Cop-turned-farmer milking money in dairy farming

Mahabubnagar: A farmer Janakiram Reddy, of Revalli village, who is also Mandal Praja Parishad President of Gopalpet, in Mahabubnagar district, is now minting money after setting up a dairy farm. After resigning from the Police department, he had initially taken up horticulture and grew sweet lime and chikoo plants in 12 acres but it failed to fetch him returns.

• He earns `1.8 lakh to `2 lakh per month from his dairy farm
• He was growing sweet lime and chikoo but it was not remunerative

Hailing from a farmer’s family, he switched over to dairy farming and erected a shed on his fields, two years ago, by spending Rs.10 lakh, after purchasing ten cows from Punganur in Chittoor district and gradually the number of cows in his shed grew from mere 10 to 80 cows and claims that dairy farming fetches returns after three years.

According to Reddy, a calf will yield milk after three years. He said that two years ago, the rate of milk per litre was Rs.15 but now it has doubled with the rate ranging around Rs. 30 plus per litre and he is selling 560 litres per day.

“After discontinuing sweet lime and chikoo plants, I switched over to dairy farming and it has been quite fruitful since I am earning around Rs1.8 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per month, after deducting all the expenditure. I am now expanding my business and took lands on lease since my next target is produce 1000 litres per day. If government ensures a good price for milk, then it would give up more profits”, he opined.