At present the farm has 110 cows. Sah plans to increase the number of cows to 200 very soon. “Once the farm comes into full-fledged operation, I will be able to sell 2,000 liters of milk everyday,” said Sah.
Sah has also been running Shree Ganesh Dairy in Katahari for last five years. “While running a dairy, I came to know that dairy firms are facing shortage of fresh milk,” Sah said. “This encouraged me to start a cow farm.” [break]
As there is no commercial cow farm in Morang district, dairy firms have no alternative to but to collect milk in small quantity from different places.
“Now onwards, dairy firms won´t have to face shortage of milk. Also, they won´t have to collect milk in small quantity from different places,” Shah said.
The farm currently has cows of different breeds like Holstein, Jersey, Brown Swiss and Haryana. The farm boasts of cows that give up to 32 liters of milk each in a day.
Sah, however, said he has not been able to produce more milk because of the unavailability of improved breed of cows in the country. “The government has prohibited farmers from importing cows and feed from India,” Sah said. He further requested the government to lift the ban so that farmers can increase milk production by importing cows of improved breeds.
Sah has taken four hectares of land on lease to grow different types of fodder for cows. He has planted improved varieties of fodders like berseem.
Despite problems like expensive feed and increasing mortality of livestock due to various diseases, farmers are encouraged to start cow farming because of livestock insurance schemed started by various companies.
“Though two of my cows died due to disease, I didn´t have to face loss. My insurer provided me the money to buy new cows,” said Sah.
Sah is currently employing 100 people in his cow farm and dairy firm. He plans to open a compost industry, fish farm and goat farm in the near future.
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