Click to Sell: A Murrah Buffalo

An advertisement on a popular e-classified site reads thus: “Kapil,Ongle,Achep. 10 in number.” Further scrutiny throws up more information — “Each is two years old and gives 15 litres of milk daily.” Kapil,Ongle and Achep are names of breeds of milch and bovine animals that are being advertised online for sale to clients ranging from dairy farms to individuals to anyone with an interest in farming and agriculture.

In the world of e-commerce and e-advertising,where selling an old computer,motorbike or even the 20-year-old living room sofa set is considered commonplace,trading in cattle (cows,buffaloes and calves) is an emerging category that has found enthusiastic takers. Twenty-five-year-old Deepak Mann,a property dealer who lives in a small village near Alipur,along the GT Karnal Road on the outskirts of Delhi,is one such seller. In the span of a year,he has sold 15 cows through online advertisements and he is now trying to do the same with his two-year-old imported Holstein Friesian breed of cow for Rs 70,000 on Quikr.com.

The online route has also found favour with representatives from established dairy farms across India. In Gujarat’s Mehsana district,Arvindbhai Chaudhary has been operating the Shiva Dairy Farm for 30 years. The farm,with a stock of 50 cattle,deals in exporting and importing of Murrah,Mehsana and Jaffrabadi breed of buffaloes and indigenous breeds of cows such as Gir,Kankrej and Jersey. For the past year,Chaudhary has been posting ads for cattle and buffaloes on e-classified sites. “These are convenient for our business since we get our buyers immediately. Our operations have become more efficient,” says 50-year-old Chaudhary.

There are various factors taken into consideration while posting an ad for cattle. Since the cattle are mostly bought for milk and not for farming,the quantity of milk they yield daily determines their price. Those with higher yields command more money. The percentage of fat in the milk is also a determinant — a cow which yields 8-10 litres of milk daily is priced between Rs 19,000 and Rs 23,000 while a Murrah buffalo which yields 8-12 litres is priced between Rs 30,000 and Rs 35,000. The animal should be between two-five years old and in good health,without any markings or wounds.

Studies conducted by Olx.in reveal that the trend of selling milch cattle is more prominent in southern states such as Karnataka and Andra Pradesh with over 70 per cent postings received from the region. “We do not have a hand in what sells,but we monitor postings to ensure they are not illegal. Sixty-five per cent of our traffic are repeat users. This shows that they have had some level of success in the past,” says Amarjit Batra,CEO,Olx. While websites like Olx and Quikr are popular listing sites,they do not conduct e-commerce. “We act like a marketplace between buyers and sellers. The site is targeted at consumers who normally are not frequent online shoppers,” says Batra. Apart from farm animals,items posted online for sale is undergoing a vast diversification; emerging categories include farm equipments (tractors,threshers,harvesters,pumps,gensets),crops,seeds,atta chakkis and even cow-dung.

This diversification,say site moderators,are mainly coming out of Tier II and III cities in the country. Quikr,which advertises various categories of products online,is seeing a rise in participation from rural towns. Pranay Chulet,its CEO,says,“We have been getting more than 50 per cent traffic from small towns and suburbs,which reflects how the mass market is getting initiated into the internet.” Manoj Yadav,a 30-year-old businessman from Dwarka’s Kanganheri village,who regularly posts ads online for old mobile phones and cars,decided to do the same for his cattle after a casual chat with friends. “I had been planning to sell my pregnant cow. My friends told me about online selling. I did my first posting only a few weeks ago and now I am waiting for responses,” says Yadav.