Spiralling costs ..

BIG WORRY FACTOR .... :-( !! The Biggest worry to hit a small operaion like ours are the spiralling costs of all feed materials this year ... most of the items have gone up by 40-45% over last season and are expected to go up even more . This high feed cost is hitting the farm and its viability in a big way and inspite of trying to avoid it , we see no other way around it but to increase the price of milk soon .

We hoping it doesn't make us lose members that we have worked hard to make ... and hoping they realise that the reason is genuine and not us taking advantage of them loving our milk quality .

This month after a lot of effort and searching .. we have finally ordered for secial milk cans which will allow us to make them tamper proof before they leave the farm . This aspect was a weak link in the entire process of getting the milk to our members and hopefully should address their worries regarding the trust factor of our delivery boys .

With winters coming we also looking forward to the vegetables which as of now are being planted and hopefully should be ready for harvest starting mid Nov if the weather Gods don't play spoilsport till then .

We are looking to add other things like free range eggs - free range chicken and maybe even goats milk in the coming months so stay tuned :-) !!

THE LOGO

A lot of you must be confused between Singha farms & Asaavi Farms and wondering if they are two different farms or what !! Actually , they both are the same entity -- started of as Singha Farms but then had to change to Asaavi farms as under the company law ( or something like that ) I can't get exclusive rights over the sirname -- so tomorrow if it does somehow become very popular then my cousin/uncle can also start an enterprise with a simlar name and I can' do much about it . So now we are ASAAVI FARMS for all future reference .

The logo took ages to design but at the end the friend who designed it has done a pretty cool job ... and must thank her as I really did chew her brains up before FINALISING on this design . My instructions were very clear to her -- wanted it to be CUTE & DIFFERENT and it does fulfill both the requirements .

Lets hope in the coming time this LOGO does become a house hold logo atleast in the local area of wherever we operate from .

Back .. after a long break from blogging !!

I kind of got lazy mainly due to the fact that I got very busy with the farm expansion and stuff ... along the way I also became a dad and as we had decided to try and bring up our child with no help , I became a sit at home dad by default ( not complaining at all though I never thought id be happy doing something like this ) !! The farm has over time expanded its customer base , shifted twice from its original location due to problems beyond our control , and I have 3 pups at home to look after and a whole lot of other things ..

Back to the main topic .. THE FARM ! The Farm has now shifted to the Kapasera area of Delhi and we are busy settling in on the new location . Our in house milk producers have gone up to 30 though as of today most of them are lined up and ready to deliver their off springs . So from a shortage of milk till recently we should move to abundance of milk in a few weeks once the babies start to step into this world .

The high temperatures in summers luckily didnt affect the cows much as the new farm is surrounded bby a lot of greenery thus keeping the temperatures lower than what other residents of this city experienced . Can't say the same for the people at the farm as power cuts were regular and for long periods ( ownder when this will get sorted out by the Govt ) .

We are gearing up for a serious attempt at advertising and hoping to rope in large number of people in the coming winter months . Lets hope we get a good response when we do attempt to stand in colonies advertising about our operations . We also hope that our existing members will help us in this exercise .

On the home front , as mentioned earlier we were blessed with a son whereas we were totally prepared for a daughter ( even had a name lined up -- had none for a son ) . He was born over 2 months pre mature which in hind sight was a good thing as the last minute anxiety/nervousness didnt even set in . He's now 16 months and a bundle of naugtiness and his best friends are the 3 pups that we had adopted over the last few years . Baby sitting him has been an experience in itself about which I guess Ill write somewhere else so that other gonna be dads may get a few tips .







All in all life is hectic ... the all out being that not much time or energy left for socialising so the intake of Kingfishers has diminished considerably -- SORRY to Mr . Mallya though I hope to be get re connected with the Kingfishers pretty soon .

Will hope to be more regular with the updates .... from now on .

Cheers

Addition to the family ...

I know its been a long time since the last update ... but things have been hectic with people running from their summer vacations and demand for milk rising , along with that more and more samples being distributed as some members giving us loads of references to their friends . Though we have lots of members referring , we have lots of them who are not referring any and we hoping that do start to as its them that we relying on to spread the word as much as possible .

In keeping with the rise in demand for milk .. we went out and got some more cows to come join the family . And along with the cows we got some lil ones as well so the gang has really grown . We are now catering to almost 150 odd homes across Gurgaon though our conversion percentage has dropped a bit with us finally coming across a few people who refuse to take our milk and rather stick to the Mother Dairy or Nestle brand .

There has been demand coming our way from Delhi also and keeping in mind our gud friends who reside in South Delhi we have decied to start a pre registration drive along with sampling to see if we can sum up the demand required for us to start delivering in these areas . We are as of now only looking at Saket - Sainik Farms - GK II - GK I & East of Kailash , this is being done as it will help our delivery costs stay low and also allow us to deliver within time . Lets see how it goes in this part of the city ....

There has been work going on at the farm keeping in mind teh upcoming vegetable season ... in which the fields have started to get ploughed and the green cover crop is about to go in so that the soil gets plenty of Nitrogen by the time planting happens in mid - end August . The rains are almost here and we hoping that irrigation set up is not required as of now ... we still have to set that up and hoping it is in place by the time planting happens . We looking to grow Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes , some beef tomatoes , lettuces , zucchini , brinjal , pac choi , red cabbage , cabbage & cauliflower ( not very sure of this as we have heard that they not very suited to this soil ) , carrots , radish , brocolii and a few herbs like Basil , thyme and rosemary . Hope the pests stay away from our fields though we have our neem and cow urine solutions ready to keep them at bay .

Besides this we have started to make paneer at our farm as a lot of members were wanting it .. and seeing the response we feel we did well as its been a HUGE SUCCESS . We have some homes taking in a kg of paneer almost every alternate day . The one mistake that we made is with the pricing and we hoping the revised pricing doesnt hamper the demand -- :-) !! We also starting to look at making curd as a lot of ppl are having trouble in getting the curd to set well with the new milk , as they were used to setting it with the other milk and havn't been able to find the right combination for this milk . We ourselves had a problem at home but the maid has it sorted out and we get some real gud curd these days .

Of late there has been a demand for eggs and chicken also .. a lot of members feel that the chicken they buy from the market maybe injected with hormones and stuff to make it grow faster so wud like it if they could be given an option of getting chicken knowing that it aint injected with anything . As we consume about 7-8 kgs of chicken at home every week , we had planned to keep a few desi murgi's for our own consumption but it seems we may keep a few extra just incase our members would like to take them from us . We will not be rearing broilers but the ' Desi Murgi's -- difference being that the broilers can be prepared much faster though taste wise we prefer the other ones .

We have been having our share of small trivial issues ... specially regarding teh delivery man and all . We have realised no matter how well you treat them and pay them , they one day will turn on you just bcoz they know you need them . We missed out on delivery one day just bcoz of this as at 5 am our delivery man suddenly felt that he needed to be paid more ..... and as we didn't have a back up guy we had to give in for the time being . Its against our principle to treat the workers as workers and we do a lot to keep them to feel that they are not labor but such incidents leave a bitter taste and just makes us wonder if we right in the way we behave with our staff . We hoping that we don't have any such trouble in the future , as we have 2 substitute delivery guys ready now . We also are having to get a second delivery vehicle running around to deliver milk so that all deliveries can be wrapped up as early as possible and not like its happening now -- we do our last delivery at about 10.30 - 11 !!! Just bear with us a few more days .... and all members shall have their milk before 9 am .

Well, I still havn't managed going on a vacation ..... and I don't think its happening anytime soon specially with Delhi as a delivery zone also starting soon . Rest everything at the farm is on control .... hoping that we do reach our target by end August !!!

Will put up some pictures in a few days ... I know its pretty boring reading what I write -- with no pictures to go with it .

More soon ...........

Rest in Peace ...

27th June '07 -- Our friend for ages left us and moved to his next destination . Duke has been with us for ages and given our family so many special moments and the void left by him will be felt for a long time to come . He came to us as a lil pup along with his sister ' Blackie ' and then grew to be a very very special friend .

I don't know how but he learnt a lot on his own and it felt as if he could understand us and what he had to do to make himself a very popular part of the Singha family . He realised that the monkeys were not welcome in our orchards ... so what did he do ?? Come April and once the apples started to form on the trees he would on his own trudge up every morning to go sit where our orchard ended and the forest started so if the monkeys did decide to try and feast in our orchard he would be there to chase them away . He would leave his spot and come back outside the kitchen like a clock at 9 am for his breakfast and after the meal would return to his duty and only to return at 5 pm for his evening meal and then back on duty till it got dark . All this with no training .....

He also had a soft spot for other animals as you can see from the pic above ... that lil kitten on his back was not adopted by us but by ' Duke ' himself . One day we saw him walk up teh drive with a lil ball of fur in his mouth , we thought he had killed a lil kitten and gotten the kill home . When I ran down to get him to drop her , I realised that he hadn't killed her , instead he had gotten her by the scruff of her neck . He gently put her down in front of me and then started to lick her till she started to stir , that moment was a very special and touching moment . Special as his sister ' Blackie ' had also adopted a lil kitten a few yrs earlier and gotten her to grow up on her own milk along with her litter that she had given birth to around the same time . Like sister - like brother !!!

I could go on and on about his antics which would show how smart he was , and how affectionate he was . But all thats gonna change as he finally did decide to move on and go to where his sister probably is waiting for him , and hope he is out there in some HUGE field making merry and looking down upon us .

Duke , you were very very special and we will remember you for a long time to come . Thanx for all the moments that you gave us -- I can't remember one incident where he would make any of us at home MAD at him .

Rest in peace Duke !!!

Surviving the HEAT wave '07 ...

After the hail storm hitting the farm in Himachal we had to try and figure out a way to survive the heat wave that hit Delhi in June after the pretty cool month of May . The temps touched the 44 deg Celsius mark on a every day basis and the cows lost their apperite and thus leading to a drop in their milk production .

To keep them safe from the effect of the heat we have installed a fogging system where they rest but in this heat the foggers also didn't seem to work wonders but yeah they were definitely better off than the animals in the neighboring farms . There is only so much we cud do , and if possible we wud have luvd to install AC's for them ;-) , but obviously that would have been asking the members to pay an extra 10 bucks behind every litre which I don't think they would have agreed to , but shall ask them for next year .

The heat also got to my dad and me .. which resulted in my dad packing his bags , starting the car and driving of to Himachal to re charge his batteries in the cooler environment . He's gone for 10 odd days and shall be back before our members start to return from their vacations and result in increased work load at the farm . I on the other hand just couldn't get myself to speak with prospective members though I had about 10-12 women who were interested in the membership programme. The heat just seems to shut my mind of and I don't see myself being able to run for a vacation this year though I'm dying to get away to re charge my batteries as well . Maddie on the other hand also decided to take a short vacation and headed of to meet her mom & brother thus leaving me and Shadow all by ourselves for a few days .

The members base hasn't increased by too many in the past week or so due to me not calling anyone , but since it cooled down over the last 3 days I have again gotten the phone stuck to my ear and been making the calls and have had about 9 more added to the list . Also with vacation about to get over we are gearing up for a hopeful surge in demand . We are going to be buying 6-7 more cows in the next 10 days and then keeping fingers crossed that our members do spread the word and we have lots more ppl signing up over the next few months .

Also there has been a huge demand for paneer and curd by our members and we are looking at starting to make the paneer for now , curd shall be looked into a lil later . Unfortunately the vegetables in HImchal also seem to be making trouble for us , the pests have really taken a liking for our fields and attacked with a vengeance . Huge losses suffered but I guess it makes us more determined for next year . So as of now we havn't been able to offer any to our members but our getting the fields ready for the winter season at the Gurgaon farm , and we hopin that goes off better than the summer season . All in all its been a tough year so far in the field .....

The last 3 days have seen the rains come down which has given us all a respite from the heat and we praying that heat wave has gone for good . Though we all know that of late the weather has started behaving strangely so never know what can happen next . There is nothing better than the rain inspite of all the traffic snarls it creates , the smell of dampness in the car , the get wet situation when Shadow insist he has to do his job inspite of it pouring outside ( need to get a raincoat ) and not having ones favoritre tee dry in time for the party . But lets hope it keeps raing like this from now on .... will allow us to till the fields and grow some green grass which will help in the soil getting in some Nitrogen before the vegetables are planted .

I guess its time to call another lady .... so signing out for now !!! Shall try and post a bit more often from now on , I know thats what I said last time also .

Cheers

Selling the ' CONCEPT ' + Farm update !!!

Well its been just over 2 weeks since I started the Marketing Campaign ... Started out by getting the close friends to sign up , people who had been explained the concept way before I even started and they signed up without even sampling the milk . But soon I ran out of friends with children so I started hounding them friends to talk to their friends .... as thats how we had decided to spread our network . That ways I wud be connected to each and every member through some common people and in the long run would allow us to have a more interactive dealing with most of them . Soon the word started spreading , I started speaking to friends friends ... but they wanted to sample the milk and see for themselves how it tastes , how does the curd form, how good is the paneer that is made of this milk . Soon, we started getting people signing up without too much of a fuss as once they tried the milk , they were pretty much hooked on to it .

Ive spoken to and met over a 150 mothers ... out of which I've had a few refusals -- mostly as they felt that the children or the husband didnt take to the taste of this new milk and they would rather have the milk that is probably adulterated with various chemicals ( guess I can't convince them all ) . It does hurt a bit to hear some try the milk , infact even like the milk and its by products but then refuse on the ground that the children/husband didnt like the taste . I mean , its for the elders to know what is gud for the child ... and to explain it to them ... and insist that the organic milk is good for them and they just have to get used to the new taste . I guess and hope someday these parents see sense , and do come back coz we wudn't want children suffering due to their parents lack of awareness . Ive had one case of a mother telling me that she luvs it but the membership fees that we charging is not fair -- I mean , what is so unfair in it ?? I refuse to accept the fact that a nominal amount of 1500 bucks is too much as a one time fee to be part of our organic farm . The same person has probably paid lakhs for a clubs membership , paid lakhs in advance to the builder of the flat they live in ..... but 1500 bucks for a healthy body is TOOO MUCH !!! Not that I'm gonna be wasting too much time with such people ... I wud understand if they had a problem with the product or the service ..... but the Membership fees . But such people keep you entertained , I usually have a smile on my face when talking to such people .

On the other hand I've come across women .. who have lapped up the product and infact have started recomending a lot of their friends to also join in and start taking milk from our farm. Most of these mothers are a pleasure to talk to , some have even given me tips on how to convince the price conscious Indian women . We didn't expect such a good response when we started out , but I have to thank all the mothers who becoming a part of the farm and its activities . The summer vacations have played in keeping enrollment on the slower side , as a lot of ppl are travelling . Infact a lot of people have tried the milk , liked it , approved it .. but wud join in after they return from their summer vacations . We look forward to July as that month shud really have me busy ... ;-)

So far its been pretty easy to convince people about the quality of the milk coming from our farm . Also a lot of them have surprised me with questions that only well aware people would know . Just goes to show that there are loads of people out there who really want to give up adulteration in their foods and are willing to pay the premium that Organic demands .

Also things have moved a bit too fast ... meaning that a lot of our members are requesting me to also make paneer and curd for them . We are working on that and hopefully should start with the Paneer pretty soon , though the logistics of the curd might take a bit longer . Lets see what happens on this front .

Things at the farm have been progressing well ... most of the required buildings have been constructed . Organic wheat has come into our stores , the cows have their relaxation areas covered with over head foggers to keep them cool during the after noon heat wave . 2 cows are really creating trouble for us and we may have to think about their future at the farm . They are the trouble makers , also their milk yield is way lower than what it should be ... so a decision will be taken in a few days . As usual the labor is being a problem , the more you take care of them the more trouble they create for you . I wonder why they so thick headed ..... we are paying our staff way more than any other farm or way more than they were earning before they came to our farm . But I guess this will be an ongoing head ache , though we hope that we do get lucky and get a good set of people to work for us .

As of now we have about 80 paid up members + another 40 families that have liked the milk and will sign up when they return from their vacations . So this far its looking good .... though we still are a long way of the target needed to get to a break even point .

More later .................................................

Im just soooo dying to get away with Maddie for a lil vacation to re charge my batteries ..... though I somehow don't see that happening anytime soon :-( .