Dairy Farming Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a collection of questions that are frequently asked by people who want to start a dairy
farm:
Should I buy cows or buffaloes for my farm?
It depends on various factors. Cows give more milk than buffaloes. But buffalo milk fat content is twice as
much as cow milk so buffalo milk gets better price. Milking a cow can be automated using milking
machines - for buffaloes it is difficult. Buffaloes are more disease resistent than cows. Cows are cheaper
than buffaloes. Detecting heat cycles in cows is easy. So there is no easy answer for the question. So
ultimately It comes down to what is important to you. Personally we prefer buffaloes. You can also have
both of them.

What are the types of buffaloes?

Murrah, Nili Ravi, Mehsana, Hariyana, Jaffarabadi, Surti and local breeds.

Which buffalo is suitable for dairy farming?

Though all buffaloes are suitable, Murrah buffalo is the most preferred choice of many dairy farmers.

How much milk does Murrah give per day?

It depends on each buffalo. It usually range from 8 liters per day to 16 liters per day. There are also
Murrah buffaloes which yield above 16 liters per day.

What is the price/cost of Murrah buffalo?

It also depends on buffalo to buffalo. It usually ranges from Rs 55,000 to Rs 80,000 depending on the
qualities of the buffalo. Very high yielding and high quality buffaloes could be as high as 3 Lakhs which
are procured for breeding and competition purposes.

What qualities determine price of a Murrah Buffalo?

Size and structure of the Murrah, milk yield per day, hereditary of the buffalo and lactation cycle.

What is lactation cycle?

Lactation cycle is simply referred as lactation. It is the calving cycle of the buffalo. For example, second
lactation means the buffalo has given birth for the second time.

Why is lactation cycle important?

Usually second lactation and third lactation animals are preferred. First lactation buffaloes might not be
consistent as the buffaloes tend to adapt to motherhood. And beyond third lactation, the buffalo is aged.

How to identify lactation of a buffalo?

It comes by experience. It's usually easy to identify first lactation and over third lactation but it is bit
difficult to differentiate between second and third lactation.

How many days in a year does Murrah buffalo give milk?

It usually ranges from 260 days to 300 days.
For how many days will the buffalo not give milk?
It is usually between 60 to 100 days. But if you have missed heat cycles then it could be very long.

What is heat cycle?

This is the period when the buffalo is ready to get pregnant again. This lasts 12 to 24 hours and during
this period, the buffalo has to be mated with a bull or artificially inseminated.

How to identify heat cycle?

You have to identify by experience. Usually buffaloes make mating noise and urinate frequently when
they are in heat.

When does the buffalo come to heat after calving (after giving birth)?
It could start 6 weeks after giving birth. Identifying heat cycle and impregnating the buffalo as soon as it
comes to heat is one of the factors that determines success of a dairy farmer. This avoids buffalo having
long dry (not giving milk between lactations) for long periods.
Note: A detailed article is available on identifying heat cycles and improving the reproductive efficiency.
To read further, click here

What is a dry period?

This is the period between when the buffalo stops giving milk and the next calving. If you have identified
heat cycle early and mated the buffalo then this will be short or else it will be very long.

Does the buffalo yield same amount of milk all through the lactation?
No. For example, a buffalo which yielded 10 liters per day at calving might increase to 12 liters per day at
3rd week and from there it slowly comedown to 10 liters and then stay the same way for long way and
then it will slowly come down and come to a stop. So the overall yield for the entire lactation is more
important.

How much profit can I make with one Murrah buffalo per month?
It depends on lot of factors and you can even make losses.

How to be successful in dairy farming?

 Get into dairy farming only if you have the passion for farming.
 Stay in the farm or atleast visit the farm every day.
 Always start small, understand the challenges and then expand.
 Try to start the farm with your own money. This avoids paying installments or interests.
 Make sure you have good land where you can cultivate green grass and feed green grass to
buffaloes.
 Select good quality animals.
 Try to buy dhana (feed concentrate) at the lowest possible price.
 Take good care of the calves, these will be long term asset. The female calves can start milking
after 3 years which reduces capital cost.
 Make sure to identify heat cycle early and inseminate the buffalo. This will avoid long dry periods.
  Make sure that the vetinary doctor visits the farm atleast once in a month.
 Sell milk directly to the large consumers like hotels or tea-shops at best possible price.

Improving Reproductive efficiency of a Murrah Buffalo

Reproduction is the process of conceiving and delivering a calf by a lactating(currently milking) buffalo.
This article covers only about buffaloes which are already lactating and does not cover heifers giving birth
for the first time (I will discuss about this in a separate article on managing heifers).
The reproductive efficiency of a lactating Murrah buffalo depends on many factors. These factors can be
broadly classified under genetic and external factors. The genetic factors are specific to the buffalo like
pattern of oestrus cycle and oestrus behaviour, length of breeding, ovulation rate, lactational anoestrus
period, post-partum anoestrus, inter-calving period and reproductive life span. External factors are
thermal stress,feed provided, etc. External factors can be easily controlled by the farmer. A combination
of these factors determine the breeding efficiency of a Murrah Buffalo.
The oestrus cycle refers to the phase when the female is sexually receptive ("in heat"). This is also called
as heat cycle. The oestrus cycle varies between 21 and 29 days depending on the animal. The total
duration of oestrus/heat is usually 24 hours but varies from 12 to 72 hours. The most reliable sign of
oestrus/heat is frequent urination. A lactating animal may have a slight decrease in milk yield when in
heat. Sometimes the buffalo may be more restless and be difficult to milk. A bull can easily identify a
buffalo in heat. The signs of oestrus are much less pronounced(detectable) in buffaloes than cows. Time
of ovulation is about 10 to 14 hrs after end of oestrus/heat. Last 8 hours of heat period is maximum
fertility. Gestation period (pregnancy duration) is 310 days or approximately 10 months. Period of
involution of uterus is 25 to 35 days. Even though all the scientific information is very useful to know as a
dairy farmer, the most important thing is to identify heat of the buffalo and mate it with a bull or perform
artificial insemination.
Buffaloes have a high proportion of silent heat and short duration heat. This is one of the most important
problems in buffalo reproductive efficiency. It is even more problematic during the hot and humid months
when it is compounded by thermal stress. Susceptibility to heat stress also affects feed intake and in turn
the nutritional balance, and this also inhibits reproductive efficiency. Short and silent oestrus is the main
reason why heat is often undetected in buffalo.
Usually a buffalo comes to heat after 3 to 4 months after giving birth. But many buffalo's suffer from post-
partum anoestrus, a complete absence of oestrus cycle and no signs of heat. This is one of the most
common causes of buffalo infertility. If the buffalo is not coming to heat, consult your vetinery doctor.
There are tablets which can make the buffalo come to heat.
Always note down when the buffalo gave birth and write down the approximate date when the buffalo will
come to heat. It is advisable to display a wall chart or a board at the farm with details of calving date,
expected heat date and the conceived date for every buffalo in the farm. This will allow the farmer and the
workers to closely monitor the resproductiveness of all the buffaloes in the farm. And also, verify the
pregnancy during vetinary doctor visit.
One of the most important factors in being a successful in dairy farming is to detect heat after calving and
making the buffalo pregnant within 3 to 5 months after calving. Every heat cycle that goes undetected is a
huge loss because you have to feed a non-pregnant animal for one more month. Many new dairy famers
do not understand this factor and this is a prominent reason for failing in dairy farming.
Reasons for failures of modern dairy farms in Andhra
Pradesh

Introduction
There has been huge interest in dairy farming as a business in Andhra Pradesh in the last 3 years.
Hundreds of dairy farms were opened with most modern design, equipment and best breed animals. But
not even 50% of those dairy farms are operational now. Frankly speaking, professional dairy farming has
gone through a crisis in Andhra Pradesh in the last 3 years. The intent of this article is not to demotivate
new dairy farmers but to genuinely analyse the reasons for failures of many dairy farms. Below are a list
of reasons for failures for new dairy farms:

1. Started by people who did not have any knowledge on dairy farming.
There were 4 groups of people who started modern dairy farms. First group were the local people who
suddenly became rich (by whatever means) and had surplus cash. The second group were the NRI's who
pumped in their hard earned money. The third group were the software professionals who were frusted
with their jobs and wanted to get back to their farming roots. The fourth group were the unemployed
educated youth from upper middle-class families. All the four groups of people never had any kind of
dairy farming experience. (some never touched a cow or a buffalo before!!!) All of them had good
intentions and wanted to apply modern design and technology. But nothing works, if you don't know how
to differentiate a male and a female buffalo. Check this link that explains the step-by-step process to start
a dairy farm.

2. People got into dairy farming for money.

As the name (dairy farming) suggests, dairy farming is a type of farming and farming is not business (in
pure sense). Dairy farming is not a business but a passion. Primarily, new dairy farmers failed to
understand that they were dealing with live animals and not some machines. Farming requires extensive
knowledge and tons of patience. Many of the failed dairy farms were started by highly educated people.
Most of these people built castles in the air. These people used excel sheets and project management
principles into dairy farming. This is not bad but that alone is not good enough. Many new dairy farmers
stupidly calculated that a buffalo will give 12 liters of milk for 365 days. Check this link on how much profit
you can earn from 1 buffalo.

3. Big bang formula.

Most of the hitech farms went for a bing bang formula. They constructed huge sheds and bought large
number of animals at one go. When you are new to dairy farming and have a large herd, it is very difficult
to manage problems. The procurement of animals should have been staggered to maintain consistent
monthly milk yield. Some even made the mistake of setting up high end processing plants when their farm
did not even produce a single drop of milk.

4. Not understanding reproductive cycle.

Many new farmers after procuring the animals were only focussing on milking. Most of them did not have
the knowledge that the animal should conceive by 4th or 5th month after calving. They did not know how
to detect heat and surprisingly even those farms that had large number of lactating buffaloes did not have
a bull in the farm. So they were totally dependent on local government vetinary doctors for artificial
insemination which led to missing heat cycles. By the time these new dairy farmers realised the mistake,
the animals were already in their 8th or 9th month of milking. If you have 50 animals and if most of them
are not pregnant and are in 8th month of milking - it means they have to feed 50 non-milking animals for
next 9 to 10 months which obviously resulted in huge losses.

5. Not taking care of calves

Many of these failed farms did not take proper care of the calves. Proper care of female calves is very
very important for being successful in the long term. I have seen farms with 100 lactating buffaloes but
only with 20 to 30 calves. Rest of the calves were already dead. This might not be a big issue in the short
term but huge loss in the long term. All successful dairy farmers will tell you the value of female calves
because these will start giving milk in 3 to 4 years.
6. Improper feed and fodder management
Many farmers provided good feed (dhana) and fodder(grass,hay) during initial phase. When milk yield
reduced after 5 or 6 months, these guys reduced the feed and fodder. Some people cut down the feed so
drastically that the animals were half the size. Feeding is according to body weight and yield of the
animal. During dry months you can cut down feed a bit but should not reduce it drastically. Due to
nutritional imbalanes, the animals had health and reproductive issues.

7. Failure of automation and labour problems

Most new farm owners wanted to fully automate the farms. It's difficult to adapt the hand-milked buffaloes
to milking machines which requires time and patience. When it did not work the way they planned they
just discarded the milking machines and other machinery. I have seen farm after farm with unused milking
machines. And when suddenly workers who milk quit, it's a nightmare situation.

8. Depending on others
Many owners depended on others to take care of the farm who themselves did not have much knowledge
on dairy farming. Dairy farming requires owners attention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a
year. Others will not be able to do that for you. If you can't spend time on your farm (atleast till the farm
operations stabilises), please do not get into dairy farming.

9. Easy exit paths

Since the farms were mostly started by people with surplus cash or had the capability to go back to their
original professions, when things did not go well, they just shut down the farms. The sad part was that
they created a bad name for dairy farming and even worse was that the best breed animals were sent for
slaughtering (cutting). If these people did not have easy exit paths, they would have hung around and
made it successful. One should have the will-power to stick around for the long-term when things are not
going your way.

Conclusion
The intent of this article is not to frighten people who want to get into dairy farming but to learn from
other's failures. Dairy farming is only for people who are passionate about it. It requires time and lots of
patience to be successful in dairy farming.