About Dairy Cow

The Dairy cow is maintained in the household for milking purpose.  Dairy farming is a prominent food industry worldwide and has centuries of history. In dairy farming, the cows are domesticated for the production of milk and milk products for commercial purpose.  Generally, the quantity of milk yield is the primary factor considered by dairy farmers among the dairy cows.  India has a rich and diverse milking cow breeds with different unique features and milk production capacities. India has more than 100 million domesticated cows mostly for the dairy purpose. Some of the cow breeds of India are so popular in the dairy industry and extensively used for breeding purpose across the world. Sahiwal, Gir, etc.  are few examples of such cows. The A2 milk produced by Indian Dairy Breeds of Cows and its nutritional superiority proved recently, have elevated the demand and status of Indian dairy cows and their milk to the premier level.  These facts have added much scope for cow farming and its diversification into smaller and crucial segments.

New Additions to Dairy Cow Breeds

The recent awareness about the nutritional profiles of the cow milk from different breeds has ranked some of the mini cow breeds like the Kapila, Vechur and Malnadu Gidda of South India at a higher rank.  The milk of these cow breeds has been proven with medicinal properties due to their open grazing and consumption of diverse plant varieties by them. These breeds get a premium price for their milk.  Because of this reason several small dairy farmers, women farmers, and hobby farmers have started small-scale dairy units with pure breeds of these cows. Presence of Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) in the milk of these cows impart the superiority and medicinal tinge for their milk. The pasture grazing equips their milk with rare minerals and plant-derived medicinal compounds. Current research has proved the role of the CLA and omega 3 fatty acids in the cognitive functions of the human brain and maintaining the health of the cardiovascular system. Therefore, regular consumption of this milk would preserve the memory and cognitive abilities among the elderly and provide an extra edge to the mental abilities to grow children.

The small size, pasture grazing habit, and immunity to diseases and parasites make the raising of mini cow breeds practically easy and economically sound even with very small grazing space and shelter. This has made these cows as the preferred cow breeds by the urban landless farmers and low-income people to initiate mini dairy farming units, as milk of these cows fetch a premium price and find high demand among households with small kids.