Why ‘desi’ should be the catchword for India’s dairy sector
Arvind Kumar’s hopes were high when he bought two Jersey cows in 2019 by taking a loan of Rs 1 lakh from his relative. “Despite constant care, the cows would often fall sick. Milk production would reduce in summers because of heat stress. Impregnating the cows, which is essential for lactation, was also diffi-cult,” says […]
Natural livestock farming to reduce antibiotic use in dairy sector
In the world-wide quest for dairy modernisation, the focus on crossbreeding and productivity increase of dairy cattle has — besides enhanced milk production — also resulted in high use of agro-chemicals. The use of antibiotics for common cattle diseases, such as udder infection and diarrhoea, is widespread. This contributes to the global threat of anti-microbial resistance […]
17 million Artificial Insemination missing-shortage of milk in India
India has missed as many as 16.84 million artificial inseminations of cattle and buffaloes during the two years of COVID-19 pandemic. This is likely to have a long-lasting impact on the country’s milk production It just does not add up. India, the world’s largest milk producer for over half a century, is struggling with runaway milk […]
Lumpy Skin Disease:A livelihood crisis for India’s small dairy farmers
It was on a July day that Lakshmi Devi noticed swelling on her cow Laalri’s legs. The next day, the animal’s body was covered with lumps. Devi called the local veterinarian to find out that a viral illness by the name of lumpy skin disease (LSD) has been spreading in her district of Bikaner in […]