Ocotober 2022, HollandDoor started giving on-site (live demo) CowSignals® training sessions in India. After two years of online training during the K2K (knowledge to knowledge) project for our dairy partners in India, it was high time to meet them in “real life.” Ad Merks visited several dairy organizations and companies in three states: Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Together with our dairy partners, we organized training activities and workshops on feeding, health,housing, reproduction, and milking for extension workers and board members. For all training events and on-site workshops, we used the concept of CowSignals® as a follow-up to the online K2K training given these past two years. The dairy organizations and companies were impressed with the possibilities CowSignals® offered for improving health and reproduction on dairy farms. The most popular subjects were the longevity of dairy cows, the improvement of farm management and the sustainability of the dairy sector. There is also interest in special courses for local “Desi” cattle, such as Gir and Sahiwal breeds and even for workshops on buffalos.
In Punjab, there were meetings with Paras Nutrition, the Punjab dairy processor, and the Progressive Dairy Farmers Association (PDFA), a highly modern organization that will hold its own dairy event in February 2023. In Maharashtra, we vistited the Centre of Exellence in Baramati, the Govind dairy processor, and Baramati Agro (a feed processor). And in Karnataka, there was contact with the Karnataka Milkfederation, Serval Nutrition, and Dairymate. All these organizations and companies have modern management approaches with their own professional advisors to improve their dairy farms. Some of these organizations and companies will start giving CowSignals® training for their extension workers and their farmers in 2023.
Ad Merks will visit India again, hopely in February 2023. HollandDoor/CowSignals® will be present, together with other Dutch companies, at the international Dairy Expo near Ludhiana, Punjab. This professional dairy event is organized by the PDFA and will be held on the Cattle Fair ground in Jagraon.
For more information please contact Ad Merks
