NANURA AGRICULTURE
Dona Nalaka Daundaratne | Anura Perera | M.K. Jemegwa
Raising Animals for Beginners
Cattle Farming
NANURA Agri by Dona Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg and Jemegwa M.K
With proper knowledge, planning, and healthy practices, raising cattle alone or preferably with variety of animals can be highly productive, profitable, and beneficial in numerous ways. For example, they provide milk, beef, butter, cheese, leather, fertilizers, helps to plow to prepare ground for cultivation (Ex. Areas of the world where traditional farming commonly practiced as in Asia and Africa), etc. And yes, all these bring in money and benefits to self, communities, and the world. So, what are the fundamentals things that we must know to start a cattle farm business or integrate them into your multi-species and/or growing agriculture?
NANURA Agri by Dona Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg and Jemegwa M.K
First, it is important to decide what is the nature of the business. Are you planning to build a dairy cow business, is it to breed and sell calves for other farms, or is it for beef only or other or combination of all and few? Then, the size of your organization. Is it a plan with one or two or few cattle raised in your backyard or land, or a medium-to-large sized establishment with a considerable amount of investment? Truly, one way or the other, depending on where you live any sized or of nature cattle business can be profitable. However, this determines the amount of financial and labour investment and what specific knowledge must be developed to make your project a success. For example, raising cattle for beef and milk or even both has special considerations unique to each other. To note, NANURA will go over all these types throughout the following illustrations.
NANURA Agri by Dona Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg and Jemegwa M.K
Remember, starting with one dairy cow can provide a significant profit primarily based on the economic standard of the country and/or the local community you live in. To example, if you are living in a developed counted country, despite rural or urban, raising a one or two dairy cows to earn a profit must be reconsidered due to the cost of managing and can affect the income significantly. To analyze, if you live in North America and your cow gives 20L per/day, you will get somewhere around 7$-10$ or with a slight variation in values. So, clearly financially it can be a loss even if you will raise 3 dairy cattle due to the exceeding maintenance and infrastructure cost of the business. However, if you are raising her or them to get a healthy milk supply to your family and/or to help improving your other aspects of the farming with fertilizers and grassland health, then undoubtedly raising one or two will be a good idea. Further, If your need is to produce your healthy meat supply, a one cattle can give you what the family need for more than a year for sure. So, think about it.
NANURA Agri by Dona Nalaka Daundaratne. BSc, MAg and Jemegwa M.K
In contrary, if you will raise one or two cow in most other parts of the world as in Asia, Africa and middle east, it will be sufficient to bring a significant amount of income and benefits for the family as well as the community. Let’s say, you get same amount of milk(20L/day) and you can get 8-10USD for your produce. Now, that is approximately 240-300USD just with raw milk sales. If the farmer will consider, depending on the market, making products as ghee and curd then the profit will be much greater. If you are unaware, 300USD is a considerable amount of money for a small family in a developing country. As per Jemegwa Malàbe, in his experience in rural agriculture development, 200-300USD is sufficient to manage a household of a family of 6 with all basic needs fulfilled(Asian, Africa, etc.). Also, when a sustainable farming business is formed around where some of the own food needs can be produced within. NANURA by Dona Nalaka Daundaratne and team encourages people of various communities around the world to think about starting their own sustainable farming venture.