Sarda Farms Case Study

Introduction 

​ Sarda Farms is located on an 11-acre piece of land just outside the city of Nashik Maharashtra India. The Sarda farm was located in an ideal location so they could supply milk directly to customers living in both Nashik and Mumbai. However, India’s infrastructure didn’t pose the best landscape for a dairy farm. With untimed power outages that can last up to 12 hours, a dairyfarm could be at risk of losing product. Sarda went against expert’s opinions about opening the farm since its productivity level is so low. The farm has made strides and has improved its operations over the past few years but it is time for the farm to ramp up production for the upcoming increase in demand. 

Internal Analysis 

​ Sarda Farms has positioned themselves at the top of their market. In India, there are not many other competitors that produce milk of this quality. Shrirang Sarda was first interested in a Beedi farm but decided to pursue dairy instead. Beedi is a popular tobacco product in India and parts of southeast Asia. Sarda made a wise business decision by pursuing dairy because the industry in India was growing and is currently a $12 billion market. Sarda Farms didn’t operate like a typical dairy farm; they deliver directly to the consumer. Sarda operates in this fashion because they are one of the only farms of its kind. No other farm in India delivers their milk in glass bottles. The use of glass bottles signifies the purity of the milk which the environmentally conscious consumers are looking for. The farm has also set up call centres to allow their customers to reach the farm by a toll free number to voice their needs and concerns. 

​The farm employs 50 people who would work two eight hour shifts to fulfill all the various tasks that takes place on the farm. The farm was equipped with state of the art ALPRO Herd Management system, which is designed to track each cow in the farm to ensure it is on the proper lactation cycles and being fed properly. Sarda farms was home to roughly 1000 cows, each cow was given a radio frequency identification tag which connected to the ALPRO system. 

Lactation Cycle 

​ The farm’s entire business was focused on the lactation cycle. Similar to other mammals, cows could only become pregnant when they were ovulating. If the cow was not inseminated or did not become pregnant, the cycle would happen again in twenty-one days. Each time insemination was attempted the chance of success would decrease. If the cow did become pregnant the calf wouldn’t be born for another 280-285 days. A cow could be milked throughout its pregnancy, though the frequency will decrease to allow the cow to gain more energy. The ALPRO system played a major part in the success of this process; It monitored the cow all throughout the lactation process. As each cow passed through a gate, the veterinarian would be able to read information about artificial insemination or lactation to allow the cow to be directed to the proper area for treatment. The ALPRO system helped reduce the amount of unsuccessful inseminations that occurred on the farm. The use of this system ensured there were no missed steps and that the farm was operating in the most efficient way possible. 

Artificial Insemination (AI)

​The use of AI helps to increase the milk's yield that the farm receives from each cow. This genetic improvement strategy was endorsed by the Indian government. India is under the world average for the amount of litres of milk produced per day. AI provides farmers with genetic improvement material that was not available to those that used natural insemination. Purchasing semen was expensive but it was also pricy for the farm to raise a bull. By purchasing semen, Sarda farms has the ability to purchase same sex semen which had a 95% chance of producing a female calf. This route provides more value for the farm since it poses an opportunity for reproduction and more milk production. Secondly, since India views cows as a religious animal the bulls produced from the farm cannot be sold for beef consumption. Sarda farms has implemented a few different approaches to this process to ensure its success going forward. The research into AI has provided Sarda to become a more efficient farm. Even though they are just below US in terms of the daily milk production , they have made efforts to increase that. 

Milking

​ There are various designs that farmers use when milking cows. There are the parallel and rotary; the herringbone is the milking system that Sarda uses. All of these systems have their pros and cons for the cows and the farm. The herringbone system begins with the cows entering in batches of 24 from both ends of the system. This can be a slower process for milking since it goes in a batch like cycle, all the cows need to leave before more can enter. The farm is able to milk all of their cows in roughly 21 hours. The only issue with this is that it does not incorporate the cleaning time into this process. As the farm grows and more cows are added into the process, the 21 hours gets extended. The current system does not allow much room for growth seeing as the day is practically maximized. 

​The parallel system allows Sarda to milk all of their cows at a higher speed; even though it works in a batch like system. The Cows are lined up on either side and that becomes the side they enter and exit from. The pathway for the cows in this system is very simple and straightforward. 

Since the cows do not have to follow a more complex pathway, it will increase the time it takes the cows to enter and exit the milking parlour. Thus increasing the overall process for the farm. 

​The Rotary system is the number one milking parlour system available for farmers. It is known to have the highest productivity and provides a great deal for comfort for the cow. The rotary parlour