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Smt Veda Sitaram Hegde – A Role Model for Scientific Dairying

Farmer Name : Smt. Veda Sitaram Hegde
Village               : Prashant Nilaya
Post                  : Neernalli
Taluka               : Sirsi
District              : Uttara Kannada
Contact Details :08384-4272652, 9449993304

Background:

Dairying is considered as the one of the profitable ventures, if it is practiced scientifically. Samrudhi Farm at  Neernalli village near Sirsi, Karnataka, provides a great  example of  very successful dairying due to the efforts  made by Veda Hegde and Seetaram Hegde, who are practicing agriculture in their 15 hectares of land along with scientific dairy unit. Samrudhi farm is one of the largest  farms in the area with arecanut (Areca catechu) based multi storied cropping system.  Black pepper(Piper nigrum), nutmeg(Myristica fragrans), agarwood(Aquilaria malaccensis)  & cocoa(Theobroma cacao) are intercropped with the Arecanut.  Banana(Musa spp)  is grown in six hectares and coconut (Cocos nucifera) in two hectares.   The practices adopted in the farm are more scientific and less labour dependent than those in conventional farms.

Practises:

  • Well established scientific dairy unit with 70 cross bred cows and 15 heifers.  The cattle shed is well planned with lime concrete flooring  which facilitates easy  cleaning.
  • The urine and excess water is drained  directly to the biogas plant of 1200 cft capacity through the underground drainage system.
  • Cow dung collection is done through a modified spade with rubber strap and carried in a trolley to the biogas plant.
  • All cows are tied with automatic chain system which is unique in itself.  Washing of cows is done through 1 hp water jet spray with pressure pump for removal of ticks  and dirt.  No chemical pesticide is used to control ticks and pests
  • Milking through machines and power requirement for milking machine is met out from the bio- gas plant
  • Self reliant on fodder requirement: established a fodder production unit with fodder chopper of 5 hp capacity and feed grinder and mixer unit.  The green fodder hybrid napier grass and fodder maize (African Tall) varieties are grown in an area of 1 ha.  Both  green and dry fodder is chopped and fed to the animals along supplement mineral mixture
  • Average milk yield per day is 350 litres and is mainly sold to Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and local vendors. Apart from selling the milk, the subsidiary income generated through the dairy are selling heifers, root slips of fodder grasses, feed mixtures and manures.
  • Due care is taken to give proper vaccination to the animals

Adoption of new technologies:

  • Preparation and use of pineapple silage :unutilized pineapple fruit residue like crown, peel and pomace from local pineapple processing industries, is used to prepare silage under the guidance of  National Institute for Animal Nutrition and Physiology (NIANP), Bangalore.  The silage is fed to the dairy animals along with the other feed ingredients in the form of total mixed ration, replacing green fodder in some seasons of the year

Awards and Recognitions

  • " L M Patel  Best Women Farmer "  by  ASPEE for the year 2007-08
  • "Shreshtha Krishi Mahile" by UAS,Dharwad during Krishi Mela 2008
  • " Best Farm Women " by  Bharateeya Krishika Samaj, New Delhi 2015           

Samrudhi farm is a popular place for fellow farmers for obtaining newer technical information, first hand/practical demonstrations, purchase of cows/heifers, arecanut seeds/saplings, fodder root slips/cuttings etc.  Many scientists/ researchers, progressive farmers from all over the country visit their farm for practical experience.

The key to her success is adoption of  scientific practices, mechanization  and innovativeness