After being a homemaker for the better part of her life, Milan Sharma started learning German as a hobby.

This turned into a profession soon where she spent several years teaching the language at Amity International School.

While Milan was enjoying her newly-found passion for teaching, life was planning an entirely different route for her.

In January 2017, Milan’s father-in-law passed away, leaving behind the land — a farm and four cows — for her husband Chetan.

Wanting to keep the farm alive in memory of his father, Chetan and Milan bought more cows and by the end of 2017, the farm had 35 cows under their care.

Eventually, Milan quit her job to focus on the farm full-time. She took two one-month courses on commercial dairy farming and value addition to milk products.

In August 2018, she took over the farm. “From cutting crops to hand milking the cattle and understanding what amount of concentrates (feeds that are rich in energy and/or protein but low in fibre) to feed each animal, I became involved in everything,” she says.

On their farm, Milan and Chetan practice organic, cow-based farming using sustainable methods.

They eliminate all pesticides and harmful chemicals from the agricultural process to offer natural, healthy products.

“The soil and crop are nourished using a mixture of cow dung, cow urine, tree leaves, jaggery, and besan (gram flour). Instead of pesticides, plants are kept pest-free through a concoction of cow urine, neem, garlic, green chillies, and fermented buttermilk,” she says.

Today, they also sell grains, oils, and other products. The farm has grains like wheat, jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), pulses like arhar (pigeon pea), moong (mung bean), and urhad (vigna mungo), and seeds like sesame and mustard, among others.

The animals are also treated using natural practices, following the booklets on ethnoveterinary medication published by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the state’s Animal Husbandry Department.

While using natural, sustainable methods reduces costs for the business, Milan says they are also committed to providing the highest quality products to market.

Revnar Farm also offers processed oil instead of just seeds, dried and powdered manure, havan sticks made of cow dung, and dals that are cleaned and processed. They also offer processed dairy products like butter, paneer, chaas (buttermilk), and more.

The couple had invested a sum of Rs 1.5 crore and have been clocking an average of Rs 70 lakh a year.

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