Milking machine is not only cost-effective but also labour-friendly

Milking machines installed in Sirugamani cow project

“Milking machine is not only cost-effective but also labour-friendly” K.Devendran shared his experience in Milking machine recently introduced in SEVAI-OFI-Cow volunteers’ project of Sirugamani. K.Devendran and French Volunteer Hugues are closely working in maintaining the cow farm in Sirugamani.K.Devendran introduced the milking machine to SHG Federation leaders headed by Vanitha about small dairy farm.K.Devendran further said,” Milking machine has greatly reduced his overhead costs and gets good returns in investing in a milking machine.”The milking process is the collection of tasks specifically devoted to extracting milk from an animal. This process may be broken down into several sub-tasks: collecting animals before milking, routing animals into the parlour, inspection and cleaning of teats, attachment of milking equipment to teats, and often massaging the back of the udder to relieve any held back milk, extraction of milk, removal of milking equipment, routing of animals out of the parlour. In fact all activities must be scheduled around the milking process on the dairy farm. Machine milking is gradually being adopted because it reduces labour and performs a better quality milking job than hand milking. Milking machines have many advantages over hand milking. A cow should be milked within 7 minutes. Machine milking on the other hand is very fast such that all the milk will have been removed by the end of this time. Effective milking has a direct bearing on the long term milk yield of the cow. It has been proved that with time cows that are not completely milked gradually reduce milk production whereas those that are completely milked increases milk yield. The importance of complete milking therefore cannot be over-emphasized.  Although the cost of installing milking machines is high, investing in a good milking machine is a good decision if conditions allow, farmers with 5 to 10 cows can invest on simple milking machines to replace the inefficient and labor intensive method of manual milking. The farmer is freed from the milking process and associated rigid schedule, and labour is devoted to supervision of animals, feeding, etc. The milking process is consistent for every cow and every visit, and is not influenced by different persons milking the cows. Although milking machines copy suckling by the calf, in a way machine milking is different from hand milking or calf suckling. A constant vacuum is applied on the teat to create a pressure difference across the teat canal and keep the machine attached to the cow. The vacuum congests the teats and squeezes milk from the teat. Atmospheric air is allowed once per second to collapse and relieve congestion around the end of the teats creating a pulsation. This pulsation is important as it massages, relieves and prevents damage to the teats”.-Govin

Latest milking machines are designed automatic

Milking machines functions enlightened in Dinamalar show

“Latest milking machines are designed automatic and take-off device removes the machine from the cow when milking is completed” said a market person of Milking machine in Show of Livestock and Agricultural Equipment organized by Dinamalar in Karur. The  exhibits include production, procession and packaging of fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals and legumes, green housing, agricultural machinery, equipment, accessories, food processing and packaging machinery, cooling, storage and handling machinery, seed, fertilizer and plant protection pesticides, irrigation machinery and equipments, organic agriculture, solar energy, organic farming, cattle feed and several other areas of interest to integrated farming.Hugues, a French volunteer of OFI-SEVAI Cow project said that it was a premier event for products in livestock production and Agricultural Accessories and the visit was a unique opportunity for him to know the emerging technology transfer to farmers. One of the organizers of the Dinamalar show of Live stock and agriculture equipments helped Huges to show him around the show stalls. The market person of Milking machines said further, “Milking machine design and function is critical for rapid and efficient removal of milk without damage to the teat or gland and with minimal risk for transmitting pathogenic microorganisms that might cause mastitis. The only way for mastitis-causing organisms to enter the teat is through the streak canal. This is the same route by which milk leaves the gland, therefore, anytime that the streak canal is opened to remove milk the gland is susceptible to potential intramammary infection. Much of the recommended process of milking relates directly or indirectly to control and prevention of mastitis. The physical and functional interface between the teat and the machine are carefully designed to minimize the chances of intramammary infection occurring as a result of milking. The machine includes teat cups that contact the cow’s teats and remove the milk, a claw where milk pools as it is removed from the four teats, vacuum tubes that provide vacuum to the teat cups and a milk tube that removes milk away from the claw, a source of vacuum for the machine, and a pulsator that regulates the on-off cycle of the vacuum. Many milking machines today have an automatic take-off device that removes the machine from the cow when milking is completed. Most cows have four functional teats. . These are composed of an inner rubber liner and an outer shell, usually made of metal. The rubber liner is relatively thin in the section that sits inside of the shell, while the liner’s tube below the shell is thicker rubber. When the teat cup is applied to the teat, the end of the inside chamber is filled by the teat. During the milk phase the vacuum applied inside the liner is constant and keeps a constant negative pressure at the end of the teat, drawing milk from the gland. The vacuum applied to chamber B, between the shell and the thinner walled part of the liner, keeps the liner from collapsing under the vacuum. During the rest phase, the vacuum inside chamber B is monetarily off. The lower part of chamber A maintains its vacuum, while the upper part around the teat momentarily loses vacuum. This alternating vacuum-atmospheric pressure in chamber B is controlled by a pulsator, alternating vacuum-atmospheric pressure, referred to as pulsation, is important for maintaining teat end health”.Govin

Environmental sustainability must coexist for economic sustainability

Right: Dr.K.Govindaraju sharing his view with an Egyptian

“Environmental sustainability must coexist for economic sustainability for maintaining equilibrium between the environment and the economy” said Dr.K.Govindaraju in a seminar organized recently on Environment Management. Dr.K.Govindaraju. Chairman of South Zone Board of Continuing Education (OZONE) further said, “Environmental Management offers research and opinions on use and conservation of natural resources, protection of habitats and control of hazards, spanning the field of applied ecology without regard to traditional disciplinary boundaries. We need to  improve communication, making ideas and results from any field available from other backgrounds from biology, botany, climatology, ecology, ecological economics, environmental engineering, fisheries, environmental law, forest sciences, geology, information science, public affairs, zoology and more. As the principal user of nature, humanity is responsible for ensuring that its environmental impacts are benign rather than catastrophic. Environmental resource management is "a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities". It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. Environmental resources management aims to ensure that ecosystem services are protected and maintained for equitable use by future human generations, and also, maintain ecosystem integrity as an end in itself by taking into consideration ethical, economic, and scientific (ecological) variables. Environmental resource management tries to identify the factors that have a stake in the conflicts that may rise between meeting the needs and protecting the resources. Improved agricultural practices such as these terraces in northwest can serve to preserve soil and improve water quality. The environment also involves the relationships of the human environment, such as the social, cultural and economic environment with the biophysical environment. The essential aspects of environmental resource management are ethical, economical, social and technological which provide for formulation of principles and help in making decisions. The scientific and technical nature makes environmental resource management profession to operate in a humanistic and rational mode in the world. The economy functions within, and is dependent upon goods and services provided by natural ecosystems. Sustainability and environmental resource management involves managing economic, social, and ecological systems within and external to an organizational entity in order for it to sustain itself and the system it exists within. In context, sustainability implies that rather than competing for endless growth on a finite planet, development will improve quality of life without necessarily having to consume more resources. In order to sustainably manage the state of environmental resources affected by human activities organizational change is needed to instill sustainability values within an organization, in order to portray these values outwardly from all levels and to reinforce them in its surrounding stakeholder community”. -Govin

SEVAI-OFI Cow project Promotes green fodder

CO 4 cuttings getting ready for plantation in SEVAI

“SEVAI-OFI Cow project Promotes green fodder” said K.Devendran,the  cow farm coordinator in SEVAI.He further added, “SEVAI maintains a forage farm to provide fodder regularly to cater the needs of the livestock maintained SEVAI-OFI Cow farm and of the Women self help group members those have milching cows. SEVAI is maintaining about 5 acres of irrigated land and 10 acres of rain fed in which various fodders including Cumbu Napier hybrid Co-4, CoFS-29 (Sorghum), and tree fodders Subabul were planted. In this area the fodder sorghum crops like Co -27, Guinea grass, Kolukattai grass are being cultivated. Under Agro forestry system, in watershed area 20 acres of land area was ploughed, cleaned and various models of Agro forestry is created. Various tree seedlings viz. Fodder trees, Timber trees, Fruit trees, Oil yielding trees, multi-utility trees and multipurpose trees were collected from different places and planted. Pasture grass and legume has been established. Cultivating Co 4 at the rate of 15000 slips on acre of land would yield about 300 kg fodder daily, which is enough to meet the green-fodder requirement of 10 cows that gives up to 12-15 litres of milk a day. Using CO 4 as fodder for cows resulted in increase in milk output.SEVAI has planted CO4 sticks in two acres of land for Sirugamani cow farm. The proteins in fodder helps livestock produce more milk. There are many varieties of fodder available; the highest yielding variety is CO4 Kambu Naiper grass. Farmer’s are advised to cultivate Co 4 fodder grass to augment the milk production. Fodder is important to feed these cows. Fodder is any agriculture food stuff used specifically to feed the cattle. Most animal feed is from plants. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals including plants cut and carried to them. Fodder in the form of sprouted grains and legumes can be grown in a small-scale environment. Sprouted grains can greatly increase the nutritional value of the grain. Under hydroponic conditions, sprouted fodder at 150 mm tall with a 50 mm root mat is at its peak for animal feed. Feeding fodder to cows reduces the cost of producing milk by saving on concentrate feed, improving the conception rate, and reducing the inter calving period. Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants, either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates; Species are native to tropical and subtropical”.-Govin

SEVAI Watershed Contour Bunding in Dasilnaikanoor enables Moisture Conservation

SEVAI Watershed contour bunding

Counter Bunding was carried out in Dasilnaickanoor watershed project in Tamilnadu as implemented by SEVAI. Contour Bunding in SEVAI watershed project consists of building earthen embankments across the slope of the land, following the contour as closely as possible. A series of such bunds divide the area into strips and act as barriers to the flow of water, thus reducing the amount and velocity of the runoff. Contour bunds save soils from erosion. It maintains soil fertility and increases water infiltration into the soil considerably in this SEVAI watershed project. Bund spacing is expressed as the vertical or the horizontal distance between corresponding points on two adjacent bunds. Bund spacing is not so wide as to cause excessive soil erosion between adjacent bunds .Since the contour bunds are laid along the contours, they are level bunds. 300 to 400m is the maximum length of bund. The bund retains the runoff and carries it over the distance equal to bund length in one direction. The length of bund is designed well such that the velocity of water flowing between bunds should be non- erosive. The height of bund provides sufficient storage above the bund to handle the expected runoff. In normal practice sufficient practice is provided to take care of runoff from rains expected in 10 year recurrence interval. The height of bund permits frees board of about 20% as design depth [after allowing settlement of the ridge. The amount of land submerged due to pending and duration of pending affects crops. Therefore the level of waste weir and the amount of land is submerged has been decided by the cropping practice to be followed and the infiltration rate for the soil. Moisture Conservation is an important role of the contour bunds, for paddy lands it is designed to store all the rain water for the use of the plants. Therefore the bunds are of such dimensions as to permit no runoff. For other crops, the capacity of the bund is decided by the average consumptive use of the crop proposed and the maximum length of dry period in growing season. The heights of waste weirs are put up such that the bunds store just sufficient water to meet requirement of crop. The cost of Bunding includes two main atoms which vary according to the spacing of the bunds, Expenses of the earthwork, Value of land lost permanently due to construction of bunds; the sum of these two is minimum. While designing the bund cross- section, the seepage through bunds due to accumulation of water behind it is taken into account. The seepage rate is affected mainly by the head of water impounded, the side slopes of the bound and the permeability of the soil.-Govin