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Farm experiences growth and expansion with apt data, fodder and operations management
“Ours is a data informed dairy farm. We take decisions based on data patterns. We leverage technology to collect a lot of data. The technology helps in taking decisions, communicating with customers, orders, accounting, managing animal health and optimizing our product delivery mechanisms,” says Mr. Kotesh Mukkamala, Founder, Organics Dairy. The farm is located at Kammeta village, Rangareddy district, Telangana. It about 30km from Cyberabad (Hi-Tec City) and is on the Chevella-Shankarpalli Road aka Bangalore highway.
Mr. Kotesh Mukkamala resides in US and manages his farm at Telangana, India. He shares the credit of success with committed work force and data management. He highlights the details on the importance of using data for overall farm management. Excerpts:
Mr. Kotesh Mukkamala
We started the farm in 2006 with 10 animals (7 buffalos and 3 cows). With these cattle we established a model for milk production, sales and accounting. Once we were able to stabilize these models we expanded over the next 10 years to about 150 animals (70 cows and 80 buffalos), our current herd strength. We have best breeds with us namely Murrah and Jaffrabadi buffaloes. For cows we have the top of the line in milk Ongoles, Kankrejs, Holsteins, Girs, Ratis, Punganoors, Jerseys, Khillaris and Shahiwals.
Initial 5 years we invested about Rs. 1 crore on the farm. It was used for enhancing infrastructure sheds with 24*7 water supply, automating machinery (packing machines, chaff cutters), quality animals, on boarding qualified staff etc. Given that we took the time to prove, test the initial models and make the changes when we weren’t as large we could build nice strong, sophisticated models that suited our objectives of producing the best quality milk and optimal pricing and delivery mechanics.
Cattle Breed
We were extremely conscious of selecting the cattle for our farm. The Murrah breed buffaloes were procured from several villages close to Rohtak in Haryana, the Jaffrabadi breed buffaloes from areas around Bhavnagar Gujarat. The Holstein cows from the Kolar area. The Ongole cows that won several contests from the Andhra region. We took our time to collect the best animals from each of the breeds at the locations they are available in large numbers.
Farm Management
The primary mechanism for effectively running the farm is leveraging the data collected to make decisions. We have established data points and capture mechanisms at various levels. On top of this data we have arranged for triggers that notify anomalies that are distinct from the past patterns. This would help us take corrective actions right away and find the root cause. Simple examples would include milk production patterns during different months, customer activity in consumption during festive seasons, patterns of cattle coming in to heat during different seasons, onset of diseases and effectiveness of preventive measures etc. Besides being in US, we educate ourselves in the latest of animal husbandry and take several courses at the Texas A&M University that specializes in Agriculture and Mechanical Engineering.
Technology Intervention
At our farm we practice close monitoring of the animals and leveraging data to understand their patterns and producing at least one calf a year(average across the country is about 1 calf every 2.5 years). This has helped us maintain strong milk production throughout the year with minimal number of animals and reduced costs. Also we time the mating of animals to keep the production stable through the year. Disease prevention with a clean set up and proper checks and bounds also helped contain medical costs and keep the production at the optimal quality.
Fodder
The feed we give to our cattle is our strength. Unlike the grass grown in the cities that is produced in the drainage segregation area and is infested with synthetics and human waste we produce our grass using ground and rain water. We are pesticide, chemical fertilizer free and leverage organic manure for cultivation. The farm spreads in 9 acres, of which in 8 acres we cultivate green fodder (APBN grass recommended by NG Ranga University) to feed the animals year round. In the rest of the area we have the facilities for housing cattle, staff and other infrastructure. Apart from that we have leased about 150 acres wherein we cultivate horse gram for its rich protein content during period of January-February. Next, in between June - October we leverage the rains and cultivate jowar and maize in the same land. It supplements for the carbohydrates and the dry fodder through the year.
We ensure to feed a balanced diet to the cattle with the right quantities of protein and fodder. We have standardized it for the entire year. The standard diet through the year has helped us to maintain standard production rates. The schedule we follow is:
Horse gram 5-7 kg a day.
Dry fodder 20 kg a day
Green fodder 25 kg a day.
Marinated maize and jowar flour 3 kg a day.
Calves are feed at least a couple of liters of milk a day for proper growth and timely reproduction.
Bulls used for breeding are feed a special diet that has almonds, khajur, milk and coconut oil cakes.
Health Care
Our animals are housed in stress free locations with a lot of greenery and open space around allowing the flow of fresh air. We have well maintained drainage mechanisms that don’t create swamps and keep mosquitoes away. We smear turmeric, a natural antibiotic to the feet of the animals as protection from the diseases. Proper sterilization of equipment is done before using it on the animals. A set of doctors visit the farm at regular intervals for routine health check-up and vaccinate the animals as per the schedule. While we do use antibiotics on animals we don’t use the milk from these animals for human consumption.
Unlike most farms where calves are killed at birth and the lactating animals are given the oxytocin hormone (bad for growing kids) to deliver milk without calves, we save our calves and keep milking natural. The calves are the backbone of our herd and they have played a big role in growing the herd and thus milk production.
Milking
Milking is done manually given the challenges in maintaining hygiene if using machines. The animal herders are given the needed training for hygiene. However leveraging machines totally involves a lot of synthetics in maintaining the hygiene of the machinery and cleaning purposes. Milk is delivered within a couple of hours of milking and doesn’t undergo any processing whatsoever.
The milk is sold in nearby residential areas with strong buying power and is sold at Rs. 125/liter. Given the quality of the milk is exceptionally good we have had a strong and growing customer base over the last 10 years. The average distance between customers has reduced from 250m to 150m over the last 3 years.
Committed Workforce
The farm success is because of my team. We have 20 full time and 8 part time employees working at various levels. 2 middle level managers oversee the entire farm operations. Motivating and involving the team, the managers and showing them positive results over a period of time has helped with the morale and cut down on fraudulent activity. Strong middle management can be attributed to running the farm efficiently.
Future Plans
Our future plans are to get into the breeding domain and supply the best quality semen from the top bulls breed with proper data collection and proven records. The goal is to supply quality semen doses at optimal pricing to the farmers and help improve the average yield of animals across the country by at least 20% in the next 5 years. This would help make quality milk affordable and available to the poorest of the poor. The plan would encompass training the farmers on the best practices.
(As told to Mamatha S R)
Contact details:
Organics Dairy
Kammeta Village, Chevella Tehsil, Rangareddy district, Telangana, India.
Phone: +91 9030246009
Email: mukkamal@hotmail.com, info@organicsdairy.com
Website:www.organicsdairy.com
“Ours is a data informed dairy farm. We take decisions based on data patterns. We leverage technology to collect a lot of data. The technology helps in taking decisions, communicating with customers, orders, accounting, managing animal health and optimizing our product delivery mechanisms,” says Mr. Kotesh Mukkamala, Founder, Organics Dairy. The farm is located at Kammeta village, Rangareddy district, Telangana. It about 30km from Cyberabad (Hi-Tec City) and is on the Chevella-Shankarpalli Road aka Bangalore highway.
Mr. Kotesh Mukkamala resides in US and manages his farm at Telangana, India. He shares the credit of success with committed work force and data management. He highlights the details on the importance of using data for overall farm management. Excerpts:
Mr. Kotesh Mukkamala
We started the farm in 2006 with 10 animals (7 buffalos and 3 cows). With these cattle we established a model for milk production, sales and accounting. Once we were able to stabilize these models we expanded over the next 10 years to about 150 animals (70 cows and 80 buffalos), our current herd strength. We have best breeds with us namely Murrah and Jaffrabadi buffaloes. For cows we have the top of the line in milk Ongoles, Kankrejs, Holsteins, Girs, Ratis, Punganoors, Jerseys, Khillaris and Shahiwals.
Initial 5 years we invested about Rs. 1 crore on the farm. It was used for enhancing infrastructure sheds with 24*7 water supply, automating machinery (packing machines, chaff cutters), quality animals, on boarding qualified staff etc. Given that we took the time to prove, test the initial models and make the changes when we weren’t as large we could build nice strong, sophisticated models that suited our objectives of producing the best quality milk and optimal pricing and delivery mechanics.
Cattle Breed
We were extremely conscious of selecting the cattle for our farm. The Murrah breed buffaloes were procured from several villages close to Rohtak in Haryana, the Jaffrabadi breed buffaloes from areas around Bhavnagar Gujarat. The Holstein cows from the Kolar area. The Ongole cows that won several contests from the Andhra region. We took our time to collect the best animals from each of the breeds at the locations they are available in large numbers.
Farm Management
The primary mechanism for effectively running the farm is leveraging the data collected to make decisions. We have established data points and capture mechanisms at various levels. On top of this data we have arranged for triggers that notify anomalies that are distinct from the past patterns. This would help us take corrective actions right away and find the root cause. Simple examples would include milk production patterns during different months, customer activity in consumption during festive seasons, patterns of cattle coming in to heat during different seasons, onset of diseases and effectiveness of preventive measures etc. Besides being in US, we educate ourselves in the latest of animal husbandry and take several courses at the Texas A&M University that specializes in Agriculture and Mechanical Engineering.
Technology Intervention
At our farm we practice close monitoring of the animals and leveraging data to understand their patterns and producing at least one calf a year(average across the country is about 1 calf every 2.5 years). This has helped us maintain strong milk production throughout the year with minimal number of animals and reduced costs. Also we time the mating of animals to keep the production stable through the year. Disease prevention with a clean set up and proper checks and bounds also helped contain medical costs and keep the production at the optimal quality.
Fodder
The feed we give to our cattle is our strength. Unlike the grass grown in the cities that is produced in the drainage segregation area and is infested with synthetics and human waste we produce our grass using ground and rain water. We are pesticide, chemical fertilizer free and leverage organic manure for cultivation. The farm spreads in 9 acres, of which in 8 acres we cultivate green fodder (APBN grass recommended by NG Ranga University) to feed the animals year round. In the rest of the area we have the facilities for housing cattle, staff and other infrastructure. Apart from that we have leased about 150 acres wherein we cultivate horse gram for its rich protein content during period of January-February. Next, in between June - October we leverage the rains and cultivate jowar and maize in the same land. It supplements for the carbohydrates and the dry fodder through the year.
We ensure to feed a balanced diet to the cattle with the right quantities of protein and fodder. We have standardized it for the entire year. The standard diet through the year has helped us to maintain standard production rates. The schedule we follow is:
Horse gram 5-7 kg a day.
Dry fodder 20 kg a day
Green fodder 25 kg a day.
Marinated maize and jowar flour 3 kg a day.
Calves are feed at least a couple of liters of milk a day for proper growth and timely reproduction.
Bulls used for breeding are feed a special diet that has almonds, khajur, milk and coconut oil cakes.
Health Care
Our animals are housed in stress free locations with a lot of greenery and open space around allowing the flow of fresh air. We have well maintained drainage mechanisms that don’t create swamps and keep mosquitoes away. We smear turmeric, a natural antibiotic to the feet of the animals as protection from the diseases. Proper sterilization of equipment is done before using it on the animals. A set of doctors visit the farm at regular intervals for routine health check-up and vaccinate the animals as per the schedule. While we do use antibiotics on animals we don’t use the milk from these animals for human consumption.
Unlike most farms where calves are killed at birth and the lactating animals are given the oxytocin hormone (bad for growing kids) to deliver milk without calves, we save our calves and keep milking natural. The calves are the backbone of our herd and they have played a big role in growing the herd and thus milk production.
Milking
Milking is done manually given the challenges in maintaining hygiene if using machines. The animal herders are given the needed training for hygiene. However leveraging machines totally involves a lot of synthetics in maintaining the hygiene of the machinery and cleaning purposes. Milk is delivered within a couple of hours of milking and doesn’t undergo any processing whatsoever.
The milk is sold in nearby residential areas with strong buying power and is sold at Rs. 125/liter. Given the quality of the milk is exceptionally good we have had a strong and growing customer base over the last 10 years. The average distance between customers has reduced from 250m to 150m over the last 3 years.
Committed Workforce
The farm success is because of my team. We have 20 full time and 8 part time employees working at various levels. 2 middle level managers oversee the entire farm operations. Motivating and involving the team, the managers and showing them positive results over a period of time has helped with the morale and cut down on fraudulent activity. Strong middle management can be attributed to running the farm efficiently.
Future Plans
Our future plans are to get into the breeding domain and supply the best quality semen from the top bulls breed with proper data collection and proven records. The goal is to supply quality semen doses at optimal pricing to the farmers and help improve the average yield of animals across the country by at least 20% in the next 5 years. This would help make quality milk affordable and available to the poorest of the poor. The plan would encompass training the farmers on the best practices.
(As told to Mamatha S R)
Contact details:
Organics Dairy
Kammeta Village, Chevella Tehsil, Rangareddy district, Telangana, India.
Phone: +91 9030246009
Email: mukkamal@hotmail.com, info@organicsdairy.com
Website:www.organicsdairy.com
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