Moo Rakshak: The place Smarter Feeding Powers Dairy Prosperity and Local weather Motion

On the coronary heart of India’s booming dairy sector lies a quiet paradox: whereas the nation leads the world in milk manufacturing, thousands and thousands of its small dairy farmers wrestle with low yields and skinny margins. Samrat Kaushik, a seasoned information strategist and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, noticed this firsthand throughout visits to gaushalas and rural dairy farms. What he found set him on a mission that may turn out to be Moo Rakshak—a precision cattle diet platform geared toward remodeling what goes into India’s dairy animals to basically change what comes out.

The Spark Behind the Startup

Kaushik’s two-decade profession in automation and analytics formed his perception in data-driven effectivity. However it was a deeper private expertise that lit the spark. Whereas engaged on self-sustainability tasks in gaushalas, he encountered numerous small-scale farmers who fed their cattle primarily based on custom and guesswork. Vitamin, an element accounting for as much as 70% of a dairy farmer’s prices, was missed, resulting in poor productiveness and elevated methane emissions.

“What goes into the animal,” Kaushik realised, “defines milk yield, farmer earnings, and even local weather affect.” Thus, Moo Rakshak was born in November 2022, headquartered in Delhi, with area operations in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The enterprise was incubated at IIT Kanpur and different main analysis institutes, signalling early validation of its high-impact mannequin.

A Digital Protector of Cattle and Livelihoods

Moo Rakshak’s identify displays its mission: “Moo” for the cow and “Rakshak” that means protector in Hindi. The platform delivers clever, stage-wise feed suggestions powered by AI, pc imaginative and prescient, and feed science. It gives in-house feed premixes enriched with probiotics, chelated minerals, and important vitamins.

Crucially, the platform may even be monitoring methane emissions from enteric fermentation—a key supply of greenhouse gases, permitting farmers to undertake eco-friendly practices and probably profit from carbon credit.

A Founder-Led Imaginative and prescient for Rural Impression

Kaushik and co-founder Nidhi Gautam, who serves as COO, lead a lean workforce of eight professionals with experience spanning animal science, AI/ML, and rural operations. Grounded in empathy and fieldwork, the workforce displays Moo Rakshak’s ethos of mixing trendy expertise with conventional knowledge.

“Simply as Aadhaar created a digital identification for individuals, we envision a digital dietary identification for each dairy animal,” says Kaushik. This imaginative and prescient positions Moo Rakshak as a trailblazer in integrating rural improvement with information science.

Precision with Goal

The platform’s major customers are India’s 80 million small and marginal dairy farmers, usually managing simply 2–5 animals every. Moo Rakshak addresses their challenges by means of personalised steering, reasonably priced feed options, and easy-to-use digital instruments. The startup employs girls micro-entrepreneurs for last-mile supply and leverages FPOs, dairy co-ops, and agri-retailers for distribution and trust-building.

Its freemium enterprise mannequin gives fundamental advisory without charge, with income streams from precision feed gross sales, paid subscriptions, and carbon credit score partnerships.

Rising Recognition and Tangible Impression

Since its launch, Moo Rakshak has made important strides in remodeling India’s dairy panorama. With over 10,000 farmers impacted, the platform has delivered a mean milk yield enhance of 28% and a 3x return on funding per animal.

This affect has not gone unnoticed. Moo Rakshak was named one of many High 50 Startups in Bharat Pitchathon Problem 3.0 by HEADSTART in August 2024 and recognised among the many High 50 Social Impression Startups by the Tata Social Enterprise Problem in collaboration with IIM Calcutta in September 2024.

It has additionally been featured in distinguished media shops like Dainik Jagran and DD Kisan. Additional, the startup was chosen as a part of the India Delegation to the UAE’s GITEX Develop North Star Tech Occasion, representing Indian innovation on a worldwide stage below the Ministry of Commerce.

Constructing for Bharat and Past

Moo Rakshak’s fast focus is to scale throughout India’s dairy heartlands, deepen digital adoption, and forge partnerships for wider attain. Lengthy-term, the startup goals to broaden into South Asia and Africa, the place smallholder dairy farming faces related structural challenges.

Past numbers, Moo Rakshak is creating measurable environmental and social worth: rising farmer earnings by 25–30%, lowering feed prices by 15–20%, and chopping methane emissions by 10–12%.