In a bold move from Keenan, the Irish feeding technology company has signed an agreement with Keventer, India's oldest dairy business to direct-supply total mixed feed rations (TMR) to the milk company's dairy farmer suppliers. The initiative has the support of both Indian and Irish Ministers and will see the development of communal TMR centres supplying TMR from locally sourced feeds to the farmers.

The 5 year target is 5 million litres per day (circa 2 billion litres per annum) which will represent approximately 300,000 cows and 100,000 farming families. The first phase will start in West Bengal for 3,000 producers and their 10,000 cows, using this 'village feeding model' as it is being described

According to Keenan's Gerard Keenan the agreement is "good news for India's dairy industry, it is good news for Keventer and it is good news for farmers who could never dream of buying a mixer wagon of their own."

The plan for Keenan is to extend the TMR direct-supply concept across both Europe and the USA. Gerard Keenan said “It is an applicable model across the world, including in our local markets the UK and Ireland where we are already exploring with dairy processors to implement direct-supply TMR."

The West Bengal region reflects India's national picture with herd sizes ranging from one cow up to a large herds of 30-40 cows. The direct-supply initiative is particularly targeted at farms with one to10 cows. After the first phase in Bengal, which will monitor the improvement in feed conversion efficiencies (FCE), the model will be rolled out into the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat.

Mr Keenan added that the driver for the Keenan-Keventer partnership is threefold, "firstly Keventer understands that a consistent ration will give a consistent milk product, secondly communal TMR improves FCE and, in turn, the farmers' margins and thirdly, the simple feeding solution has immense value in addressing the growing demand for dairy produce in India."

India is the world’s largest milk producer at 112 million tonnes (versus UK at circa 12mt, USA at 80mt, Ireland at 5mt), having grown from 70m tonnes in 1997. Its rapid growth is continuing and by 2021 it is forecast to hit 182m tonnes.