Happy Cows and Luxury Milk

Imported grass, daily massages, swimming pools and resting beds for cows. Some dairy farmers will go to any extent to tap the growing organic milk market.

- Sonali Acharjee

For the last four months, Adil Khanduja, a Chandigarh-based businessman has been busy shortlisting the best quality dark beer and alfafa sprouts to import. When he does find some spare time, he makes it a point to visit his 50-acre farm on the outskirts of the city to check on the progress that workers are making on his new marble-tiled swimming pool, music deck and automatic massage parlour. He wants everything to be just perfect for when the residents of the farm finally arrive—600 German Holstein cows.

“A happy cow is a healthy cow and gives healthy milk. Consumers are growing increasingly sceptical about tetrapak milk brands where there is no transparency regarding where the milk comes from or how the cows are treated. That cow in the middle of the road, eating discarded plastic packets and rotting garbage, breathing in the air from the exhaust of your car as you wait for her to clear the road—would you drink her milk?” asks Khanduja. Having completed a year-long course in dairy business and processing from the University College Dublin in Ireland, Khanduja is now all set to enter India’s fast-growing organic milk market with his Happy Moo brand this December. “We are going to treat our cows like queens. They will be allowed to graze freely on organic grass, rest on individual day beds, drink fresh clean water, be treated to daily beer massages, swim on a hot summer’s day and listen to relaxing sounds all day long. You might laugh, but it makes a huge difference to the milk the cow produces.” Offering three variants—toned, double toned and full cream—Happy Moo milk will be delivered directly from his farm customers in glass bottles priced at Rs 180 per litre.