Day trip to Pride Of Cows, India’s most modern dairy farm
During my research on dairy farm industry in India, I came across this very interesting business, Pride of Cows, India’s most modern dairy farm. I saw their video - it’s a must watch (see below) - and immediately fell in love with them. World-class facility, advanced technology, and a very innovative business model. It was unbelievable to find something like this in India. So far, I had seen such advanced farming businesses only on Discovery and National Geographic. I felt so proud and good to see this dairy in India. And, I am sure you will too.
Now, cherry on the cake was location of the farm - Manchar, which is only 50 km from Pune where I live. Yay!! So, I can make them a visit too, not only to see the first hand treatment of cows, but also to learn a thing or two for our in-planning-stage dairy farm.
But, first thing first, I checked if they delivered milk to customers in Pune. And, yes they do - only to customers in Pune and Mumbai. So, I filled their online form, in couple of hours received a call from their sales team, who explained everything. Most important bit was price ‘80 rs per litre’. Next day morning I received my first fresh farm-to-home milk bottle. I could hardly resist the temptation, so gulped straight from bottle, and oh-la-la it was yummy. And, the satisfaction of drinking fresh organic nutritious milk was beyond anything.
Now, next was to plan my visit to their dairy at Manchar. And, since we were looking to find some new destination for quite some time - Sinhgad, Panchgani, Lavasa, Lonavala all were done long back - Pride Of Cows (POC) seems to fit the bill. I called POC team again, and very promptly they arranged a visit 2 days later on 3rd Jan 2015 - first weekend of the new year. They asked if we would also like to visit their dairy plant (Gowardhan, Parent company of POC) situated nearby, and we gladly agreed.
Since farm was only 60 kms from our home, we thought a bike-trip would be right considering the awesome weather of January. So, Saturday morning, after a quick idli-vada at Idlicious, we left around 11:00 am on Avenger. But, the ride was a let down - too much traffic with hardly any scenery along the route. A car drive would have been the better choice.
So, we reached Gowardhan Plant by 12:45, and met Madhuri, who works in marketing & sales at Gowardhan and also looks after tourism. She suggested us to join the group - there were 4-5 families from Pune & Mumbai, and head straight to the Pride of Cows dairy. It was 4-5 kms away on a hill top.
At Dairy Farm, we were told not to use cameras. I was getting very curious to find-out if they had same standards as they marketed in their video. Guess what, no disappointment. Farm was exactly of same standards as shown in their video - we noticed no smells of cow-dung, which is a trademark of any dairy, at-least in India, and super cleanliness of the place. Super first impression, and so we were in for surprises. Madhuri took us straight to the sheds, where all cows were kept un-tied. Mind it UN-TIED. She explained how they never tie-down any of their cows, and allow them to freely move anywhere inside their sheds. Cows were typical exotic Swiss style black-and-white breed as you might have seen in any Bollywood movies shot abroad. Bigger than most Indian breeds, but not as big as I have seen some at ISKCON temple in UK. Those were Monster Cows. And, these were, Holstein-Friesian, a hybrid from Denmark, which is the highest milk producer species in the world.
On average POC cows give 25 liters a day, which is twice the average capacity of Indian breeds. Madhuri also informed that some cows at POC give 40 liters a day, and there is a cow that holds the record with whopping 54 liters of milk a day i.e. worth ~ 4300 rs a day (at POC per liter price of 80 rs), 1,30,000 rs a month, and 15,50,000 rs a year. Very close to my consulting remuneration!!
One of the reasons for their high yield was the nutritious diet. Cows were feed a mixture of 24 crops on their dining platform. Food is pre-shredded in machine to make chewing easy for them. And, to keep them happy they play music - bhajans in morning, bollywood in noon, and melody in evening. WOW! Another luxury for the cows were ‘Showers’, which they use at their will. Now, that’s like a 5 star dairy farm.
Somebody from the group noticed and asked Madhuri why all cows started gathering near the gate as they were getting ready to head somewhere. Indeed that was the case. It was 3:00 pm, their time to head to milk parlor. Madhuri explained that cows get milked 3 times in a day, and 3:00 pm is the time for their 2nd round of the day. No one force cows to go to milk parlor, instead they go at their will. Just lift the gate and cows would march to parlor in a very discipline, calm way. No manpower required, no machine needed. Simply amazing!
At milk parlor, we saw how cows got on to the rotary milk parlor, a milking platform worth 4 crores imported from Germany, in their trademark disciplined way. They seemed eager to got on milk parlor. Madhuri explained that they infact enjoy the process, as automated machines put gentle pressure. More interesting thing was the removal of machine by cows at will. Whenever cows felt they are done, they just gently kick the machine out. Again no force, no cajoling, everything at their will. And of-course automated. Each yield is captured and used in various decision making. Analytics, eh! Cows then return to their sheds, which are cleaned by now, in the same disciplined march.
We then came out of milk parlor and visited POC’s heifer section. We were not allowed to go inside, but got chance to get close with a 3 days old calf. They allowed us to click a pic too (below). Calf was kept separately from his mother, so that he/she doesn’t get used to mother. How sad! Madhuri told us that it’s necessary, and there are no alternatives. That's the only thing I didn't like about them.
With our dairy farm tour coming to end, we headed for Gowardhan’s dairy plant. I’ll call it cheese factory, as it sounds yumm!
At Gowardhan Cheese Factory, we were given apron, head-cover and face mask, to get ready for the walk through the dairy plant, with strict instructions to not to touch anything. It was a world class facility - very modern and clean. I noticed that all the workers wore clean dresses, head-covered, and appeared very hygienic. Pretty impressive stuff!! We were then shown live production of various cheese - Paneer, Cheddar, Mozzarella, Gouda etc. And, their -20°C cheese storage facility. I had no idea before that Gouda cheese needs to be stored for 6+ months in right temperature to mature and to develop flavors. I was also amazed to learn that group export these products to 47 countries.
We then came out of the cheese factory. We were in for another pleasant surprise as Madhuri took us for cheese tasting of their products. It was already past 4:00 pm without lunch, so we were damn hungry. We gorged on the yummy cheese items (See below pic). Each product was tasty. Madhuri also reconfirmed my theory that cheese is a healthy food as it comes from milk. One just need to mind the calories!
I thanked Madhuri for this very informative tour and good food, and asked the fees for same. Nothing, she chirped - It’s free for you as you are proud customers of Pride of Cows. Now that’s very nice! Very few brands value their customer in such ways - atleast in India. Satisfied and amazed, we headed back to Pune!
Ethics of the group, impressed me the most amongst everything I experienced. Though there were many amazing policy group had, but thing that appealed me most was ‘they don’t kill their cows once they stop giving milk’. Rather they retire them to a ‘GauShala’, where cows are taken care of. Another interesting thing was company’s decision to not fully automate the dairy plant, as it could result into firing of all the people, who are working with them for years. Rather, they decided to do that over a longer period so that their workers gets ample time to find other opportunities. This is rare but heart-warming, especially for Indian businesses.
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