Ujjain's Gir cow Radha wins Rs 1 lakh prize for yielding 19.76 litres of milk a day

Radha, a Gir cow owned by Ujjain farmer Gaurav Raghuvanshi, has taken first place in a state-level competition. She gave 19.76 litres of milk in a day, the highest in the state, and won a prize of Rs 1 lakh.

The Animal Husbandry and Dairy Department held the competition under Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav's Gopal-Krishna Gram Puraskar scheme. The two-day event took place on October 30 and 31 at Vrindavan Gram Talod. Livestock keepers from 313 development blocks of the state took part.

Deputy directors of the department, Dr Virendra Kumar and Dilip Mehta, said the participants were selected on the milk-giving capacity of their indigenous cattle. Output was assessed by testing each cow's morning and evening milk. Raghuvanshi was given the Rs 1 lakh prize at a programme in Bhopal on Monday. Gopal came second and received Rs 50,000. Sandeep Chaudhary was third and won Rs 25,000.

Raghuvanshi had bought Radha from Gujarat for Rs 90,000. Some time ago she fell seriously ill and her condition worsened so much that there was little hope of her surviving. Raghuvanshi nevertheless left nothing wanting in her care. Radha's health improved gradually and she recovered.

According to Raghuvanshi, he keeps Radha like a member of the family. She is not tied up but left loose so that she can roam freely. Her daily feed includes green grass. He said it is important to give a cow a good environment and regular care.

Raghuvanshi sells about 60 per cent of Radha's milk, which people in the neighbourhood buy. The remaining 40 per cent is kept for her calf. Gir cow milk sells in Ujjain at about Rs 90 a litre, higher than the price of milk from ordinary cows.

Raghuvanshi said Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav had spoken of doubling farmers' incomes, and it was with this thinking that he decided to buy a Gir cow. He now plans to use the Rs 1 lakh prize money to buy another Gir cow so that his income from animal husbandry grows.

Assistant veterinary officer Dilip Mehta said the Gir is originally a Gujarat breed. A balanced diet is necessary to maintain milk production and health. Along with green fodder and essential nutrients, minerals such as cobalt and zinc are included in the cows' feed. To increase the number of Gir cattle in the state, artificial insemination is being promoted, and large numbers of Gir cows are being brought to Madhya Pradesh from Gujarat.

Under the same scheme, the graded Gir cow of Mukesh Kumar Parmar of Sukheda village in Piplauda block of Ratlam district averaged 17.23 litres a day and took second place in the state. At a cow worship and livestock keepers' felicitation ceremony held at the Sagaud Gaushala on Monday on Govardhan Puja, MLA Mathuralal Damar, Mayor Prahlad Patel, Collector Ajay Katesaria and other public representatives honoured him.

Mukesh has studied B.Tech (electrical). He was a testing engineer in Pune but quit his job during the Covid period, returned to his village and started a dairy farm. He now has 2 Gir cows, 5 Jaffrabadi and 4 Murrah buffaloes. The farm has 14 to 15 animals in all.

According to Mukesh, his Gir cow is of the indigenous breed and he bought it locally about eight months ago for Rs 73,000. Along with ordinary cattle feed, it is given wheat, soybean, bajra, green fodder and oilcake. A single feed, mixing home-grown grain, oilcake and other cattle feed, comes to about 3 to 3.5 kg.