Indian Diary Farmer cutting the very branch he is sitting on

Jersey/HF cows are at their best where the average temperature of the state or province during the afternoon is below 25 degrees Centigrade. I said BELOW 25 for 90% of the time… not just for coldest month! In India the temperature in almost all states is much above that except for the month of February  This makes Jersey/HF unsustainable across almost all of India (except  the hill stations of India).

These poor small ear-ed animals have a huge difficulty dissipating heat. Ears are the cooling system of a cow’s body. Small ears hold more heat within the body. This is an advantage in snowing countries but… not in India which is a hot country where the temperature do not fall below 28 degrees C almost throughout the year.

These small ear-ed animals also have a difficulty getting pregnant because of its higher body temperature especially without a bull around. All the virgins cows are impregnated by AI… first of all one has to constantly keep an eye out to find when the cow is in heat and then pay Rs 1500+ (for good quality high-yield gene AI straw each time, those who use the Rs 150 straw get inferior-low-yield-cow)… and then AI has to be repeat multiple times before the virgin cow becomes pregnant. They become pregnant year after year for a lifetime (their lifetime = 5yrs) without even seeing a bull.

The higher body heat held up inside these small eared & non-sweating animal affects their health and leads to expenses on Vet and medicines. So in order to cool the animal down a lot of strain is taken by giving long baths, mist spraying and use of electric fan to cool down the animal. All this leads to higher water consumption/cost and electricity consumption/costs.

These animals eat a lot almost double that of the Indian cow breed. Many times due to grass and hay which are cut below 1inch in size which do not have chew-ability, TMR and other modern diet which inhibits proper and natural chewing habits of the cow. This leads to indigestion and bloating stomach by the build up of gas from undigested fodder and thus “farting” occurs.

The white-man considers cow as one of the reason for global warming when it is the other way around… In reality… the white man changed the cow’s ecosystem and its eating and living habits and made the cow unhealthy and today blames it for farting.

Is it not the same way where they abused coal for 100 yrs at a very high level thus becoming the top coal producer for years together for their huge manufacturing industries and today blames countries like India for using coal. India is much behind USA not only in coal production but also in usage and export.

Even today after all this “global warming talk” US is still the 2^nd highest coal producing nation (after China) and keeps lecturing the world. This could be true for the previous 100 yrs. They have ruined the whole ecosystem and now prefer to blame other countries.

Not only US consumes most of its coal but it is also the 4^th top exporter.

These earlier statistics are very much necessary to point how pathetic US was with regards to conserving energy as well as polluting the environment for the last 100 yrs. The demand for coal has reduced in USA in the last decade due to many manufacturing companies preferring to move to China due to lower operating costs. USA will need at least another 25 to 50 yrs to lower their dependence on coal to the level of India.

Lets come back to the main story… the story that the “Jersey/HF cow is the best cow” is the biggest con pulled on India by the white-man with chemical farming coming a close second.

Which employ would you want? A high maintenance guy who is productive for only 3 yrs after which you again have to recruit a complete newbie? or Would you want a low maintenance guy who will be productive for 15 long years. Its a no brainier… nobody will want the 3 year guy… but that is exactly the con that is happening in the Indian diary industry today.

The biggest problem of having Jersey/HF cow is that the cow has to be sold after the 3^rd lactation …which is actually the time when the cow starts giving more milk… The cow is usually sold after the 3rd lactation because due to the large quantity of milk the cow has been giving (uncontrolled) throughout the last few years has made the animal very weak. Thus most diary farmers in India have no choice but to sell their cow after a maximum of 5 yrs. This is a huge loss or the farmers as they loose the cow and also its future generations. A small part of this loss is paid back by way of insurance (for which you pay money) and sale of cow for slaughter. But the actual loss is much higher than just the cost price of the cow. In any other industry such a high rate of disposals of “working capital” would have been catastrophic.

“Loss of the future generation of cows” is the most understated loss in diary industry. Which means you do not have much access to the cows from your breed. Meaning you will never be able to CONTROL/IMPROVE the quality of your breed. Thus you neither have control of the bull nor the cow. You have to make do with whatever semen-straw is given to you. So the probability of you landing up with a inferior and unhealthy quality of the breed is more higher than low. Today it is the same condition of the farmer… he has no control nor can he improve the quality of his seeds. He has to BUY the seeds just like a diary farmer buys Heifers.

Reproduction cycle of a Cow

Theoretically by the end of the 5^th Lactation year there should be around 8 Cows left with the Diary. But due to the failed insemination and 50% calf death rate the diary will be left with only 4 Cows!!! Now if each cow gave 25 ltrs then the diary would get a total of 100 ltrs which is sold at Rs 20/ltr making an income of Rs 2,000.

But if it was to be a diary with Indian cows not only will there be less farting but there will be 16 Cows… and if each cow gave 10 ltrs there will be a total of 160ltrs and it can be sold for Rs 40/ltr (better rate for Indian cow milk) making an income of Rs 6,400.

The quantity of food for 8 Jersey cow or 16 Indian Zebu cow is approximately same. Even if there is more requirement the food for the extra cows can be easily grown as the quality of dung and urine is much higher and would make the land fertile and much more productive. Even every time new grass comes up you get a better quality grass because of the better quality of dung and urine (bacteria) from Indian Cow.

As the generation increases you will be able to improve the quality of the breed and sell it at a very high price or give it to others who are looking forward to use it in their farms and diary. Bulls can be kept too… for breeding with other cows at a very good price.