A piece of history has been made in this country as a 42 year old Indian has opened up his state’s first ever donkey farm. The donkey farm has been set up in one of the villages that is part of the Dakshina Kannada district which is located in the Western part of Karnataka, near Mangalore.
The donkey farm was officially opened on the 8th of June and has been ear marked as the first ever donkey farm of the state and has also been verified officially. Not only is it the first ever donkey farm of the state, it is also only the second ever donkey farm in the entire country with the country’s maiden donkey farm situated in the district of Ernakulam, in Kerala. This means that the only donkey farms of the country are exclusively situated in only South India.
The man who runs the donkey farms goes by Mr. Srinivas Gowda. He said that the state of donkeys in India really affected him and he was determined to make a change. He went on to say that donkeys in this country are unwanted by people and farmers and are also regularly undervalued.
He has a strong background in agriculture as after he completing his BA studies, he set up Isiri Farms a consolidated agricultural set up which breeds farms animals and does husbandry, veterinary services, and other fodder and agricultural services. The farms span an area of over 2 acres. Prior to starting this venture, he worked in the software field but quit 2 years ago back in 2020.
He said that he is already running separate farms where he rears rabbits, goats, and the local chickens. He now adds donkeys to his stacked roster and the farm initially start out with a strength of 20 donkeys.
He went on to say that the local donkey species in the country are reducing a lot as they are no longer being used to do manual labour. Dhobis used to use donkeys the most to wash clothes, but now that washing machines and laundromats are ubiquitous, their demand for donkeys have widely dropped.
He said that when he first made his idea public, he was met with jokes and laughs, however, he said that donkey milk tastes great, they are luxurious and costly, and they have great medicinal benefits.
He said that he will sell them in milk packets and a small 30ml pack will set customers back by Rs. 150 and they will be available in retail stores.
