FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS

FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS

Introduction

In Goa, the dairy farmers mostly keep cows (indigenous and crossbred) along with few buffaloes for milk production. However, the genetic potential of the dairy animals is exploited fully, when they are fed with well balanced ration. Further, as feed cost is around 75% of the total cost of production, the success of the dairy farming depends not only on the quality of the ration, but also on the economy of the ration. Therefore, knowledge on the feeds and feeding of dairy animals is highly essential.

BUREAU OF INDIAN STANDARD (BIS) SPECIFICATIONS FOR COMPOUNDED CATTLE FEED

COMPOSITION OF CALF STARTER

Calf starter is a balanced concentrate mixture, which is fed to the calves from 10th day of age to supplement the nutrients, when they are raised on limited milk intake.

Composition of calf starter

COMPOSITION OF CONCENTRATE MIXTURE

It is a mixture of different concentrate feed ingredients like cereal grains (maize, rice kani etc), cereal grain byproducts (rice polish, brewers’ dried grains etc), oil cakes (soybean meal, groundnut cake, cotton seed cake etc), mineral mixture and common salt in different ratios as per the requirement.

Examples of Concentrate Mixture

The concentrate mixture may be either in Mash Form or Pellet Form.

Mash Form

Pellet Form

FEEDING SCHEDULE FOR CALVES, HEIFERS, PREGNANT AND LACTATING COWS

Feeding schedule for calves (per day)

Feeding schedule for heifers (per day)

Feeding schedule for pregnant animals 8-10 weeks before calving

Feeding schedule for lactating animals

Rations for lactating animals (for cows producing up to 7 kg milk and buffaloes producing up to 5 kg milk per day)

Rations for lactating animals (for cows producing more than 7 kg milk and buffaloes producing more than 5 kg milk per day)

(i) If the dairy animal i.e. cows producing more than 7 kg milk and buffaloes producing more than 5 kg milk per day, then provide extra concentrate mixture @ 400g per kg increase in cow milk and 500 g per kg increase in buffalo milk.

(ii) If the dairy animal is pregnant, then besides the maintenance and production requirement, one kg concentrate mixture as pregnancy allowance should be offered extra only in the last three months of the pregnancy.

Feeding of high producing animals

The high yielding dairy animals need very special feeding strategies. Low quality roughages like straw or stovers should not be offered to high producing animas. The concentrate mixture of high yielders must contain energy and protein rich ingredients like soybean meal, roasted soybeans, by pass nutrients etc. Buffers like sodium bicarbonate, magnesium oxide and vitamin mixture should be added in the diet for better utilization of the feedstuffs. The composition of concentrate mixture for high yielders is presented in Table 11.

Concentrate mixture for high yielding animals

IMPORTANT TIPS ON FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS

(i) The green fodder must be chopped before feeding to the dairy cows for better utilization.

(ii) If possible, soak the concentrate mixture in water for 6-8 hours and then feed to the animals.

(iii) The required concentrate mixture, green fodder and straw may be offered either separately or mixing together as total mixed ration (TMR).

(iv) The total ration to be offered daily should be divided and offered twice (morning and afternoon) for better utilization.

(v) Do not feed calcium rich feed ingredients or mineral mixture to the dairy cows 15 days before parturition, as high calcium intake during this period increases the chances of milk fever.

(vi) Provide clean fresh water free of choice to the dairy cows. For easy accessibility, a cemented water tank should be constructed near to the cow shed and the tank should be painted with lime at frequent intervals to make the water clean.

Please follow and like us: