DAIRY FARM OF 50 ANIMALS PROJECT BRIEF:
Dairy farming is an agro-based activity, buffaloes and cows can be raised for milk production in an organized manner for commercial purpose.

For this project, animals can be purchased from the animal markets or breeders in Sahiwal, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad.

More than 70 percent farmers hold less than 5 acres of land. Dairy farming may prove a profitable business for small landholders.

They can also grow fodder on their land to feed dairy animals, without disturbing the main crop.

Dairy farming is one of the best projects if professionally done on small land holdings. The return of the land used for feeding animals is higher as compared to land used for traditional cropping.

The economical size of the herd is 50 animals, which will grow into 180 animals within a few years. Cows are also proposed in the herd, as they are high yields and efficient converters of feed into milk.

This herd would consist of 75 percent buffaloes and 25 percent cows. A cow, on average, yields 14 litters milk a day over a lactation period of 305 days whereas the buffalo, on an average, yields 10 litters a day over a lactation period of 280 days.

The lactation period is the period during which the animals provide milk. These animals are called wet animals. Generally the lactation days of cows are 305 days and that of buffaloes is 280 days.

For calculation, 77 percent of the total number of cows has been taken as wet cows and 67 percent of the total number of buffaloes as wet buffaloes.

The calving interval in a buffalo is about 18 to 20 months, while a cow has 15 to 16 months.

On an average, cows are productive for 7 to 8 years, while buffaloes are productive for 8 to 9 years. Male calves will be sold at the end of year or can also be reared separately for beef production.

Pakistan is the fifth largest milk producer in