Hiraman discovers that donkeys are an excellent source of milk as they produce a rich, creamy product with a high fat content. Now with its usefulness catching up in India, the milk, a known good source of essential fatty acids, proteins, and minerals, emerges as a nutritious choice for a variety of products. The milk can be used to make cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products, as well as traditional medicines.
Countries like Italy, Greece and Turkey have a history of using donkey milk (DM) for culinary and medicinal purposes. India is catching up too, for in recent years a handful of entrepreneurs have established donkey farms which produce DM and manufacture DM powder and even DM-based cosmetics.
DM has a long history of medicinal and cosmetic uses. Hippocrates reportedly used it as a treatment for arthritis, coughs, and wounds. It’s said that Queen Cleopatra of ancient Egypt maintained her soft, smooth skin with DM baths. Milk from at least 700 donkeys were used for her daily bath.
It’s more widely available as freeze-dried powdered milk and an ingredient in some European-imported chocolate bars. In Italy, where it’s especially popular, donkey milk is used in some infant formulas and as a medical food.
The growing demand for DM soap in Jordan due to expectations that it brings a magic solution to skin problems has fuelled craze among the fashion conscious in this Arab nation lately. A litre of DM is used to produce 30 bars of DM soap after mixing it with olive oil, almond oil, coconut oil and shea butter.
Donkeys (Equus asinus asinus) are an excellent source of milk, as they produce a rich, creamy product with a high fat content. DM is also a good source of essential fatty acids, proteins, and minerals, making it a nutritious choice for a variety of products. The milk can be used to make cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products, as well as traditional medicines.
Nutritionally, DM is very similar to human breast and cow’s milk. It provides vitamins and minerals along with protein. The two milks are similar in terms of total protein content and amino acid profile. “In addition, both donkey and human milk are poor in casein and rich in lactose and share a similar unsaturated: saturated fatty acid ratio and cholesterol, sodium, potassium, and vitamin C content,” states www.healthline.com.
Even the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation acknowledges that donkey milk has “particular nutritional benefits”, with a protein profile that may make it more suitable for those allergic to cow’s milk.
U Babu, a resident of Vannarpet, Tamil Nadu is the owner of the largest donkey farm, called Donkey Palace. He set it up with the assistance of Hisar-based ICAR’s National Research Centre on Equines. Babu rears around 5000 donkeys and has around 75 franchise farms working for him.
The Donkey Palace’s products include fresh DM, DM powder; donkey dung used as fertilizer, and distilled donkey urine for Siddha medicines and the pharma industry. Shri Babu’s vision is to preserve indigenous donkey breeds, raise their status, donkey conservation, and to eliminate the pessimistic perceptions of donkeys in society.
Despite the challenges posed by the limited number of donkeys in Tamil Nadu, with each milking female capable of producing less than a litre of milk per day for six months, his determination and hard work have paid off, and he has established himself as a successful entrepreneur.
In a LinkedIn post, Ajay Kumar Gupta of NIIR Project Consultancy Services (NPCS) writes: “Today, there is a renewed interest in the practice, as people look for more sustainable ways to produce dairy products. Donkeys are hardy, long-living animals that can be raised in a variety of climates and conditions. They are also relatively low-maintenance, requiring minimal veterinary care and feed. For these reasons, donkey farming is an attractive alternative to traditional dairy production.”
As per the 20th Livestock Census, the total population of donkeys in the country was 1.2 lakh in 2019, a decline of 61.23 percent over the previous Census. Their population is declining as machines have replaced donkeys in most areas of their utility and breeders are losing interest in their growth. If the donkey milk business takes off in other areas as well, it will stem the decline in their population as well. In Europe, donkey dairies are growing in popularity to produce an alternative milk source for human infants. However, India has a tiny market for donkey milk, concentrated in southern states.
In 2005, Aby Baby did something that took his family aback. Having quit his well-paid job at an IT firm in Bengaluru he returned to his home in Ramamangalam in Ernakulam district of Kerala to start a donkey farm. To materialise his vision of marketing DM, Aby travelled across south India and secured 32 donkeys by 2016. It took him 10 years to set up the farm. Currently his farm has 23 donkeys, of which 20 are jennies.
One who believes that DM is the biggest solution for all our skin problems, Aby established a small production unit near his house, where he started manufacturing a range of cosmetic products–firmness creams, facial creams, shampoo, body wash, to name a few. His brand of cosmetics, Dolphin IBA uses DM. All Dolphin IBA products have DM and rosemary in common.
Aby considers his venture to be a first initiative of its kind in the India and goes on to add that a few western countries are doing this.
A female donkey gives between 400ml to 1.2 litres of milk daily for about six to seven months after foaling. The milk comes at a cost and is sold in the Indian market for Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per litre. A good breed donkey costs around Rs 80,000 to Rs one lakh. Even the products made of donkey milk are costly as the making cost is very high.
Having failed to get a permanent position as a teacher in a government-run school despite clearing several eligibility tests, Primary Teacher Certificate (PTC), Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) exam, Dhiren Solanki of Patan in Gujarat did something unheard of—he set up a donkey farm and has built a successful business of DM powder, which is exported at Rs 63,000 per kg to Malaysia, China, and other countries.
In 2023, Dhiren bought 20 jennies (female donkeys) from a local trader in Patan. They included animals from the Halari, Desi, Kathiawadi and Rajasthani breeds. The cost per animal was Rs 35,000 (around Rs 7 lakh for 20 jennies). He created a farm on the vacant land behind his house and named it the TDS Donkey Farm.
Each female donkey at Dhiren’s farm gives 600 ml to 700 ml milk per day. Following milking it is heated for 2 minutes to kill bacteria and then stored at minus 4 degrees Celsius. It stays good at this temperature for three months.
Though he supplies DM at Rs 5,000 per litre to some people in Gujarat and South India on a need basis, over 90 percent of the output is used to make DM powder, which is exported. Dhiren outsources the milk to a local freeze-drying unit to convert into milk powder.
According to Dhiren 16lts of DM yields a kg of milk powder which is sold at Rs 63,000 per kg to exporters who further sell it to pharma and cosmetics companies. His monthly output is around 500 litres of milk, resulting in about 25 to 30 kg of DM powder.
In coming months Dhiren plans to increase the number of animals to 100 and begin a freeze-drying unit to make DM powder which is likely to cut processing costs and make his product more competitive.