Dairy Farming

[77tahmina]

inshallah

[ka_khan]

Very nice discussion.Sorry not to add my input as i am in this business from the last 10 years and having Masters Degree in Animal sciences.
Farhan has discussed a lot and nice information has been shared but the 'Cherry topping' from my side will be start with a minimum of 20 animals.18 Buffaloes and 2 Cows.Not to go for Pure bred Holstein as they are more prone to diseases and can not bear the hot weather of Pakistan.Get a good Cross between Holstein and Sahiwal called F-1.
Dont try to sell milk to customers or plan to set an outlet because its another venture and takes much time and money.Simply get an agreement with any milk shop.
Green fodder is not necessary if you dont have land )
Just get them wheat straw.An animal can eat upto 7 kg of wheat straw while same animal will consume 40 kgs of green fodder.Good ration will be 7 kg of straw,2 kg of green fodder and upto 8 kg of Wanda or concentrates.
Will love to see this thread rolling and any information needed will be given.
@Farhan its nice to know you are having some 'additonal' time with the animals and i am sure your plants will always enjoy the Cow dung

[Farhan Ahmed]

Yup. Lots of cow manure. Good to know you are into Dairy farming also. And thanks for good info also

[Khalid Abro]

The posts are worth reading!!! Thanks to Farhan, Vegalinks and Ka Khan for the insight!!

Since i have also been big fan of buffaloes and cows though i have never kept cow myself but i recall good old times of spending time with our farm buffaloes mostly "Sindhi Kundy".
Recently i have been contemplating the option of keeping a cow in Karachi near my home so that i have ample supply of milk as I believe access to pure milk is a blessing.
With very limited budget i was thinking to acquire Red Sindhi cow and experiment with it and see if the venture works for me. Any suggestion will be appreciated.

[Farhan Ahmed]

I hope you don't have space issue as the animal will require atleast 20 X 20 area for comfortable lodging. Similarly other allied arrangement. Do you wish to keep labor or you will yourself tend to feeding, milking and cleaning stuff. This will be time taking job.

Regarding the purchase, Karachi market is always high. It is better that you procure buffalo from interior from some villager selling his buffalo. Take someone along who has expertise in the field. Such sellers are generally okay in price and quality of animal. Price could be Rs.75000-100000 if you buy from home seller. If beopari then way more than 1 Lac.

[ka_khan]

Majority have liking for Buffaloe milk as it has 6.5% Fat while Cow has only 3.5%.
Red Sindhi is one of the best breeds we have with around 20 Kg milk/day.Farhan's suggestion is good.Go for a Sindhi.They are Black and smaller in size but more tough to handle then the Neeli Ravi of Punjab.
On the other hand Cow is easy to keep.But first check if you like the pure cow's milk.

[newton]

Water buffalo facts researched for consideration

The annual milk yield of good buffalo cows, depending on strain, is between 1500 and 3000kg
Those that produce less milk generally have higher yields of butter (khyo)
Highest yields of butter seem to come from the milk of red or ratthi strains
Buffalo milk contains 7-8% fat
The production of buffalo milk in the Asian-Pacific region exceeds 45m tonnes annually
Over 30m tonnes are produced in India alone which is the highest in the world followed by Pakistan.
No difference in the nutritive value and digestibility of milks from cow and buffalo
Cholesterol content of buffalo milk is 0.65 mg/g as compared to 3.14 mg/g for cow milk
Buffalo milk has 11.42% higher protein than cows milk
Buffalo milk is superior to cows milk in calcium (+9%), iron (+37.7%) and phosphorus (+118%)
Buffalo metabolise all dietary carotene into vitamin A, which is passed into the milk
The presence of higher levels of immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase make buffalo milk suitable for special dietary and health foods

Also makes the best lassi, Khyo, adh rirkah and ice cream.
The water buffalo is a highly intelligent animal when compared to cows
The water buffalo can digest and thrive on poorer quality fodder efficiently converting it all into milk production,,, cows struggle to do that

[Farhan Ahmed]

@Khalid Abro.....Sorry i did not read that you have interest in cow. Above mention rates are estimates for Buffaloes

[Farhan Ahmed]

And very good point by Ka khan. Cow milk is generally liked/favored for kids, as its easily digestible due low fats. Aur baro ki aisa lagta hai kay doodh main pani hai
Or if you are diet conscious then cow is suitable

[Khalid Abro]

Thanks for the feedback guys actually my liking this time for Cow is because in Khi i cannot afford to have buffalo given the fact that it requires more labor work then the cow and same goes for other management issues and i have kept buffaloes before so this time thinking of keeping cow and enjoy its milk, I will hire a labor but it wont be a full time it will visit me for some basic labor work and rest can be handled by myself.

With a limited budget i m thinking of acquiring good bloodline of red sindhi and if it gives me 20 kg milk per day then it will be absolutely remarkable.