Goshala- (Shelter for Farm cattle):

It is important to provide good shelter to the farm animals. Ideally the Goshala must provide:

1. Safety from other animals, extreme weather-conditions, theft.
2. Bio-security to avoid entry of diseases and pollutants through. Air/soil/water/sound.
3. Comfort and health friendly environment.

Selection of site is equally important and includes:-

1. Area mustn’t be objected by Pollution(SPCB) and local authorities.
2. Verify land owner rights, possession & Tax receipt and encumbrances.
3. Verify the “Kissam”. Will house construction &/Fodder cultivation be allowed?
4. Is it enjoying plentiful air, sunshine, and tree shade & free from animal menace?
5. Is the connecting road obstruction free? Is it wide enough?
6. Examine existing (or possibilities of) water source & its quality.
7. Inspect type of land, its contour, vicinity, fertility, existing or possibility of fencing.
8. Where is the electric supply source? Has it enough surplus? Estimate cost.
9. Study the milk Market, chilling center & Bank linkages.
10. Consider skilled & unskilled man power availability & cost. Their stay near farm is essential.

Goshala mustn’t be too costly & yet be on scientific lines so consider:-

• ? of milch cows, dry cows, pregnant heifers, growing animals, calves would stay indoors.
• How many hours they are to normally stay inside & outside. Will they roam within an open area (paddock) almost 24x7or for a limited time of the day or be let out for grazing.
• Shelter must be made & maintained so that Temperature & Humidity level inside remain within limits.
• Providing adequate space, Ventilation, Light, Dryness of floor is a must.
• The Goshala must be free from Ecto-parasites and bad odor, dirt.
• Provisions for feeding and drinking water, Quick & complete drainage of urine & wash water.
• Milking at a specified place.
• Store for Grains, feed supplements & medicines, green fodder and Hay (Dried fodder keeping greenness).

 Let us consider & what options are open to us:-

Here the climate is hot & humid. Air Temperature rises up to 45°C in summer and Humidity stays at up to 99% in rainy season for days together. Except a few places winter is not felt extremely.

• Stall barn is a house with walls where animals are kept tied in single or double rows. Remain 22 hours inside & 2 hours for exercise/ sunshine outside. House is safe from rain but inside it is difficult to maintain temperature & humidity level and also from dust, filth, and bad odour.
• Loose house is where the animals stay loose (not tied up) in a secured enclosure enjoying sunshine, free air, shade and mist & dew at night. A rest shed is adjacent to give shelter from adverse weather and is also used for feeding & milking. This kind of rearing has several advantages over the stall barn but is difficult in the rainy season.
• Loose house system with some modifications will be best suited for Odisha.

Model Loose House Goshala for 50 cows and 50 followers (calves & heifers)will have an open area of at least 6000 square feet ,  surrounded by a fence or a compound wall having 1 gate. A rest shed (Guhal)/ of 1500 square feet having separated portions within for calves on milk & pregnant at advanced stage.  This shed will have 2 to 3 feet height side walls. Wire mesh above walls is optional. The roof must be of thatched or of asbestos (cement fiber) sheets. Height at roof top will be 12 feet & 8 feet on 4 sides. If asbestos; Roof top will be covered leaving a gap of2 to 3 inches. It is even better to have gap at lapping of sheets. This system will protect from rain but keep the shed cooler during summer. During start of summer the outside of asbestos be painted with lime & dolomite mixture (White color sun protecting chemical for roofs available commercially). Provision of fodder/hay and water will be inside the compound near to walls. There will be one sand place & one cement concrete place (washable with drainage) within the compound wall where the animals will stay whenever they like. Tree shade alternatively shade by thatching will be provided in the campus.   Rest shed will be used for milking, feeding, A.I. &health treatments. Adequate drainage system is a must.

All other structures like feed fodder store office, milk disposal counter; Bulk Milk Cooler  can  be outside the compound wall. CLICK HERE to see model rest shed design.

 How will you know that the Goshala is not proper?

Visit a Goshala in a cattle dairy farm during afternoon of a sunny day:-

If animals are Panting (Takes more respiration per minute – a stress due to rise of body temperature.);   go inside & feel the temperature of the room. If Hot & Humid = Improper.

A number of animals are lame and find pain during standing or walking = May be Foot rot.   Wet floor & lack of exercise is the reason. Check for Bathing & washing the floor while animals are present in the house. Bad drainage or faulty management can be a cause.

Room (byre) smells abnormal. It may be due to bad drains.  Inadequate ventilation mainly due to faulty design– is another reason. Check for flies- their presence is an indicator of poor sun light.

Animals ruminate while standing. Perhaps there is insufficient spacing between them.

Inquire about the incidence of diseases like MASTITIS, Theileriosis, Surra, Laminitis, Respiratory diseases and BREEDING PROBLEMS.  Improper housing system & design contribute to these problems.

OUR AIM

1) Public gets good milk

2) Rural youngsters get sustained sufficient income to lead a respectable life.

3) Farm animals lead a comfortable life with optimum productivity

Greens & Grains –diet for farm cattle:

• Staple food of grown up cattle is green grass and leaves. Cultivated fodder is better. Even better is when a mix of cereal fodder (have more carbohydrate) & legumes (have more protein) is given.
• When only, the body requires more nutrition than what greens give (due to say high milk production); the farmer can add grains to diet. Of course, better if the type of grain (cereal rich & protein rich) is mixed and is able to provide the protein & starch shortage adequately.
• To improve or maintain the milk yield and milk quality (FAT & SNF), the farmer can still add Feed supplements like By-pass Protein, Bypass fat, molasses, certain pre-biotic & pro-biotic and vitamins & minerals to diet. These can reduce the grain feed amount & cost too. Giving chelated minerals (reduced to small sized molecules) especially of Calcium, Copper, Cobalt and Zinc will be wiser.
• To make up the total fiber content, which grains generally lack, dried forage like straw & ‘Boti’ is given. Instead of paddy straw- which has negligible nutrition & rather has harmful acids – it will be economic to give straw like that of wheat or Jowar.
• Use of dried fodder like Oats hay, groundnut hay not only substantially cut straw requirements but also compensate green requirements during lean (shortage) period.
• To supply green forage round the year not always possible. Except rains irrigation is a problem. Finding suitable land in abundance, to develop pasture for open grazing, is another constraint.  Alternatives have to be found out. Either we can preserve the greens at a point of time or schedule the cultivation process so as to have a consistent supply. Better is to have both. Planning is necessary for each & every farm.

Nourishing calves on milk & the weaned: is a challenge everywhere in the country. Farmers in our state have yet to start the process. Special Calf diets are not available. The concept is not well understood by our farmers. They  ought to get sensitized.

• Newborn calves must get colostrums-the first 3 days of milk of dam. Among other benefits, it provides balance nutrition & immunity to calf. Nipple feeding of collected colostrums and subsequently of collected milk is a way to dissociate tie between mother & calf (WEAN) from birth. Calf rearing in this method is helpful in case of a calf death or illness but may be costly if the milk is not skimmed (fat taken out).
• Allowing the newborn to suckle colostrums has additional merits. Bleeding stops quickly and the dam’s reproductive organ (uterus) gets squeezed (Involution) due to frequent secretion of hormone. Improper involution can suppress milk yield.
• After all, if a farmer wishes to wean the calf from day 0 there is a better way to Nipple feed the calf (after colostrums)with milk REPLACER (usually prepared with skim milk powder) instead of skimmed milk, which saves the precious milk & of course money.
• Milk or Replacer is fed for a few days only. Replacer can be gradually replaced by a low cost calf feed (STARTER) can be formulated by the farmer using cereals & skimmed milk powder among other things or a commercial formulation ( Search net ) can be fed. This feed is slowly withdrawn as the calf takes grass and diet of growing cattle is introduced & increased every week. CLICK HERE to know more.

OUR AIM

1) Public gets good milk

2) Rural youngsters get sustained sufficient income to lead a respectable life.

3) Farm animals lead a comfortable life with optimum productivity

GO-PALAN – Arts & Science of cattle CARE:

Rearing Technique of the animals depends on the Breed (see page 1), Housing (see page 2) & Food (see page 3) and likewise considerations. Farmer has to choose what system (intensive, semi intensive) to pursue. Anyway skill is required & it is a combination of performing arts (like milking) and science based knowledge (like ration balancing). Only experience from tradition will not be sufficient. Care takers must be trained both in rearing & clean milk production & it’s after care. Better if he/she knows health care and milk processing. Let us discuss some:-

Daily care:

• Cleaning of the shelter & premises, the animals and the utensils & implements. Adopt mechanized cleaning techniques to make it easy and save money. Do not wash the animals unnecessarily. Try to keep the floor dry as far as possible.
• Feed all types of animals adequately with a balanced diet with proper frequency. Feed ingredients are decided as per their nutritional contents, body requirement, and availability. Again the nutritional requirement varies from animal to animal depending up on their age, digestive ability & feed efficiency (ability to convert feed into say milk) and stage of a life cycle (say pregnancy, Lactation). The farmer whatever level be trained & experienced; will often have to carry out trial & error system in stipulating a ration for an animal – this is an art.
• Milking

Occasional care:

• Health care will include both disease preventive measures and prompt treatment of the ill. Prevention is done by vaccinating the animals, maintaining byre hygiene, following special operating steps (say post-milking dipping) and routine de-worming. Most of the work can be done by care-takers & Para-vets.
• Hoof trimming ideally done at 5 months of pregnancy or if those get unusually long.
• Dehorning of 10 days old calves is done by some farmers for worker’s safety & to lessen chances of fight injury.
• Castration of male calves is a well-known process to produce bullocks.
• Weaning is already discussed. However, it can be started at 8 weeks and completed at 10 weeks.
• Drying off is stopping milk secretion 8-9 weeks before delivery. Skillful measures as to withholding of ration, treatment of udder diseases modification in milking process & frequency are required.

Emergency care:

• Except of recognition of a sick animal by care-taker and providing it some first Aid by a Para-vet animal treatment must be done by an experienced veterinary doctor. Follow ups can be made by qualified Para-vets like Animal Health Workers but strictly under the supervision of the vet.
• Delivery is stage when attention by care-takers Para vet has to be ensured.

OUR AIM

1) Public gets good milk

2) Rural youngsters get sustained sufficient income to lead a respectable life.

3) Farm animals lead a comfortable life with optimum productivity

DO’s & DONT’s in dairy farming

DO’s

• Make a plan. Consult experts and relevant stake holders.
• Fence first then grass
• Provision for exercise for cattle for at least 2 to 6 hours a day
• Bring cattle after you have sufficient fodder and are able to continue.
• Train multiple staff on cow-milking skills. Better to recruit skilled.
• Train one person on dairy animal care & management.
• Train one in Primary animal treatment, vaccination & giving medicines.
• Irrigation of water mixed Biogas slurry is the key to organic grass production.
• Depend on Hay & Silage round the year. Give minimum mixed feed.
• Provide for grazing.
• Arrange semen doses as per plan – from beginning.
• Test soil and water quality
• Ensure water quantity available for irrigation & farm cattle, care takers.
• Insure cattle for as longer available.
• Select a cow counting 3 consecutive milking.
• ……many more

DONT’s

• Don’t make a house first, think of its relevance and multiple uses, and then plan
• Don’t rely on local Veterinary staff, as there is risk of their transfers.
• Don’t plan to sell liquid milk.
• Don’t go for Jersey/Holstein.
• Don’t use pre-typed copy of schemes to get a bank loan. Prepare it for yourself.
• Don’t purchase cows in milk from very long distance. Rather bring heifers.
• Don’t employ persons working in other farms/or for outside cows.
• Don’t change diet abruptly
• Don’t bath unnecessarily.
• Don’t feed paddy straw.
• ……..There are many more