The reading behind Ojas Agriculture
Nine working papers written while planning this venture, reading the classical texts beside modern dairy science, agronomy and veterinary research. They are internal drafts, not peer-reviewed, and not published on this site.
The nine papers
What each one covers. They record what we read and planned; they are not evidence that any of it works.
The cattle commons and the farm's cycle
How a shared cattle hostel could be laid out and run
A working design for a village cattle hostel: its buildings, how the herd would be fed, and where the dung would go.
- The layout of a shared shed
- Feeding and fodder
- Dung, urine and biogas
The dairy biorefinery
Separating milk into its parts near the village
What a small plant could separate from milk, by which methods, and what each part is used for.
- Membrane filtration
- Ghee, casein, whey and lactose
- The calf's first claim to colostrum
The rural bio-economy
The village-scale argument for the commons
The wider argument: what keeping cattle in common could mean for a village's soil, its work and its breeds.
- Soil and soil carbon
- Native breeds
- Village work and incomes
Agritech and a rural test-bed
Where makers of farm tools could try them on a working farm
A proposal for letting agritech makers try their tools at a working hostel and farm.
- Sensors and farm machinery
- Testing on working farms
- Rural start-ups
Medicinal farming and Vṛkṣāyurveda
Soil, manure and the classical texts on plants
The plant-care texts read beside modern agronomy, and what growing medicinal plants to a standard involves.
- Surapāla's Vṛkṣāyurveda
- Farm-made manures
- Growing medicinal plants to a standard
Ethno-veterinary practice and Pashu Āyurveda
The tradition of animal care, and where it is written down
What Indian ethno-veterinary practice uses and where it is documented, set beside modern veterinary care.
- Antibiotic use in dairy
- Documented herbal practice
- The written veterinary tradition
Case studies from the field
Reported accounts of cattle hostels and shared sheds run by others
What published accounts of hostels and shared sheds elsewhere in India report, read as benchmarks for a design.
- Village cattle hostels
- Dairy cooperative care centres
- Panchayat cattle sheds
Plant-based feed additives
For poultry, fish and livestock
A review of plant-based feed additives and where they are used in place of synthetic ones.
- Herbal feed additives
- Poultry and aquaculture feed
- Livestock in hot weather
The veterinary literature and patents
Published studies and patent filings on herbal animal care
A reading list of published veterinary studies and patent filings on herbal animal care. It collects them; it does not establish that any preparation works.
- Published veterinary studies
- Herbal preparations in the patent record
- What the studies do and do not show