NAMAKKAL: Warned by family and mocked by his relatives, a 30-year-old B-Tech graduate K Bharathi, who was working with an IT company, quit his job to take up dairy farming of country cows and buffalos. Having worked in an IT company for three years, Bharathi got bit by a farming bug in 2016. He, who was living in Delhi and Bangalore, has completed the Geographical Information System (GIS) course too. The dedication towards dairy farming and its results will inspire you.
Walking through his cattle shed, talking much about the farming techniques, Bharathi does not fit the typical image of a farmer, but do not get deceived by his looks; he has more than 40 cows and has been supplying 80 litres of milk a day in Mohanur in the district and Karur.
"Despite doing well in the IT field, I was attracted to farming and agriculture. Since no one in my family is a farmer, I had little to no knowledge about agrarian activities. When I told my parents about my plan to quit the job and start a dairy business, my father, who was a bank staff, did not accept the plan and advised me to wait till marriage to start a business," said K Bharathi, when asked about his entry into dairy farming.
Sharing his sweet and bitter experiences, he explained how he decided to approach social media to make contacts. Through social media sites, he made dairy farmers' acquaintance. He states that it is through them that he got to know about various farming techniques and seeing them work motivated him. After making a few contacts from Thiruvannamalai and Hosur, he brought four country-cow and buffaloes with the money he had saved from his previous job.
Bharathi added his bitter experience and said, "Being the first one to start a dairy farm, I was unaware about the cattle and once when two calves died, I regretted not taking care of them. However, after learning my mistakes, I cultivated the habit of learning all about cattle rearing, mainly vaccination and veterinary details."
Proudly he said that he was called for treating health hazards of the cattle in his locality.
"Despite having commonly A1 milk of hybrid cattle as a commercial source, in September 2016 I had selected country yielding cattle for producing A2 milk which is rich in BETA-Casein protein. With a great concern towards fast deteriorating country cows and buffaloes, I developed an interest in rearing and buying more country cows. As of now, I have more than 40 cows and buffaloes. In my farm there are six varieties of country cows from -- GIR (Gujarat), Sahiwal (Punjab), Ongole (Andhra Pradesh), Tharparkar, Rathi (Rajasthan) and Khiller (Maharastra)," he explained.
He pointed out that his marriage was postponed so that he can become an educated farmer. Despite this, he said that he would remain, bachelor, as he does not want to lose his identity and farming. He suggested that every educated youth should come forward and involve in agricultural activities to save our land and to leave some food resources for the next generation.