Pride Of Cow: Dairy Farming in India

Which part of the cow’s milk we drink doesn’t come from a cow? Could it be the blotting paper, the sodium hydroxide, the borax, the vegetable fat, or all of the above? On an average middle class household, 9 out of 10 houses consume milk from packed or raw milk from the local dairy vendor, of which 6 out this 9 when boiled forms foam like in a Nirma commercial.

The Consumer Guidance Society of India initiate and encourage us how to test cow’s milk at home for sodium carbonate, hydrogen peroxide, formalin, urea, pulverized soap, detergents, benzoic and salicylic acid as well for safer-sounding like water, skimmed milk powder, salt, cane sugar, glucose, starch, and buffalo milk.

Some of these unwelcome add-ons reduce or delay spoilage by making the milk alkaline, some increase the SNF (Solids Not Fat, including protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals – but now synonymous with density) value of the milk making it appear thicker, and some raise the lactometer reading, which has been reduced by the addition of water to milk.

Some of these merely reduce the nutritive value of the milk, and some can carry disease (water), while others can damage organs, and are known carcinogens (formaldehyde).

Every few months a new milk adulteration racket is busted somewhere in the city. Based on result of a recent survey, 65 per cent of the milk in Maharashtra, and that just under half of the milk in Mumbai are tainted. In October of last to last year, eight people were arrested for selling adulterated milk repackaged in packets of popular brands.

The milk was mixed with water that was not fit to drink. Post this repeated encounters in different stations, the Supreme Court of India encouraged state governments to make the production and marketing of adulterated milk an offence punishable by life imprisonment.

Adulteration is performed at every stage: before milking, during milking and after milking. Because most of the milk in and around Mumbai comes from cooperatives made up of small dairy farmers, it isn’t as easy to control what goes into the cow’s body before it is milked, whether it is poor quality (pesticide- or fertilizer-laden) feed or banned hormones that are said to cause anything from early puberty in girls to breast development in men. A lot of the milking is done by hand and in unhygienic surroundings, which can introduce bacteria and other contaminants to the milk. Given these circumstances, Mr. Devendra Shah, Chairman and Managing Director of Parag Milk Foods Pvt Ltd had identified a business opportunity, and started offering premium milk to Mumbai and Pune citizens. Consumers were suffering with this mal practices and poor value for money service, the management had thought of converting this cons to its strength and introduced an untouched and fully mechanized Farm-to Home milk service from in house cows. Thus, was the birth of Pride of Cows milk!

Poc located in the lush greenery of Manchar, close to Pune, the Pride of Cows dairy farm is spread over 26 acres, perched between the Bheema River and the Bheemeshwari hills. The farm is the most advanced in India, equipped with the finest international technology for feeding, milking and processing, conforming to international dairy practices. The Pride of Cows brand is a reflection of passion for milk. Milk captures the imagination, sparks interest and ideas, adds color and flavor, and makes feel fulfilled and happy. The significant part played by milk, strengthening and protecting the body and mind to live a fuller, more complete life each day. The cow’s milk at its best represents the pinnacle of nutrition and health.

The Gowardhan factory was started in the year 1992. It is located in the milk belt of Manchar on the Mumbai Nashik highway. Unit 1, processes raw milk into processed pouch milk, curd, paneer, ghee, and shrikhand. The huge investment in infrastructure has enabled the unit to process up to almost 12 lakh litres of milk daily. The factory has employed around 600 fixed daily wage workers. Thus, being the source of income for farmers in the neighboring towns and villages.

Poc have a high standard of hygiene and quality control, Pride of Cow is the best cow milk in every way- bottled and delivered fresh, chilled to 4degree Celsius, to your doorstep through a process that is completely mechanized from starts to finish. This ensures that you reap all the benefits of milk. Pride of cow milk is instantly pasteurized, chilled and packaged in bottles and sent on its way to consumers, in a process that mechanized, maintaining absolute purity and keeping the taste, structure and nutrients of the milk intact. It’s everything that milk should be. Pride of cow has lots of benefits like it is untouched by human hand. As the milk is tested at every stage of process by the help of mechanized solution it has low bacterial count. Poc have fully automated process from milking to processing, pasteurizing, and to filling the milk into tamper proof bottles. There are no additives or preservatives in the whole milking process. This is why poc can firmly positioned about their quality of product and the unique concept.

Milk is homogenized and pasteurized before cooling that help to kill the bacterial content of milk. Therefore, the bacterial count is so low in this product. After this processing over milk, the milk is poured into the tamper proof bottles and refreeze it at 4 degree Celsius temperature maintain till the last leg of delivery. Tamper proof bottles are convenient to deliver and not easily broken able. This is how the pride of cow manages to deliver the milk from farm to home.

All the milking process is carried out in the early morning around 3am and then it delivered to the entire Mumbai and Pune region. From where they head towards their decided destination to each depo and after this all the delivery boys delivered to each customer’s house within six to nine in the morning.