

Mrs.Elizabeth Walton in goat rearing project

Mrs. Elizabeth Walton who officially declared open the OFI-Volunteers and SEVAI Cow farm in Sirugamani recently suggested that to the animal care takers and managers, “Supervision is the key to keeping a good cow and goat farm, farming is to develop knowledge and experience about cattle farming: constant contact with livestock expert, agricultural professor and keep the cow sheds hygienic to keep away with all kinds of health issues with the cattle”.SEVAI-OFI-Volunteers dairy or goat farming in Sirugamani provides training which includes lectures, on farm practicals, Field visits to successful dairy entrepreneurs, Project report preparation, economics and information of different schemes on dairy farming. Milk is handled at several levels across the value chain before it reaches the consumer. Addressing the challenges, SEVAI cow farm functioning in collaboration with OFI and its volunteers is functioning with moderate and above average productivity of ‘milch’ animals; good quality of raw milk and manageable costs of domestic production provides both improvements in technology as well as better management. This project aims at significant reduction of production costs, maximizing environmental benefits - an improvement in quality. The project focuses on establishing the profitability of the farms and bringing down the milk production cost through a mix of high herd size, better feeding practices and selective mechanization for cattle rearing, milking, feeding, animal hygiene, manure disposal and effluent treatment plants. Ideally to start off the project, SEVAI and its partners  finalised the project site, herd size and processed products mix depending upon the agro-climatic conditions, availability of social and physical infrastructure, labour, regulatory environment, availability of land for adequate fodder cultivation and procurement, availability of water, transport connectivity, market potential etc.-Govin