'Donkey milk for everyone': Mangaluru man gives up IT career for unusual path

Srinivas Gowda quit his 9-to-5 job to start a career rearing donkeys and building a donkey milk farm in Mangaluru.

A Karnataka techie has quit his 9-to-5 job to start a career rearing donkeys and selling donkey milk at a farm in Mangaluru. “I was previously employed in a software firm until 2020. This is one-of-a-kind in India and Karnataka's first donkey farming and training center,” Srinivas Gowda told news agency ANI.

A 42-year-old man quit his IT job to start the first donkey milk farm in Karnataka and received orders worth Rs. 17 lakhs.

“Presently we have 20 donkeys and I have made an investment of around ₹42 lakh. We are planning to sell donkey milk which has a lot of advantages. Our dream is that donkey milk should be available to everyone. Donkey milk is a medicine formula,” he added while speaking to ANI.

The 42-year-old man opened the farm on June 8, making it the first donkey milk farm in Karnataka. It is believed to be the second in the country; the first donkey milk farm is in Ernakulam district of Kerala.

Srinivas Gowda told agencies that he was moved by the plight of donkeys, which are often undervalued. Gowda is a BA graduate, and quit his job in a software company in 2020. He first started Isiri Farms on 2.3 acres of land at Ira village in Dakshina Kannada district. Isiri Farms is an agriculture and animal husbandry, veterinary services, training and fodder development centre.

Gowda started with rearing goats, rabbits and Kadaknath chicken. Now at the donkey farm, he takes care of around 20 donkeys. He told agencies that the number of donkey species is dying out as they are no longer used by washermen (dhobis) after the widespread adoption of washing machines in nearly every household.

Gowda also shared that several people made fun of him when he shared the idea of starting a donkey farm. Gowda also said that he is planning large-scale supply of donkey’s milk to people in packets. One milk packet of 30ml will cost up to ₹150 and will be distributed through malls, shops and supermarkets, he told.

As donkey's milk is also used in beauty products, Gowda also plans to sell milk to brands and companies manufacturing such products. He shared that he has already received orders worth ₹17 lakh.

In recent news of other people who similarly took leaps of faith and made it, a Bengaluru entrepreneur packed his bag and set off hitchhiking across the country when the coronavirus pandemic shut his shop.

(With Agency Inputs)