In the village housing around 60 families, at least 50 families rear cattle and supply milk to the local co-operative dairy. Our government and the whole society as such is on the "promote dairy" and develop the rural economy mode. True that the rural economy is better off with the boom in dairy but at what actual cost.
Let me give you a deeper and closer aspect on how dairy boom has actually changed the entire rural scenario.
Villages in Karnataka comprise of small land holding farmers. A farmer on an average holds around 1 acre of land. This one acre is his main source of annual income that needs to provide for his family's sustenance, children's education, health care, festival celebrations etc. Along with all this the land now needs to provide for his cattle too! Since, rearing one cow would mean earning an average of Rs.4000 monthly for 9 months of the year, the rural folks look at cattle rearing as an easy way of earning.
But cattle rearing means the family has to be present every day for milking in the morning and evening. Also, they need to ensure that the cattle is provided with water in the noon. This means that the entire family needs to plan around the cattle. And since this is an easy way to earn, families have started to rear around 5-6 cows irrespective of whether they have land to grow the fodder or not. They buy cattle feed from the shops and stall feed the cows. I have seen families in my village who do not go on vacations, the entire family never attends a function together and can never take off an entire day. One member always stays back to look after the cattle.
My husband and I have started to play badminton on the farm every morning and evening. We are trying to find two more to join us to play dual matches but everyone has this to say - 'Oh we need to milk the cows at that time or we need to go deliver the milk to the collection point'! So that is when I started to wonder about if this entire dairy boom is actually worth the money it earns!
There is a certain portion of land around the village that belongs to the village as a whole and no individual. This is usually the area around the village lake. And I have been observing this land for the past 1.5 years and there hasn't been a single day that there is no cattle grazing on that land. I keep wondering if that land is ever allowed to breath, rest and rejuvenate? What about the grass eco-system on that land, is it getting eradicated because of this constant grazing? Presently, that land is getting converted into a thorny scrub jungle. While conversing with my husband, he mentioned that the land was never like that when he was a kid, it was a huge grassland with hardly any trees. And that is when I started to reason out that the entire landscape is being changed due to the dairy boom and no one seems to notice it at all! Grasslands are being converted into thorny scrub jungles and we are still promoting excess cattle rearing.
Oh, my neighbours are so in the clutches of their cattle they rear!
Let me give you a deeper and closer aspect on how dairy boom has actually changed the entire rural scenario.
Villages in Karnataka comprise of small land holding farmers. A farmer on an average holds around 1 acre of land. This one acre is his main source of annual income that needs to provide for his family's sustenance, children's education, health care, festival celebrations etc. Along with all this the land now needs to provide for his cattle too! Since, rearing one cow would mean earning an average of Rs.4000 monthly for 9 months of the year, the rural folks look at cattle rearing as an easy way of earning.
But cattle rearing means the family has to be present every day for milking in the morning and evening. Also, they need to ensure that the cattle is provided with water in the noon. This means that the entire family needs to plan around the cattle. And since this is an easy way to earn, families have started to rear around 5-6 cows irrespective of whether they have land to grow the fodder or not. They buy cattle feed from the shops and stall feed the cows. I have seen families in my village who do not go on vacations, the entire family never attends a function together and can never take off an entire day. One member always stays back to look after the cattle.
My husband and I have started to play badminton on the farm every morning and evening. We are trying to find two more to join us to play dual matches but everyone has this to say - 'Oh we need to milk the cows at that time or we need to go deliver the milk to the collection point'! So that is when I started to wonder about if this entire dairy boom is actually worth the money it earns!
There is a certain portion of land around the village that belongs to the village as a whole and no individual. This is usually the area around the village lake. And I have been observing this land for the past 1.5 years and there hasn't been a single day that there is no cattle grazing on that land. I keep wondering if that land is ever allowed to breath, rest and rejuvenate? What about the grass eco-system on that land, is it getting eradicated because of this constant grazing? Presently, that land is getting converted into a thorny scrub jungle. While conversing with my husband, he mentioned that the land was never like that when he was a kid, it was a huge grassland with hardly any trees. And that is when I started to reason out that the entire landscape is being changed due to the dairy boom and no one seems to notice it at all! Grasslands are being converted into thorny scrub jungles and we are still promoting excess cattle rearing.
Oh, my neighbours are so in the clutches of their cattle they rear!
