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What is Dairy Farming
Dairy Farming is the Production of Milk and Milk Products from animals such as cows or goats. Dairy farming in Nigeria is a lucrative business idea that many know about it but yet have not started it. We do see cattle farmers and some use goats. Having your own cow farm or goat farm is very easy and affordable but no one is willing to go into the business. Most Nigerian graduates want to wear suit and go to work for a company in the city while forgetting the fact that the owner of the company started that business in a very humble way. Have you ever imagined the number of unemployed graduates who are also looking for the same Jobs as you do? There are currently no Jobs in Nigeria and youths are forced to become Entrepreneurs.
You can start your Dairy Farm Business Plan today and work towards actualizing the idea into a real business. Most times, when you need money, investors, banks and people are not willing to help you. If you are confident that you can make the dairy farm successful, then I will advise you to start saving today while trying to gain the knowledge until the day you have enough starting capital to start your own dairy farm. Remember that you can decide to start goat milk or cow milk production or you may decide to start producing your own Yoghurts or cheese or any other dairy products.
The milk industry in Nigeria is very lucrative (or should I say it is highly profitable) even though the starting capital may be high, if you are really determined, you can make it happen. Most investors or banks are only willing to give out loans to those who have been into the business for some years and have started production. If you start your own dairy farm today and you learn how to rear a cow or goat, the diseases affecting the cattle or goats, the time it takes a cow or goat to become pregnant and give birth, the types of breeds that are good for production of milk or for meat or whatever you intend using them for; when you decide to start the farm, you will learn about this things and when you have fully known all about them, you can then decide to start a very large commercial dairy farm.
So I will advise you to start small scale dairy farming and learn all the challenges of doing the business in Nigeria and get all the necessary experiences you will need; that is when you go after the banks. When they have seen your profits, your experience and what you have on ground already, they will be ever ready to give you loans and also when you meet investors, they also look out for the same things: experience and profit. Most people just want someone to invest when you have not known anything about the business; when you take out money to start a dairy farm in Nigeria without any experience, you may likely fail in business, so just learn the process first before you approach anyone. The problem with youths in Nigeria is that they want to start in a very big way; business does not work like that, Business is like a baby that you need to nurture and grow it.
Steps in Starting a Dairy Farm in Nigeria
- Identify the type of animal you want to start with: this could be cow farm or goats farm
- Learn about the animals such as their diseases, their breeds, their feeding, their care, their drugs, how do cows produce milk and many more
- Start by rearing two of the animals to see how you can properly manage the farm. This will give you experience since you are starting out
- When you successfully complete a year, you must have learn a lot about the animals
- You can then start getting little amounts of their products and try out on how to market your products with your locality and see how you could get people to buy.
- If you become successful, then add a small number of the animals again like making them to be total of 5 or 10 now and repeat the process. Once you are comfortable, that is when you can approach investors or banks or you may just decide for your dairy farm to grow organically instead of needing help from banks or investors that reduces the equity of your business.
Challenges of starting a Dairy Farm
There is no business that is not associated with problems or challenges. There is risk in any business you start, but the degree of risk can be reduced by the efforts you put into making a business successful. The same applies with dairy farming. The problems you may likely encounter when you start a dairy farm include:
- The cows or goats may fall sick
- The may die
- Theft and security
- Lighting or source of power
- Feeding
- Drugs and supplements may be expensive
- Marketing
These problems can be overcome and that is why you need a small scale dairy farm.
Dairy farming is very lucrative but requires patience and dedication to reap the benefits. It is easier to start a dairy farm than you may think.