Impact of Dairy Co-operative Society on Feeding Pattern of Milch Animal in Karnataka

Background: The rural environment of Karnataka has been significantly and far-reachingly impacted by KMF’s successful dairy development. The most advantageous milk purchase price for farmers, effective and prompt input services delivered to farmers’ doorsteps, such as prompt veterinary health services to any remote village, high-quality artificial insemination for breed improvements, supply of balanced cattle feed at a lower price than the market price, etc., have encouraged farmers access their cooperative more and more frequently. In order to determine how DCS affects the way dairy milch animals in Zone-I and Zone-II of the Karnataka region utilize fodder, an attempt has been made in this article.
Methods: For the study, the KBY Milk Producers Societies Union was chosen since it encompasses three districts in Karnataka’s North Eastern region. The milk union was further split into two main areas, the North Eastern Dry Zone and the North Eastern Transitional Zone, which are referred to as Zone-I and Zone-II, respectively. Six dairy cooperative organisations were chosen from each Zone based on how much milk was purchased each day. From each Zone 120 sample was collected, further 10 members and 10 non-members were selected at random from each DCS village in each zone. Thus, 240 individuals represented the study’s entire sample size. Result: At Zone-I: The average amount of feed and fodder used to be higher in the member (15.80 kg per day) than in the non-member (14.19 kg per day) for the buffalo, according to the perusal of the table. While 12.72 and 11.92 kgs per day of dry matter fed to cow by members and non-members, respectively. Non-member had given higher quantity of dry fodder (7.61 kg) than green fodder (5.06 kg), indicating member had fed higher feed and fodder to milch animals than non- members. This would possibly be due to the subsidies availed through DCS for feed and fodder purchase. Where in Zone-II: The quantity of dry matter given to buffalo was 13.90 and 11.43 kg by member and non-members, respectively. For cow 11.04 and 9.85 kg per day of dry matter was given by members and non- members, respectively. Even though the members fed relatively more quantity of feed and fodder than non-members, it was still less than the feed intake quantity recommended by National Research Council (NRC). Both members and non- members group fed less than recommended but the difference was found to be higher in non-member than members in both the cases of buffalo and cow. It was also interesting to note that buffalo feed intake was higher than cow.
