Herald: Milk production is decreasing, dairy farmers prefer to do odd jobs and educate their kids and pull out from the dairy business. Why do you think this is the trend?

Dr Mahindra Bale: In Goa, there are no good cows and buffaloes. Nobody wants to sell us good cows. The fact is if a buffalo is good or a cow is good, will you sell it to someone else? We have bought cows from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and we have gone there and checked the milk yield thrice a day for a long period. We’ve even bought cows but once they are here, their yield drops. Most of our farmers have cows that give a minimal 8 litres of milk. We definitely don’t have the numbers.

Herald: But farmers say their buffalos and cows are sick because of Goa Dairy’s bad feed contains sand or wood shavings in it.

Bale: We produce maximum feed and sell it at cheap prices, affordable to the farmer which is quite good plus the government provides subsidies to grow fodder. Now the problem is that this feed we sell in pellets is made from cakes, grass, millets, cereal and many other components and it all comes from outside Goa. Now we have no control on what is supplied to us, so these complaints of the dairy farmer could be true.

Herald: What are your thoughts on SUMUL. Will it hit Goa Dairy badly?

Bale: Here the talk is of a new dairy that provide doctors, medicines and facilities to a dairy farmer and he will be drawn to that dairy. But our government has a Directorate of Animal Husbandry that gives free medicines, checkups and assistance. Sadly this is not reaching the dairy farmer because of the corruption in that department and hence people are looking for another solution in SUMUL. If dairy farming needs to viable, then the hour has come that the government animal husbandry doctors serve the large animal owners better and only then, you’ll see a difference in milk production.