Kerala's hi-tech Kuriyottumala dairy, livestock farm set to open for tourists
The hi-tech Kuriyottumala dairy farm near Punalur in Kerala’s Kollam district will be open for tourists in May — the first such venture in the southern state known for its rivers, backwaters and beaches.
The 91-acre farm nestles in the rolling hills at Elikattoor, an area known for its misty mornings and verdant landscape.
The Kuriyottumala farm was established as a dry stock farm in 1964, and in 2017 was converted into a high-tech farm. The decision to make it a farm tourism destination was taken to cash in on the verdant landscape. A number of activities are being planned to attract tourists to the farm, said Mr PS Jayakumar, the Superintendent of the farm.
Dalson PS, Livestock Inspector at the farm, told The Federal that the tourists will have an option of horse riding inside the farm. The horses are being trained for the purpose,” he said. The farm also has Indian-foreign crossbreeds of horses, apart from ostriches brought from Maharashtra, emus sourced from Thiruvananthapuram and many peacocks.
According to the plan, tourist huts will be built for night stay and food will be available. The farm authorities will also help set up campfires if demanded by the tourists. Catering to the children, a small park has been established adjacent to the horse-riding park.
Apart from this, tourists will get an opportunity to get a first-hand experience on how a dairy farm operates.
“Tourists will be taken to the cow farm, where they will be shown how the milk is extracted and packed. They will be shown how cows, goats, ostriches, rabbits, etc., are bred in a hygienic way,” Dalson said, adding “last week, 200 farmers visited to learn about goat rearing.” For farmers, classes will be available to not only learn how goats can be profitably reared, but also about various farming and agriculture techniques.
“There are plans to launch trekking and adventure tourism too. But that will be only after seeing the success of the existing programmes,” Dalson added. Prathap Thevarthottam SS, a native of Eram in Anchal, who visited the farm a few years back said that “a walk through the mist-covered landscape in the morning is refreshing. It is an ideal place to visit with the family,” he added.
As of now, the Kuriyottumala farm’s flagship product in the market is its ‘farm fresh cow milk’. A huge success in the rural regions neighbouring Punalur, over 2,000 packets of cow milk are produced daily. Jayakumar informed, that “shortly we will introduce a ghee product according to the availability. Once the ghee is launched, we will manufacture ice creams and sip ups in a bid to expand our products. We are also closely watching the manufacturing of agarbathis by some other institutions, and already have machines to produce dried cow dung,” he said.
The farm has 140 milk giving cows, 300 heifers and 40 calves which were impregnated through artificial insemination. The cows belong to the HF crossbreed and the Jersey cross breed are used for milking. There are also Vechoor and Kasargod dwarf breeds of cows on the farm. As part of the COVID-19 pandemic relief programme, the farm had given 35 cows free of cost to the families who lost members to the pandemic.
