Details: Finding skilled labour for milking a small herd of cows is a problem often faced by a small-time farmer. Adding to this is the fact that milking by hand is not considered healthy or hygienic anymore. But milking using a machine is a luxury, which only a large farm or dairy house can boast of, calling for a huge investment in power supply and machinery. RaghavaGowda thought about developing an alternate means of mechanized milking, which would be affordable to all farmers and came up with his milking machines. The basic version of the machine is a low cost, manually operated device, which is easy to use with simple operations. It can also be operated by women easily. Other versions include single phase AC motor driven milking machine and 12 volt battery operated milking machine. The average time of milking using these machines varies between 4-6 minutes per cow with about 1.5 litre to 2 litres milk obtained per minute. Easy to clean and low in maintenance, the machines run smoothly for about 8 - 9 years.

Innovator: Raghav Gowda, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka

State: Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka

Funding agency: Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India

Implementing institute: National Innovation Foundation India (NIF), info.nif@nifindia.org