Hetal Dairy

The story behind Hetal Dairy

Eighteen Gir cows, hand-milked, on six hectares near Junagadh in the breed's home district. The number matters more than it looks. Eighteen is small enough that Hetal knows each animal, and small enough that no synthetic feed is needed to hold the yield up. Scale up and that stops being true, which is why we have not asked her to. Ghee here is made the same day the milk is collected. Milk to curd, curd hand-churned to butter, butter simmered slow. Five days from udder to jar, using a method that predates every piece of equipment a modern creamery owns. A cream separator would do it in hours. It would also produce a different fat, and anyone who grew up with real ghee can tell within one spoon. The land here is dryland, with annual rainfall under 600mm, so every choice the family makes matters. Three generations have farmed this soil, and the youngest is now trying biochar and short-rotation cover crops.

We work with them on a five-year offtake agreement, at a price renegotiated every year against an open cost-of-production formula. When wholesale prices rise, we share the gain. When the monsoon fails, we share the bridge financing.