Agriculture students visited SEVAI-OFI Volunteers Cow farm for an exposure

Exposure visit of Agriculture students in SEVAI -OFI Cow farm

The Tamilnadu Agriculture University affiliated Anbil Dharmalingam Agriculture students Visited SEVAI-OFI Volunteers Cow farm managed by SEVAI in Sirugamani of Trichirappalli District. The final year students of this college visited the cow farm structure, feeding process, calf care and the associated activities of this cow farm.K.Devendran enlightened the students that Dairy farming has been part of agriculture for years. The cow farm supports the cow rearers in training and orientation of maintaining a healthy house hold cow farm around villages of Sirugamani and they need to be oriented in Dairy cows specifically to produce large quantities of milk and sustain the local climate. K.Devendran of SEVAI further enlightened the students, “Dairy cows are required to give birth to one calf per year to continue producing milk. They are usually artificially inseminated within three months of giving birth. Dairy Farming is among the most profitable venture provided you can take enough and timely care of milch animals and have facilities to cultivate adequate green fodder.” K.Devendran further described, “Issues related to feeding, caring, vaccination, health of animals and maintenance of shed, cultivation of good quality green fodder at economic cost” He elaborated pertaining to  cows which can sustain in such climatic conditions and having proper dairy character, Management- As the production of animal is increases according to high quality animals demand for good quality fodder,concentrate,water,housing and care is needed more Facilities:- Whatever facilities required for dairy like availability of farm land, availability of fodder throughout the year, availability of veterinarian, skill for first aid treatment, skill for feed formulation is important for dairy farmer. Dairy owner must provide minimum kind of facilities which are needed for his animals. Market- Before producing milk or other dairy product, it is better to search what are market opportunities in your area. Value addition- In business of dairy farming, it is better to not to rely on only one enterprise or product eg- Milk, If you do value addition in cow-dung by preparing vermicompost you will get more money .To be updated- For dairy owner it is necessary to aware about new practices & changes in dairy farming. Keep records- for feed, fodder,Milk production,Reproduction,health & management aspects. In which they can get ideas as well as point our problematic points or situation to avoid losses. On the above points, you may decide number of animals to be kept for dairy farming which can run successfully”. The students appreciated the valuable practical knowledge passed on to them regading cow farming which is an integral part of agriculture promotion. -Govin