: A free shed dairy farm, a concept that is still in its nascent stages in the State, is drawing visitors to Ayiroor in the district, where three brothers have set up such a farm with help from the State Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry departments.
According to an official release here on Thursday, there are over 25 cows, without nose rings or ropes to tether them or any sort of confinement, that roam freely in the farm, set up by Hammad, Amlad and Ashraf.
The trio, engaged in dairy farming since 2007, had sought technical assistance from Pattom-based veterinary doctor Muralidharan to set up the farm on a plot of about 70 cents, with 14m-wide pathways for the cows to roam around, apart from special platforms for each cow.
The farm, which has space for 65 cows, will soon have 24 more cows in addition to the present 25, the release said.
The uniqueness of the concept, according to the release, was that the cows were free and self-sufficient, literally, with each of them reaching a specially set up ‘milk parlour’ on time for milking and food. This was made possible through a three-month training session.
The milking parlour is automated, with cows standing in a line before the milking machine. Six cows can be milked simultaneously in 10 minutes, with soft music from an FM radio inside the dairy helping them relax, the release said.
The farm, which required Rs.40 lakh put together with help from the Diary Development department and loans from a private national bank, now gets 200 litres a day, of which about 100 litres are supplied to people of the locality while the rest goes to Milma via the local dairy farmers’ cooperative society. The revenue from the farm, the release said, was Rs.70,000, after all expenses in a month.
