Music seems to enhance the productivity of cows on a Pune farm. The tyres of each vehicle entering the premises of this farm,spread across 35 acres on a small hill near Manchar,65 kilometers off Pune,need to be disinfected. Even visitors need to step on a liquid disinfectant. Walk a little further and one can hear the instrumental version of the popular Bollywood number,Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko,rising above the breeze. This place is different indeed. The Bhagyalaxmi Farms,housing more than 3,000 cows of the Holstein as well as local breeds,plays music in the sheds,round the clock. According to Aniket Thorat,the production and maintenance officer on the farm,it has a calming effect on the animals,and in turn,leads to an increase in their productivity. The dairy is the brainchild of Devendra Shah,chairman of Parag Milk Foods and Gowardhan. He came up with the idea when he learnt about cows yielding more milk in a village after listening to bhajans every day. The produce at the village would go up by about 3.5 per cent,because with the music playing,the cows would eat more, says Shah. The cows at The Bhagyalaxmi Farms listen to all kinds of music,including devotional,Bollywood,rock and pop. Speakers are fitted in the ceilings of the sheds,and connected to a music system. In the morning,they play devotional songs and later,turn to classical or popular. Shah says that the cows act according to the kind of music being played. For example,they sit calmly to the sound of flute or sitar,but stand up and move about to the sound of drums,and heavy beats. We play different genres all day. Not only does it have a calming effect on the animals,it keeps the people working on the farm cheerful as well, says Thorat. Music has been played at the farm since it opened in 2007,and Shah claims that his cows produce 40 per cent more milk than normal cows. The cows are not tied. On cue,they walk in a disciplined line from the milking area to the shed,without any assistance from the workers. The place where the cows assemble before being milked is fitted with numerous sprinklers and fans. Each of the sheds have sprinklers and rods,fitted with brushes,that scratch the backs of the cows. For a farm of this magnitude,we only have 70 workers. The only assistance that the animals need is at the rotary milking parlour,where two people disinfect their udders and attach the clusters so that the milk can be collected, says Thorat. The rotary milking parlour is a circular structure which can milk upto 50 cows at a time. The cows are milked thrice a day at 5 am,1 pm and 9 pm,and each gives an average of 22-40 litres of milk a day. A radio frequency activation device is fitted on each cow for identification and for monitoring health. Our cows are different because our cows are happy, says Thorat with a smile.
