BANGKOK, 16 December 2013 His Majesty the King on Sunday observed the progress of ‘Chang Hua Man’ agricultural development project in Tha Yang district, Phetchaburi province.
At the Project, His Majesty particularly visited the dairy section where he fed milk to a 25-day old Holstein Friesian calf and fed grass to a number of milk cows. Usually, a milk cow gives 9 to 13 kilograms of milk daily. This farm presently produces 150 kilograms of milk per day which is sold to a milk cow cooperative in nearby Cha-am district where the milk is processed into pasteurized milk. Milk packets are then distributed under the school milk project of the government. Dairy farming at the Chang Hua Man Project is different from other farms in that its cows are allowed to roam and graze freely on pasture after giving milk, in concern for the animals’ welfare. In a more intensive farm, dairy cows are housed indoors to keep the cows’ energy.
The Chang Hua Man dairy farm has plans to increase the number of milk cows and build a factory to produce pasteurized and sterilized milk in its compounds in January 2014 with a budget of 60 million baht already confirmed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Under the expansion project, farmers in nearby areas will be encouraged to raise more cows to help increase the supply of raw milk to 10 tons a day. The Southern Milk Cow Cooperative has already presented 14 more dairy cows to the project, which is intended to serve as a demonstration farm for interested agriculturists to study the techniques for use at their own farms.
His Majesty the King has established the Chang Hua Man Project to be a demonstration center of economic crop cultivation and livestock culture. Since its establishment, the project has been visited by many groups of agriculturists, students and the general public. People living in the area also benefit from better communication, electricity and water resources brought by the project. Since the establishment of the Project in 2010, His Majesty has visited the project constantly to monitor its progress.
