Monday, April 15, 2013

Paadi-Panta

"Paadi-Panta" is a very common Telugu wording which means agriculture and animal husbandry.May be our fore fathers who have been cultivating this land for centuries might have realized that agriculture in long run will not prosper with out animals on farms.This must be the only secret they passed down healthy soils to their next generations.

Chemical fertilizers are introduced to us with Green Revolution as a substitutes to NPK  but governments failed to educate farmers on how to use them and maintain soil health in long run while using chemical fertilizers.Our farmers use at least 3-4 times the recommended doses of fertilizers.I have seen our neighbouring  fields where commercial corps are grown only on chemical fertilizers with out any organic manure or cover crops for the last 10 years, soil on those fields now is just a pile of life less sand.Same is the case with case with pesticides, we are destroying the entire ecosystem in the name of crop protection.Last 10-15 years I have seen drastic changes.On a rainy day our surrounding paddy fields used to echo with frog croaking all over,now I hardly hear a frog.I remember seeing hundreds of vultures preying on dead animals and clear it in a while but now I can't spot a vulture and dead animals have to rot.And list goes on and on..

I believe the best thing that has happened to Indian agriculture in last decade is multi fold price rise of chemical fertilizers.Don't be surprised,let me tell you why? This might in some short term take cut in the profits from agriculture if any.But in the long term it will definitely reduce the over usage of fertilizers and farmers will start thinking of bring back cattle on farms.I am already seeing this change ,many farmers started experimenting with Subhash Plalekar's approach , vermicompost ,silt from irrigation lakes and other alternates.Once these farmers are successful others will follow. This will bring back life in our soils for sure.

I can very clearly see the difference on our farm after applying farm yard manure(FYM) and silt from near by irrigation lakes.After applying silt and FYM to our palm oil plantation its moisture retention capacity increased many fold and yield increased too.Same is the case with coconut inter cropped with cocoa.All these days we used to buy FYM from neighbouring villages,but recently its price too increased many fold.

We have to bring back cattle on our farm to start our experiments with jeevamrutham and vermicompost for now.Our goal is to make our farm chemical fertilizer and pesticide free.
Will keep you updated on the progress.










12 comments:

  1. I wish you best of luck Hari.
    --Siraj

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  2. wish you all the best Hari .. how are your new family members doing ..? I am referring to the new cows from Lam Farm.

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  3. Thank you,

    All the 3 cows got used to their new environment..they are very friendly cows now.
    We started our experiments with Jeevarumtham with summner vegetables.Results are very encouraging and I will post the results next week.

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  4. Hello,
    I am willing to buy pure ongole bull and cow. Can you please share any info abt the proper place to buy.

    Thank you in advance!
    Ashwini

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  5. Hi Ashwini,

    Where are you located?
    I can help you in procuring Ongole cattle here in Andhra Pradesh.

    You can either directly buy from farmers who passionately breed them or from yearly auction at LAM farm.

    Please let me know.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Hari

      It's heart warming to read about Ongole breed. It was common sight when I was growing up in our village where some farmers spend all their savings on Ongole breed bulls and participate in running challenges. I'm in the process of building a cow shed for 2 cows and one buffalo. I would like to know more about procuring Ongole cow.I appreciate your help in this regard.
      Though I currently live in Hyderabad till recently I lived in Guntur and very much familiar with Lam Farm. Thank you.

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    2. Thanks Srinivas,

      I will be glad to help you in this regards.
      Please feel free to ask any help.

      Delete
  6. Sir
    Please do keep posting your experiences. Most farmers do not blog and also do not maintain accounts which absolutely necessary. Do you have fodder grass for your animals and do let me know the other blogs which you follow.
    Regards
    Giri

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    Replies
    1. Hi Girikumar,

      We have CO4 as perinial grass. We also use Cow pea, Sunhemp, maize and other based on availability.

      I have many experiences to share but not getting enough time to share but will try to share them.

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  7. Hello,

    It feels good to read your experiences on and around the farm, especially about the ongole cows. I live in Missouri and I have a ongole cow here :), I always wanted an ongole cow while growing up, practically it wasn't possible as we used to live in Hyderabad and didn't have any farm land in Hyderabad.

    Coming to my cow (her name is Laxmi), she grew up on a free range as well in Texas. When I brought her here she did manage to mingle with rest of the Angus herd pretty good but she still has tough time trusting humans and doesn't come any close. She is on my friend's farm, my friend and I tried to put a rope on her and feeding her for a month in a shed but that didn't work very well and we got kicked and head butted multiple time :D.

    Could you please let me know your email id or email me at sumanreddy.sk@gmail.com so we can discuss more?

    Thanks,
    Suman

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  8. Hi friends this is Ram i want to buy one ongole cow( below 3 years age) in below 25000 my mobile no 8500288474

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