Dairy Cow Farming: Business Plan And Guide For Beginners

Dairy cow farming means ‘raising highly milk productive cows commercially for milk production purpose’. It’s absolutely a part of agriculture or animal husbandry, enterprise for long term milk production from cows.

Commercial dairy cow farming business is not a new idea. People are raising dairy cows for milk production from the ancient time. Dairy cow farming business is still a profitable business venture throughout the world.

There are numerous new and established dairy cow farms available around the world. Here we are describing more about the advantages of dairy cow farming business, and the necessary steps for starting this profitable business.

Advantages of Commercial Dairy Cow Farming Business

There are numerous advantages of starting commercial dairy cow farming business. Here we are shortly describing the main advantages of this business.

• Milk and milk products have a huge demand throughout the world. This is the main advantages of starting dairy cow farming business.
• Nowadays, dairy industry is one of the most appealing sectors all over the world.
• Demands of milk will never reduce, it will increase gradually in accordance with current population growth. Even both vegetarians and non-vegetarians drink milk.
• You don’t have to worry about marketing the products. Because it is among the traditional business and you will be able to sell your products easily.
• Dairy cow farming business doesn’t pollute the environment, it’s eco-friendly.
• You can start dairy production by using your family labor. It’s a good idea to properly utilize your family labor.
• Proper business plan and good care and management can ensure maximum profits. So it can be a great source of income and employment for the unemployed educated young.
• There are numerous highly productive dairy cows available throughout the world. You can choose any breed depending on your area and business purpose.
• Commercial dairy cow farming business requires high capital or investment. If you don’t have enough money for investing, then you can apply for bank loans. Many govt. or non-govt. banks will allow you loans for starting this business.
• Along with profits, you can ensure nutrition for your family members through setting up commercial dairy cow farming business.

How to Start Dairy Cow Farming Business?

Starting dairy cow farming business is not so easy. You have to go through some step by step process for making high profits from this business.

Here we are shortly describing the main steps for starting a profitable dairy cow farming business.

The staring process includes selecting proper breeds, housing, feeding, care & management and marketing. Also consider the followings while starting this business.

• First of all, try to determine the purpose of your farm. Why do you want to start dairy cow farming business? Do you have enough facilities for raising cows? Do you have enough time to care of your cows? Can you manage all the facilities required for the cows?
• It will be better, if you can visit some commercial dairy cow farms in your area. Try to understand the methods that your local farmers are using for raising dairy cows.
• Consult with the vet, and discuss about the possibilities of dairy cow farming in your area.
• It will be better if you can spend a few days in an established farm. You will be able to learn more about this business from the farmers.
• Ensure that ‘you can provide the cows nutritious food throughout the year’. Visit your local market to learn more about the feeding costs. If you want to produce foods by your own, then try to reserve some foods for cold or rainy seasons.
• In case of large scale commercial farms, employ experienced people. You can also train your workers based on the type of your farm.
• In case of marketing, try to sell your products in your local market. It will reduce marketing or transportation costs.

Dairy Cow Breeds

There are numerous dairy cow breeds available throughout the world. You can choose any depending on your area, local facilities and your production purpose.

Some famous and popular dairy cow breeds are Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Gir, Holstein Friesian, Jersey, Milking Shorthorn, Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, Tharparkar etc.

Consider your weather, local facilities and market demand of dairy products while selecting breeds for your dairy cow farming business.

Housing

For keeping your cows healthy, productive and diseases free, good housing is very important. Provide your cows required space inside the house depending on the breeds.

Usually 80 square feet open space and 40 square feet space inside the house is required per cow.

Although it may vary depending on the size of the breed. Make proper ventilation system, and ensure sufficient flow of fresh air and light inside the house. Concrete house is very suitable for the cows.

Feeding

Good foods ensure good health and maximum production. So always try to provide your cows adequate amount of high quality and nutritious foods to ensure proper growth and good health.

Forages, which refer especially to hay or straw, are the most common type of feed used for raising dairy cows.

For fulfilling energy demands, add cereal grains to the dairy cow’s feed. Greens help to maximize milk production. So add greens as much as possible to their regular foods.

Greens also help to reduce feeding costs. Alfalfa, timothy, clover etc. are considered as good greens for dairy cows.

If possible, make a grazing place or pasture for your cows. Along with adequate nutritious foods, ensure availability of adequate amount of clean and fresh water. Dairy cows require more water than any other animals.

Because they are mainly raised for their milk production, and their milk contain a large amount of water.

Usually a dairy cow require about 5 liters of water for producing 1 liter milk. So provide them sufficient amount of water according to their demand.

Care & Management

Taking good care and proper management is the main step to be successful in any animal husbandry business. So always try to take good care of your cows. Feed them nutritious food and provide sufficient amount of clean and fresh water.

Vaccinate them timely, so that you can keep them free from all types of diseases or illness. If possible, always stock some necessary drugs. Keep their house clean and wash the cow regularly.

Milking

Select a calm and quiet place for milking your cows. It will be better, if you can manage a separate room for the cow for milking.

You can both hand milk the cows and use machines for milking. Ensure you have good practices to make your cows as comfortable as possible during the time you are milking them.

Marketing

It will be better, if you set your marketing strategies before starting this business. Although dairy products have a huge demand throughout the world. There are many companies also available in many areas. You can try your local market.

Every business has some advantages and disadvantages. Commercial dairy cow farming business is not an exception. As dairy farming business is an old business idea, so it has many advantages compared to it’s disadvantages.

But no doubt it’s a profitable business. For running a successful dairy cow farming business, always take good care of your animals.