UP dairy farmers face losses as summer takes a toll on cattle

Jagdish Agrahari, a resident of Sultanpur in Ayodhya district, Uttar Pradesh, started rearing cattle in August 2025 and selling milk to supplement his income. He has four jersey cows, one Holstein Friesian, and three buffaloes.

Agrahari’s jersey cows fell sick during the weather-changing season in March, as they failed to adjust to the sudden increase in temperature. The treatment bill came to Rs 20,000. He can manage the costs, he says, only because he and his two brothers also run a scrap shop. But most of the 80 million rural households that rely on cattle rearing and dairy for their livelihood have limited capacity to bear rising costs.

These farmers have played an important role in the growth of India’s dairy sector over the last two decades. During this period, milk production increased from around 80 million tonnes in 2000 to 239 million tonnes in 2023.

However, these gains are now under growing pressure as climate change begins to disrupt India’s cattle economy. A recent study by the New Delhi-based think tank, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, says that more than half (54%) of buffalo rearers reported climate-related impacts on their animals. The study claims that half of those rearing crossbred or exotic cattle and 41% of Indigenous...

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