As a race, if mankind has to develop further, it will have to move forward with intelligence, leaving behind its comfortable life. We must be willing to take on new unknown and challenging responsibilities, bypassing the fear of failures. Even if we fail; So in reality we are endowed with the experience of what leads to success and which leads away from it.
Today’s story of us 43 years old Shankar Kotian, Who initially tasted failures many times. But gradually he made his own way and went ahead and achieved a new place. Those who dare to think and act differently, they do something big. Shankar Kotian has attested Ratan Tata’s statement in which he says, “I do not believe in taking the right decision but try to make the decision right.”
Shankar was born in Moodabidri, Karnataka. He completed his graduation in computer science in 1996 from the National Institute of Technology, Suratkal. He was a good student and programmer. He soon got the job of a software engineer at Infosys. During his tenure at Infosys, he got a chance to visit many countries. At the end of the week, he often went for a walk in the surrounding fields and noticed new farming practices and animal husbandry.
Gradually, Shankar started getting bored with his professional life. He used to lead a team of 10 people there and he also got a lot of salaries. He was not enjoying his work. So he decided to quit Infosys’ job in 2012 as well as try his hand at dairy farming business.
In 2011, he bought eight acres of land near Moodoo-Cronje village. There he built a house for the office. When the house was built, they bought organic manure from nearby farmers and planted grass on their land. He then bought his first five cows and spent nearly three years learning farming and animal husbandry because he did not know anything about farming beforehand. His first year was very difficult. Because they spent this time learning new methods of dairy manufacturing, animal husbandry, and farming.
This form of him was on the slope. Shankar decided that they would make full use of it. He developed his dairy on the topmost part of the slope. With the help of this, due to gravitational force, it was easy to collect the slurry of cow dung and the dirty water of cattle from the dairy and transport it to the lower farming part.
They planted Napier grass in the lower part of the slope according to the need of the cows. At the end of the slope, they dug a pond for the purpose of water harvesting. For the purpose of reducing the cost of fuel and for the proper use of cow dung, set up a biogas plant. It was installed near the dairy to meet the fuel needs of its family and servants. The cow dung solution which was left after use in the biogas plant was sold to the farmers growing betel nut. So far they have sold around three lakh liters of slurry. The reason behind the success of this method is that the buyers spend less on wages and the slurry contains more nutrients than the manure, due to which farming is good.
Today Shankar’s dairy has 40 cows of its own and supplies 180 liters of milk daily to the Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers Federation Limited ‘Nandani’. Apart from this, he has also planted 1800 rubber trees and 1000 areca nut trees. They have planted these trees along the edge of the fields and in the middle of the fields so that there is more greenery and there will also be moisture in the fields. Today they have 25 acres of land.
Shankar says, “There are many challenges but always you get to learn something new and this learning process is also fun. Along with the turn-over, health is also good and you can leave a better world for your next generation, don’t you? ”
Shankar could be happy with his plush and secure job of Infosys. But he decided to challenge his boundaries and turned to dairy farming. Nobody knew anything about this business, even in his entire family.
Shankar has shown to everyone that if you are determined in your mind, it is impossible to do anything. Yes, it may take some time to learn and apply, but it will definitely be possible with time, dedication and effort.