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The article offers information on the importance of progeny testing (PT) of bulls in tropical smallholder dairy sector that helps in the improvement of cattle farming in Kerala, India. It mentions that major source of subsidiary income for the rural sector including smallholding, comes from dairying. It mentions that a cattle improvement programme was started in 1951 with various village schemes and later the Intensive Cattle Development Project (ICDP) was launched.

The dairy sector has been poised for fierce competitiveness due to the commercialization of the dairy sector and the presence of a global market size of 893 billion dollars. It has received a new dimension with the challenge of environmental sustainability. Considering all these challenges, the present research paper studies the major growth factors and the sustainable approach to dairy development in an emerging economy like India. Fifteen major dairy-developed states of India have contributed 90% of the milk production of the country examined from 2001 to 2019. The significance of key growth factors for dairy farming and the dairy value chain is assessed. The opportunity for sustainable dairying is examined. The authors have found that the growth factors of dairy farming and dairy value chain are significant by 1% through the fixed effect (FE) model and random effect (RE) model respectively. Indian dairy farming practices and their approach create optimism about environmental sustainability. The present study has observed a series of operational activities that are conducive to the triple bottom approach. With that, this study has mentioned strategies that can steer growth momentum and support sustainable Indian dairy development in the coming times. [Display omitted] • Three key areas, namely, dairy farming, dairy value chain and environmentally friendly practices for sustainable dairy development. • Two main types of variables (internal and external growth factors) are involved in the development of the dairy farming. • Strategies are formulated to improve milk productivity. • In line with the triple bottom line approach, a series of operational activities are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the impact of microfinance in the North Eastern States of India, with a specific focus on Tripura State. Secondary information was collected from various published sources, supplemented by primary data gathered from 20 self-help groups (SHGs) selected using a multistage stratified random sampling technique. The analysis of the collected data revealed that Tripura Grameen Bank provided the highest amount of loans to the SHGs, which primarily engaged in crop enterprises, vegetable cultivation, dairy farming, goat rearing, pig farming, and fishery. On average, the amount of loan and subsidy received was Rs. 1.56 lakh and Rs. 0.82 lakh, respectively. The quantum of savings per SHG was calculated to be Rs. 1.03 lakh. Of the total credit amount, 87.35 per cent was allocated to agriculture and allied activities, leading to the establishment of various micro, medium, and small entrepreneurial initiatives, which in turn fosters the growth and development of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dairy farming needs a strong foundation of energy security in rural India for its sustainability. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems in dairy farming act as a catalyst to ensure Green Energy Measures (GEMs) and to achieve the various missions of the Indian Government. The deployment of solar PV systems to fulfil energy needs in Indian dairy farming has several issues and barriers. In this investigation, various foremost barriers creating hindrances in deployment of PV systems in Indian dairy farms have been identified. Contextual relationships between identified barriers have been established by Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and classified using Matrice d'impacts croisés multiplication appliquée á un classment (MICMAC). It is used to determine the ranks and types of hindrances and to develop a structural model. The strongest driving force barriers are high initial capital cost, storage devices barrier, policy and regulatory issues, less education and weak affordability in rural and long payback periods. The strongest dependent force barriers include societal acceptance, fewer concerns about ecological and environmental issues, and a lack of entrepreneurs and innovations in the rural sector. Finally, the future roadmap to address the obstacles in exploitation of PV systems in context of dairy sector has been described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jyotirmaya Tripathy, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, lndian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu - 600 036, India (email: jyotirmaya@iitm.ac.in) and Dharmabrata Mohapatra, Department of Economics, Christ College, Cuttack, Orissa -753 002 (email: dbmchrist@yahoo.com) argue that the gender-centric development models are directly borrowed from First World success stories and while implementing these models policymakers tend to ignore the historicity of these frameworks and the lived experience of underdeveloped countries. Quite predictably, these theories thrive on creating and sustaining Western binaries like home/outside, feminine/masculine instead of transcending them. Gender analysis also tends to undermine the workings of culture and equates the latter with underdevelopment, thus suggesting that development can occur only outside culture. The paper examines various myths, home/outside dualism in particular, promoted b y First. World and some Third World experts. It pleads for a kind of rural development that takes into consideration the importance of culture in the life of rural lndian women and their sociocultural and educational condition. While advocating appropriate rural development through dairy farming that recognises rural realities, the paper shows the difference between home and outside, and other binaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers in India have been using traditional health care practices in dairy farming since time immemorial. Present paper is an attempt to review the Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) practised and documented across five regions in India viz., North, South, East, West and North East regions to understand the prevalence of ITKs and its dynamics of usage across the country. Cross regional analysis of location specificity of different ITKs, similarities and variation in ingredients usage and researchable issues in ITKs would help in further promoting its widespread usage. Large inter-regional variation in the ITK usage warrants a scope to popularize the validated ITKs among the dairy farmers of other regions where these are not being practised. Concerted research efforts are required in treatment of the important diseases like mastitis which causes heavy economical losses to the farmers, whereas the ITKs may be refined in the form of user friendly package for ultimate solution to the diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate change is posing unprecedented challenges for the society in general and the farming community in particular, the world over. Large ruminants including buffaloes are generally considered as large contributors to greenhouse emissions and therefore playing a significant role in climate change. Buffaloes producing more than half of India's milk with significantly lesser population (only 36.66% of total bovine population) form the backbone of the Indian dairy farming. This livestock species is reportedly contributing 3.73 Tg of methane annually which is about 40% of the total livestock methane emissions. Uttar Pradesh is the highest methane emitting state adding roughly 15% to India's methane emissions. Further, the states of Haryana and Punjab have more than 60% of their livestock in form of buffaloes and so are the major contributors of methane in these states. Owing to it, higher feed efficiency and higher value of produce (milk and meat mainly), buffaloes are preferred by the farmers in India-a fact proved by significant growth with increase of ∼18% expected in buffalo population by 2023. The body structures of buffaloes make them quite susceptible to adverse effects of weather vagaries. As India is already short of feed and fodder resources for the livestock, the perceived climate change era poses many challenges for this species to improve productivity in a climate resilient and sustainable manner. This paper analysis the buffalo farming in important milk producing states of India vis-a-vis climate change considerations for the benefit of policy makers and researchers to take appropriate mitigation and adaptive measures for making buffalo farming climate resilient and environment friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The dairy sector is known to have significant local and global environmental impacts; but it also has proven renewable-energy generation potential. This paper analyzes a specific niche experiment in the Indian dairy industry, wherein cattle waste management is carried out by a multitude of stakeholders. These include the waste collectors, local technology adopters, research institutions, multilateral donor agencies, the Indian government, technology suppliers and operation and maintenance teams who have managed an uninterrupted 1MWe energy production over the past 4 years. This analysis uses the sociotechnical regime framework to study the interaction of social, technological, economic and policy-related aspects relevant to the niche experiment. The analysis shows a potential to contribute to the development of two complementing regimes—one related to cooperative waste management and the other related to grid-connected renewable-energy-based electricity generation. Key factors for a successful development are not only a long-term financing protection through government subsidies to cover higher capital cost and a preferential tariff related to energy throughput, but also the adaptation of technology, the embedding in the local cooperative structure and the removal of regulatory barriers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present study has been carried out in South-Western and Central agro climatic regions of Punjab state for studying the cost-returns and marketing pattern of dairy and fish farming based integrated model. It was observed from the study that the net returns from crop farming was 1,65,852 per farm per year, whereas the net returns on per acre basis were found to be 32,328 per acre per year. Further, the net returns from dairy farming were found to be 44,928 per farm per year and 78,822 per acre per year. From fish farming, net returns were observed to be 2, 47, 396 per farm per annum and 84,725 per acre per year. Total profitability of the crop-dairy-fish farming integrated model was observed to be 4,58,176 per farm per annum, and net returns per acre from this model were 53,030 per year. Hence, it may be inferred that dairy and fish farming are more profitable as compared to crops and when adopted in an integrated manner along with crops, can enhance the overall profitability of the farm by efficient utilisation of farm waste products and byproducts. At the same time, there is need of creating awareness among the farmers regarding the importance of dairy and fish farming based integrated models, so that they can adopt these types of models for enhancing their income levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, dairy sector is undergoing phenomenal changes in terms of technology, feed quality, health & quality of breed, quality assurance, equipment & machineries, diversification of milk products and marketing concept. This is forcing the dairy sector to relook at the current strategy. With consideration of existing challenges and opportunities at milk producers, milk processors, marketers and consumers level, this review article has outlined overarching viewpoints and subsequently, has explored how the dairy sector needs to adapt. Study has been extended from global to National level including the state of West Bengal. Indian Dairy sector needs to take care of a few basic problems like shortage of quality feed & fodder, quality bovine breed and below par milk producers' selling price. In addition, a few relevant opportunities should be availed through co-product generation as a part of holistic approach in handling dairy farming and dairy industry. In view of significant socio-economic dependency in Indian context, revenue model needs routine exploitation from biogas generation, culling of unproductive animals, adoption of economies of scale at milk federation level and effective institutionalization in states like West Bengal to establish this dairy sector as a sustainable source of livelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the returns from owning cows and buffaloes in rural India. With labor valued at market wages, households earn large, negative median annual returns from holding cows and buffaloes, at −293% and −65%, respectively. Making the stark assumption of labor valued at zero, median returns are then −7% for cows and +17% for buffaloes (with 51% and 45% of households earning negative returns for cows and buffaloes, respectively). Why do households continue to invest in livestock if economic returns are negative, or are these estimates wrong? We discuss reasons why we may be underestimating returns and also, if the estimates are accurate, reasons why labor and milk market failures and social norms may still lead to persistent livestock investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dairy farming has the potential for providing additional income to the farmers along with achieving major goal of organic farming i.e. diversified production and supporting biological cycle within farming system. India presently is the largest producer of milk in world supported by an astonishing growth rate in dairy sector. Apart from this due to increasing consumer awareness there has been an increased concern voiced over quality of milk and milk products including contamination, pollutant and the residual effect of various chemicals. Interest in organic dairy farming is increasing at rapid pace worldwide as an alternative solution. Recent years have seen a sharp rise in demand of organic milk and milk products. Under Indian condition, rapid spread of organic dairy farming is possible because of some key geographical, cultural and economic advantages like traditional nature of farming and indigenous technical knowledge and practices followed by Indian farmers etc. But prevalence of small and marginal dairy farmers also poses many challenges for faster proliferation of organic dairy farming along with some other shortcomings. Present article provide some insight on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of organic dairy farming in the country along with some potential ways to overcome these weaknesses and threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increase in the urban population leads to increase in demand for quality food and milk in India. Moreover, the future urbanizing India is greatly depending upon the farming in the fringes of towns and cities to meet its increasing food demand. This has many advantages to the peri-urban dairy and crop farmers. However number of constraints limits the production potential of dairy and crop farming in peri-urban areas. So, the present study was undertaken in peri-urban area of Bengaluru, Karnataka. The identified advantages and constraints pertaining to crop and dairy production system along with suitable strategies were described for further encouragement of peri-urban farming. Findings indicate that additional source of income, remunerative price for milk, high demand for fresh milk were found to be the major advantages of periurban dairy production system. In crop production system, easy market access to farm produce, less cost in transportation of farm produce and huge demand for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers were the major advantages in peri-urban crop production. Major constraints in practicing peri-urban dairy farming were; increase in frequency of disease incidence in dairy animals, non-availability of fodder in time and insufficient land availability for fodder production. Non-availability of irrigation water, non-availability of labour for farm work and increase in labour cost in peri-urban region were reported as serious constraints in peri-urban area of Bengaluru region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidences from modern literature on importance of livestock, their breeding and nutrition that supported ancient findings were collected. A hymn in the Vedas is: "May we escape poverty by means of cattle." Acceleration in demand for livestock products is expected to improve the income ofpeople involved in livestock sector in the future. The importance of cow has been cited in Atharvaveda: "Dhenuh sadanam rayinam", i.e., cow is the mine of properties. Majority of Indian zebu cattle and riverine buffalo breeds have A1/A2 milk variant, which is not harmful like A l beta-casein. Rats fed on cow ghee had higher immunity for mammary gland cancer due to the presence of conjugated linoleic acid, which is 300% more in traditionally prepared cow ghee. In ancient times bulls were considered very important for breeding purpose. Modern information also revealed that the selection and management of breeding bulls is important for genetic improvements of dairy animals in enhancing and increasing their milk production capacity. Recent studies revealed that ancient laws on common rights in pasture mentioned in Arthashastra are still valid. Use of local fodder and grasses, tree leaves, and salt mentioned in ancient literature was corroborated by modern findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Large ruminant dairy animals (i.e., cattle and buffalo) suffer from several reproductive problems (such as abortion) that reduce ther ability to produce milk and offspring, resulting in huge economic costs to farmers; however, there are few studies in India that estimate such costs. Therefore, an attempt was made to assess the economic cost of five major reproductive problems in two of the poorest Indian states—Assam and Bihar. We estimated the cost by interviewing 534 randomly selected dairy farming households in both the states. Based on this, we found that 32.9% of dairy animals (milking, not-milking and heifer) in Assam and 43.1% dairy animals in Bihar suffered from one or more reproductive problems. The most common reproductive problem was failing to conceive after breeding (23.2% of surveyed dairy animals) followed by retained placenta (6.1%), abortion (4.9%), purulent vaginal discharge (2.9%) and stillbirths (1.0%). It was estimated that the selected reproductive problems caused an annual economic cost of Indian Rupees (INR), 3963.1 million (USD 59.0 million) in Assam, and INR 30,500.0 million (USD 453.9 million) in Bihar. The study concludes that adequate awareness, capacity building, adoption of good reproductive health management practices, proper farm record keeping and improved access to quality veterinary services are essential to address reproductive problems and reduce the cost caused by these reproductive problems. Reproductive problems in dairy animals reduce fertility, prevent conception, create problems in the delivery of healthy calves, lead to postpartum complications, increase inter-calving periods, reduce milk yield, and lower overall lifetime productivity. This study aimed at understanding the incidence of reproductive problems and the cost caused by these. The study covered 954 dairy animals in Bihar and 1348 dairy animals in Assam that were selected using a multi-stage random sampling method. The costs were calculated as the sum of income losses and expenditures incurred. The major cost incurred resulted from extended calving intervals (46.1% of the total cost), followed by loss through salvage selling (38.1%), expenditure for treatment of repeat breeders (5.9%), loss of milk production (5.3%) and expenditure for extra inseminations (2.0%). About one fifth of the selected reproductive problems were left untreated. The estimated cost of reproductive problems was Indian Rupees (INR) 2424.9 (USD 36.1) per dairy animal per year (of the total dairy animal population) which represented approximately 4.1% of the mean value loss of dairy animals (INR 58,966/USD 877) per year. Reproductive problems were significantly (p < 0.001) higher among improved (exotic breed or cross-bred) dairy animals than indigenous (native breed or nondescript indigenous) dairy animals. The study suggests that with the increase of improved dairy animal population, the loss may further increase. The study concludes that any economic estimation of reproduction problems based on aetiology without confirmatory diagnoses could be highly misleading because of the complex nature of the problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study to assess the viability of commercial dairy farming was conducted in Haryana state during the year 2009-2010. The sample dairy farms were categorized on the basis of milch herds. Proportion of investment on milch animals was found highest in large commercial dairy farms whereas proportion of investment on sheds and machinery was maximum in small commercial dairy farms. The net cost of milk production per litre for milking crossbred cattle on small, medium and large farms was estimated to be ...10.68, ...10.21 and ...9.49 whereas for milch cow ...10.89, ...10.62 and ...9.99 respectively. The net cost of milk production per litre for milking buffalo on small, medium and large farms was estimated to be ...15.50, ...15.01 and ...14.96 whereas for milch buffalo ...16.19, ...15.62 and ...15.73 respectively. About 25.00% of total large farms fell in high technical feasibility category while minimum i.e. 7.14% of total medium farms were found under low technical feasibility. The large dairy farms were economically sound based on the investment pattern, estimates of cost and returns of milk production, overall farm income and technical feasibility in comparison to medium and small commercial dairy farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on two meetings regarding animal science including the Dairy Expo 2006 or fifth International Exposition on Dairy Technology to be held in Chandigarh, India from December 1-4, 2006 and the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Immunology to be held in Toronto, Ontario from May 14-16, 2007.

A study was conducted to know the knowledge level of women dairy entrepreneurs in the state of Andhra Pradesh by selecting three districts (Visakhapatnam, West Godawari and Rangareddy) purposively. Among three districts ,18 villages were selected randomly. From the selected villages 120 dairy micro-enterprises were selected, from each enterprise the owner of the enterprise was selected as the respondent for the study. The present study observed that majority of the women entrepreneurs (40%) had low knowledge of dairy production technology followed by (34.2%)and medium (25.8%)knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]