Butwal, November 25:

Toya Narayan Kafle of Saupharsatikar VDC-1 of Butwal began cattle farming three years ago with the aim of having an output of 1,000 litres of milk daily from his dairy farm. Three years down the line, he is earning Rs 1 lakh a month and his business is flourishing. Hard work and enthusiasm paid off.

Kafle, who went to India at a tender age for employment, turned to cattle farming after he spent many years in India and European countries. When he plunged into livestock farming just three days before the Jana Andolan II began, he was initially scared of losing the investment. He began with 14 lactating cows and buffalos with an investment of

Rs 350,000. When the agitation began, transport came to a complete halt.

He could not sell the milk and fed it to the cattle themselves. For a few days, he regretted investing so much money on cattle.

But after the movement ended, he added 10 more to his herd. Now, he has 26 lactating buffaloes among a stock of 32. Seven Jersey cows are also lactating. He markets 275 litres of milk daily, produces ghee and also earns from the manure of the cattle. Kafle preened, saying “By next mid-April, I will be able to market 400 litres of milk a day.”

He plans to raise the herd size to 50 buffaloes and 20 cows within two years and market 1,000 litres of milk a day. He has hired five regular workers at a monthly salaries ranging from Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,500 a month. “However, lack of workers and difficulty in raising the calves is troubling me,” he said.

Kafle has grown improved varieties of fodder on over two bighas of land out of his seven bigahs of land.