Founded in 2022 by Arpan Kalotra and Bhimsinh Ghanghal—two pastoralists from the Maldhari community—Panchal Dairy produces and retails artisanal cheese made out of goat and sheep milk in Sayla, located in the Surendranagar district of Gujarat. They source milk directly from local pastoralists who follow traditional livestock-rearing practices. Their current range of products includes both fresh and aged cheeses—goat milk cheeses like feta, halloumi, and Tomme de Sayla, and specialty sheep milk cheeses like ricotta, roquefort, and pecorino.
Most conventional dairies in and around Surendranagar only accept goat or sheep milk from the pastoral communities when it is mixed with cow or buffalo milk. This is because dairies typically refuse anything other than cow milk, owing to the absence of a dedicated market for non-bovine goat and sheep milk. While pastoralists produce milk in significant quantities, a lack of separate collection or value chain systems for sheep and goat milk means that they have little choice but to channel it through the existing dairy market dominated by cow and buffalo milk.
Panchal Dairy was established to address this gap, and create livelihoods for pastoralist communities in the region. They work with a small network of partner farmers and goat rearers, including both men and women, depending on the milk available and number of pre-orders.
These pastoralists follow traditional herding practices wherein they ensure that the kids and lambs get an ample supply of milk before manually milking the goats and sheep. They also follow traditional migration routes which allow their herds to feed on native plants such as babul, khejri, kumath, gorad, kerdo, and neem, resulting in nutrient-rich milk.
Today, Panchal Dairy sources milk from six families who have a total herd size of 400 goats and 200 sheep; the dairy pays them more than the average market rate which is typically ₹25 per litre for goat milk, and ₹38 per litre for sheep milk. Panchal Dairy pays their pastoralists ₹40 and ₹45 rupees per litre for goat and sheep milk, respectively.
The Locavore Bite
TL Bite offers a glimpse into how a partner producer runs their operations, and reflects their core principles and values. The idea is to provide insights into their practices and highlight their positive efforts descriptively. We have identified seven key areas of assessment – origin and source of ingredients, composition and integrity of the products, workforce policies, production practices, community-related initiatives, approach towards preserving or celebrating traditional knowledge and the materials used in packaging. While this assessment may not be entirely comprehensive, we hope it helps you make an informed decision about why you might want to support them, and the ways in which to do so.
The information below offers you a snapshot of where Panchal Dairy stands on these parameters. We have put this together based on several rounds of conversations with Arpan Kalotra. Click on a piece of the pie below to find out more.
Why We Love Panchal Dairy
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Close relationships with local pastoralists: Before Panchal Dairy was established, women from the Maldhari community offered Arpan and Bhimsinh financial support. Now, Panchal Dairy sources milk from these women and their families. They have formed trust-based relationships with them where they pay them more than the average market rate for the milk. They also collect milk depending on what is available, considering unweaned kids and lambs also feed on their mothers’ milk.
- Preserving traditional herding practices: Earlier, before the introduction of canals and other water bodies in the region, local pastoralists would rely on migration—from the onset of summer to the arrival of monsoon—to locate water resources and grazing tracts for their herds. These migration routes spanning thousands of kilometres across states—from Gujarat to Maharashtra and even Tamil Nadu—have been passed down over generations. Panchal Dairy sources milk from pastoralists who continue to follow traditional migration routes. The herds feed on native plants across the routes which helps prevent overgrazing and also results in nutritious milk that is distinct in flavour, reflecting what the herds feed on.
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Small-batch production to avoid wastage: Panchal Dairy collects milk daily, at 8 am, which is then tested and sent for processing in Sayla. The cheesemaking process goes on until 2 pm, after which the cheese is aged. Their cheese is made on a pre-order basis to avoid wastage, and in instances of limited pre-orders and excess milk, they resort to making aged cheeses which have a longer shelf life.
Have you noticed a shift in people’s perception towards goat and sheep milk products, and pastoral practices in recent years? How do you envision this changing in the future?
“There has definitely been a gradual shift. The market for processed cheese in India has developed significantly over the past 5–8 years. Today, cheese is accessible almost everywhere—pizzas and pastas that use it have become quite common. As a result, people’s tastes are slowly evolving and adapting to these flavours.
You can see this within families too—while parents may have taken time to get used to it, the younger generation is far more open and often enjoys cheeses and new dairy products. This is a positive direction, and it gives hope that in the future there will be greater openness and a larger market for diverse dairy products, including those made from goat and sheep milk.”
—Arpan Kalotra, Co-founder of Panchal Dairy
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If you would like to learn more about Panchal Dairy, or try their products, check out their website. If you’re interested in supporting them in other ways, please contact us at connect@thelocavore.in.
This is a paid partnership with Panchal Dairy. At The Locavore, we strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.
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