Improved animal feed equals increased dairy incomes in Bihar

Anuj Kumar Jha, a very young farmer of Kalyanpur village, Sarairanjan block, Samastipur district of Bihar. He only has 0.5 acre of agricultural land and was unsure about what to do with scarce land and unemployment. All that changed in 2011, when he met ILRI-CSISA people in livestock training and shared his concerns with them.

Following that conversation, he was convinced that with his piece of land and a small investment dairying was the way forward for his livelihood. He bought a crossbred cow for Rs. 25000, which was yielding about 12 litres of milk/day. He started feeding the ILRI-CSISA promoted self-prepared balanced concentrate feed to his cow. After feeding this concentrate, milk yield has surprisingly increased to 18 litres/day. Then he thought that if he bought some more dairy cows, he could earn more since he could put his full time in this business. Now, with 4 cows, the milk yield was 45 litres/day. After feeding the new balanced concentrate feed, the milk yield has increased to 60-65 litres/day.

There is a strong demand for milk in the region where Jha lives, not only for drinking but also for mixing in tea/coffee, making ice cream, sweets, curd and butter. It provides vital nutrition to the people besides serving as an important source of income.

Using the scientific formula taught during the program, Jha is preparing his balanced concentrate feed from locally available ingredients for his dairy cattle. The results, he says, are remarkable. Encouraged by this discovery, he increased his herd to more than 20 crossbred dairy cattle.

Jha prepares his concentrate using his own grinding machine for his own herd only. In future his plan is to increase his land size, so he could grow more green fodder, improve the animal shed, increase herd size and provide a good education to his brother.