The 8th Meeting of Dairy Club (Joint Venture of Alltech and UVAS) was held on Tuesday 13th Dec 2011 at Syndicate Room UVAS. Following was the agenda of meeting:

1. Challenges faced by medium size dairy farmers in Punjab- Presentation by: Brig (R) Tariq Rasul, Unza Rasul Dairy Farm
2. Controlled shed for dairy animals; Advantages and Disadvantages- Experience sharing by Mr. Umar Sheikh, Farmers Dairy
3. Discussion forum

Dr. Shahzad Naveed Jadoon opened the forum and explained the agenda of meeting.

Brig (R) Tariq Rasul delivered a lecture on “Challenges faced by medium size dairy farmers in Punjab”. During his lecture he discussed on:

Issues:

• Casual decision making
• Tall claims by old farmers
• Data by marketing org
• Availability of proper feasibility /professional advice
• Cash flow
• Trained man power
• Housing
• Marketing

Note: PowerPoint presentation of the lecture is available on Dairy Club website (http://uvas.edu.pk/society-club/dairy_club/useful-links.htm).

He told that we should never purchase animal less than 20 liter milk production potential/ day for dairy purpose. Brig. Tariq threw light on importance of proper feeding 6 week before parturition. He quoted an example of his farm; one animal never produced more than 20 liters milk during peak production, once he focused her nutrition 6 week prior parturition, the animal produced 30 liter plus milk/day.

Dr. Japie commented that now dairy farm feasibilities can be easily accessed from Nestle.

Hafiz Wasi Mohammad Khan commented on availability of feasibility for dairy farm, he suggested that if farmer is going to structure a business on which he has to invest huge amount, he should pay attention to get proper feasibility and spent some amount (0.5-1 percent of total investment) to hire expertise in this regard.

Mr. Ijaz Rahim asked about the profitability of the farm, Brig. Tariq declared his farm as profitable one. He further elaborated that farm is not profitable only on the basis of milk production; they are working on breeding sector as well. Cumulatively their farm is profitable. 

Umar Sheikh presented on “Controlled shed for dairy animals; Advantages and Disadvantages”. He introduced his farm as first controlled shed for dairy animals in Pakistan. He informed about the following advantages:

• Improved animal Body Condition Score (animals been through summer have a story to tell)
• Improved feed intake resulting in production
• Drop of 15% production as opposed to 35-50 at some farms with similar breed
• Similar cost of electricity compared to farms with open house with exotic animals
• Easier to manage and monitor health since the animals are easy to spot
• Maintained the temperature from 26-28 compared to 36-38 (open house) with outside temperature of 47°C

 In addition he told about the total cost of electricity/liter of milk (Rs. 1.5/L). He has calculated this cost on the basis of data collected during one year. 

Note: PowerPoint presentation of the lecture is available on Dairy Club website. His presentation also includes snaps of his dairy farm. He is very open to share his experience (http://uvas.edu.pk/society-club/dairy_club/useful-links.htm).

During discussion forum various participants appreciated Brig. Tariq and Umar Sheikh on their contribution to dairy industry of Pakistan.

Dr. Shahzad Naveed Jadoon, summarized the meeting discussion. Schedule for next meeting was decided with the consent of all participants.

Next Meeting Schedule: 

Date: 10 Jan, 2011
Time: 05:00p.m
Venue: Syndicate Room, UVAS, Lahore

Dr. Muhammad Zafar Ullah Khan
Business Development Manager
Alltech Pakistan