Feeds and Feeding strategies for Dairy Animals
D. Medhi*, V. Paul and M. Hussain
ICAR-National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang, West Kameng District Arunachal Pradesh-790101, India
*Corresponding author: dinamanimedhi@gmail.com
The economic development of the farmers in most of the developing countries, livestock plays a vital role by providing its contribution through draft power, manure, fuel and fertilizers in addition to different animal product like meat, milk, egg, wool etc. Unlike western countries we are unable to provide cereals to our livestock and fed mainly on low quality roughages with natural grazing with supplementation of some agro-industrial by-products like cereal straws, sugarcane by-product etc which are deficient in protein, energy, minerals and vitamins. Sometimes, due to seasonal influences also the quality of grazing gets low and livestock productivity gradually declines.
An animal’s diet must contain the essential nutrients in appropriate amounts and ratios for achieving proper maintenance and productivity. Feeding a balanced diet, avoiding over or under feeding with abundant supplies of cool and clean water will help to optimize feed and nutrient use on an animal, which also reflects on their productivity. The diets of ruminant normally consist mainly of fibrous plant material that requires prolonged chewing, fermentation and soaking before its nutrients available for digestion and absorption and their rumen acts as a huge fermentation vat where the fibrous plant materials processed for digestion and broken down into a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFA), that absorbed into the body. Besides, energy and protein their diets must consists of different types of minerals and vitamins to perform various vital activities and protect their body against diseases. However, a single feed ingredient cannot provide all the nutrients required for their body maintenance and productivity hence needs to provide a combination of different ingredients.
Feedstuffs available for livestock:
Various feed ingredients available for preparation of the animal feeds falls into two major categories namely roughage/forage and concentrates depending on their bulkiness and chemical composition. Though, no two feeding stuffs are alike in composition and characters, but in practical feeding, substitution of one feedstuff can be possible with another depending upon the nutrient composition, market price and availability in a particular region. Therefore, it is necessary to know the categories of the feed stuffs with in which substitution are justified for the feeds having same nutritional properties. The overall classification of animal feedstuffs can be done as follows-
- Roughages: Roughages are bulky feeds containing relatively large
amount of less digestible material i.e. crude fibre more than 18% and low (about 60%) in total digestible nutrients (TDN) on air dry basis. These are subdivided in to two major groups (succulent and dry) based on their moisture content. Succulent feeds usually contain moisture from 60-90%, where as dry roughages contain only 10-15% moisture. For the sake of convenience, succulent feeds are again classified into pastures, cultivated fodder crops, tree leaves, silage and root crops. Dry roughages are dried plant materials like straws, hays, stovers etc that’s preserved for usage in scarcity or any unforeseen climatic conditions. Fodder tree leaves and root crops like turnip, tapioca, sweet potatoes etc are also used as green roughage for feeding dairy animals.
- Concentrates: Are the feed or feed mixture which supplies primary nutrient (proteins, carbohydrates and fat) at higher levels but contains less than 18% crude fibre and more than 60% It can be classified as energy rich and protein rich concentrates. The crude protein is less than 18% in energy rich concentrates and more than 18% in protein rich concentrates.
Energy rich concentrates
includes cereal grains viz. Maize, Barley, Rice, Oats and the millets like Ragi, Jowar, Bajra etc, which are rich in carbohydrates. Mill by-products like bran (rice and wheat), flour, hull, polishing etc are also used as a part of concentrate mixture and are also included under this category. Besides, molasses, the by-products in sugar factories can be used in feeds as binding agent for pelletization which increases the palatability and energy contents of the diets.
Protein rich concentrates: Can also be sub-divided as follows-
- Plant Origin: The by-products after removing oils of plant origin are important plant protein supplements viz. Oil seed cakes like Ground nut, cotton seed, linseed, mustard, soybean etc. Pulses can also be used for livestock feeding, but cost is the Brewer’s yeast and grains,
by- products of wine industry etc can also be used as protein supplements.
- Animal Origin: The by-products of slaughter houses like meat, blood
and bones can be dried and made in to powders to be mixed in concentrate feeds.
- Marine Origin: Dried fish, algae etc can also be used in livestock
- Avian Origin: feather meal, hatchery wastes etc are crushed and mixed in concentrate mixture.
- Feed supplements: These includes-
Mineral Supplements:
Based on the work done in India on the mineral elements profile in the feeds and fodder, ISI has recommended the mineral mixture for feeding of dairy cattle and poultry. Many mineral mixtures are marketed under different trade names. Generally salt, calcium carbonate, zinc sulphate and copper sulphate supplements improve production and reproduction.
Vitamin Supplements:
Various vitamin supplements for poultry, pigs and cattle are marketed in India under different trade names like Rovimix for cattle, Vit.AB2D3 for poultry etc.
A) Feed additives:
Several feed additives like hormones, antibiotics, enzymes, probiotics etc are also used now-a-days in livestock feed as growth promoter and to increase the milk secretion. Though recently in some parts some objections have been raised for uses of certain additives but no legislation has been passed on restricting their use in our country till date.
Feeding management:
For maintaining the better availability of nutrients from feed supplied to the animals many interventions like use of Feed choppers/chaff cutters, improved feed troughs, improved forages qualities etc were applied in India as well as other countries. To achieve better productivity of the animals balanced feeding is necessary and an imbalanced feeding may leads to overfeeding of certain nutrients whereas others may lacks. A balanced ration should provide protein, energy, minerals and vitamins from dry fodders, green fodders, concentrates, mineral supplements etc., in appropriate quantities to enable the animal to perform optimally and remain healthy whereas imbalanced feeding results in low milk production, poor growth and reproduction, milk production of animals lower than their genetic potential, excessive amounts of pollutants released into the environment and lower profit to farmers. Overfeeding can be harmful to animals as well as the environment. Animals that become over conditioned or obese may be unproductive and at greater risk of health problems. Excess feed is often wasted and may remain in the feeding area, become contaminated, and end up in the manure pile. If all nutrients are in a perfect balance, then there will be no excess and no wastage. It is impossible for all nutrients to be in a perfect balance in commercial or practical diets, but we want to come close to meeting an animal’s nutrient requirements. If the diet is balanced except for one underfed nutrient, then the entire production of the animal will be limited to the level of that “limiting nutrient” and all other nutrients will be wasted. If nutrients are overfed, or if feeding is mismanaged on an individual farm, this will result in more nutrients to manage in manure or as spoiled feed. While these nutrients can be applied to crop or hay ground to raise feed, it is important to try and keep this recycling loop as balanced as possible to avoid build-up of excess nutrients. Proper animal feeding and management practices can ensure that feed nutrients are not wasted, not overfed, and feed efficiency will be optimized on the farm.
Feeding of dairy animals:
The feeding of dairy animals could be divided in to two stages i.e. pre- ruminant (up to three months) and ruminant (after three months) stage.
Pre-ruminant/Calves Feeding:
A well planned systematic feeding management of a calf is very much essential to optimizing the weight gain in adults because higher the plane of nutrition, the earlier is the onset of puberty, thus quilter the return on capital. The first two to three months of life is the critical period to achieve the objective. But at the same time they should not be too fatty, that’s interfere with reproduction.
Feeding of any animal starts before its born and thus the expected mother needed to supply some extra nutrients providing concentrates at the rate of 0.25 percent of their body weight (Santra et al., 2012). A little quantity of green fodders should be fed during last two months of gestation so that the colostrums produced immediately after parturition become rich in Vitamin A.
Feeding schedule of calves from birth to 3 months:
The feeding of calves immediately after birth, should starts with colostrum, the first milk of mother as it is high in lacto-globulin that’s provide antibodies to the calves. Besides, it is high in nutritive values and could provide a balanced feed to the calves. It has also laxative effects that help in removing the meconium (the first faeces). The high content of vitamins (A, D and E) and minerals (Ca, Mg, Fe and P) also helps the calf to resist infections. However, over feeding of colostrums may leads to calf scour. The colostrums may be substitute with the mixture of lukewarm water 275ml, one raw egg (55g), castor oil 3ml, whole milk 525ml fortified with 10000 IU of Vit A and 80mg of feed grade antibiotics in absent of dam or insufficient. The mixture should be fed at 400C after proper mixing in one meal. Likewise, calf should be fed two to three times daily for three days (Reddy, 2003).
A major portion of the requirements for the pre-ruminant calves are met by whole and skim milk. After parturition, colostrums should be fed within first 1-2 hour of birth and is continued till 3 days of age. In commercial dairy farming, the calves should be weaned at 4th day and from 4th day they should be fed with the restricted amounts of dam’s milk, which is high in nutritive value and could serve as almost complete feed for the calves. The whole milk should be fed to the calves @ 1/10th of body weight up to first 3 weeks, 1/15th of body weight up to 5th week and 1/20th of body weight with gradual tapering up to 60 days of age. After 60 days it is not necessary to feed whole or skim milk, but to be fed with calf starter with sufficient quantity of good quality green grasses or hays. The total quantity of milk (whole + skim) should not increase beyond 140 kg in 60 days time in case of hybrid calves. Milk diet must be supplemented with calf starter and little good quality hay from 10th days of age.
Introduction of solid feeds (roughage/concentrates) at an early age in calf’s diets helps in early establishment of the microbial population and development of rumen, resulting in utilization of coarse fodders and Non-Protein Nitrogenous (NPN) compounds and can synthesis vitamin B and microbial protein from simple nitrogenous components at an early age (Reddy, 2003).
Methods of feeding milk:
The schedule quantity of boiled milk is to be fed at body temperature of the calf making into two halves (morning and evening) so that it reduces the chances of indigestion problem. Some feed grade antibiotics like Aurofac/ Terramycin may either be given with milk or mixed with calf starter. Calves may require little training during first few days after birth for consuming milk from pail, but afterwards they start consuming their quota quickly.
The whole milk may also be substituted with calf replacer which resembles milk in its broad chemical composition and biological value and fed to calf to replace milk from the economic point of view. This can be practiced immediately after colostrums feeding. The amount of milk replacer is gradually increased with a simultaneous decrease in the amount of whole milk. Milk replacer is usually fed in the gruel form and it is based on skim milk powder which usually comprises at least 50% of the total dry matter.
Feeding calves from three months to maturity:
From third month onwards, cultivated green grasses can be given @ 2kg per day, raising the quantity to 5-10 kg at 6 months of age. Concentrate mixture containing 16% DCP and 70% TDN may be offered @ 0.75 kg, 1 kg and 1.5 kg per calf during 4th, 5th and 6th months of age. The quantity of concentrate mixture is to be adjusted depending upon the quality and quantity of forage offered. The calves can be maintained on high quality roughage ration plus a minimum amount of concentrate so as to affect economy in maintenance.
After 6 months of age, individual feeding of calves may be discontinued and the males and females should be kept in separate paddocks and their feeding should do accordingly.
Assuming a daily body weight gain of 0.45 kg from the 6th to 24th month of age (Maturity age in indigenous breeds), 2 kg concentrate mixture with 16% DCP and 70% TDN and 15-20 kg of green fodder should be provided to each calf. If leguminous folders are available in plenty, then the amount of concentrate mixture can be reduced to 1 kg per day. When the main roughage is a straw or stover, 2.5 kg of concentrate mixture should be given daily to calves of 6 months to 1 year of age and up to 3 kg for older growing stock. Buffalo calves are generally heavier than cattle calves of the same age. So this fact has to be kept in mind while formulating ration, and feeding schedule should be adjusted according to their body weight and age. Young males to be used for draught purpose can be fed solely on green fodders and hay from 1 year of age. To induce rapid growth rates fattening calves reared for meat purpose should be fed on rations that’s contain at least 50% more DCP and TDN than in growing ration.
Feeding of adults:
The daily feed requirements of an individual animal in 24 hours i.e. ration may be given in a single or in portions at intervals. In computation of ration for dairy animals prime consideration is to be ascertaining to meet up the total requirement in terms of dry matter, digestible protein (DCP) and energy (TDN)
for 24 hours. The requirement of the quantity of dry matter depends on the body weight of the animal and also with the nature of production. In general cattle eat daily 2.0 to 2.5kg dry matter for every 100kg live body weight and the whole dry matter allowances should be divided as follows:
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Feeding of dairy cattle and buffalo by thumb rule:
Avoiding the difficult calculations for feeding dairy animals on the basis of their dry matter, digestible protein (DCP) and energy (TDN) requirements, farmers can apply a thumb rule to fed their dairy animals satisfactory, in which they should prepared a concentrate mixture first in such a way that 3.5-4kg of it can support 10kg of milk production when fed over the maintenance ration. The mixture may be composed of crushed maize 40-50%, Wheat/rice bran 15-20%, Oil cakes 30%, Mineral mixture 2% and salt 1%. Generally this concentrate mixture
should contain 14-16% DCP and 68-72% TDN. The dairy animals can be fed according to their body requirements as follows-
i. Maintenance ration:
Feed stuffs For Local/Zebu cattle For crossbred Cattle/ Buffalo
- Hard grain mixture 1-1.25kg 0kg daily
- Paddy/wheat Straw 0kg 4.0-6.0kg daily
- Extra allowances during pregnancy: During the last trimester of pregnancy, an extra 25 and 1.75kg concentrate is recommended for zebu cattle and crossbred, respectively.
- Extra allowances for milk production: An additional amount of 1kg concentrates for every 5kg of milk yield over and above the maintenance requirements in case of zebu cattle (4% fat) or 1kg concentrate per 2.0kg of milk yield in case of buffaloes (6% fat).In addition for pregnant and milk producing animals, sufficient quantity of green grasses should be supplied as per their consumption limits. So, on the basis above, the whole dairy stock have to be divided by the farmers and prepared the required quantity of concentrate feed taking care of sufficient storage of paddy straws and green grasses. Besides, some special attention should also be given in feeding of high yielding dairy animals especially during pregnancy and lactation. Feeding of pregnant dairy animals:
Pregnant animals after 6 months of pregnancy (last trimester), as it is the
active growing period of the foetus inside (about 60% growth occurs during the last 3 months of pregnancy) needs special feeding called “steaming up”. It means feeding of extra amount of concentrates to pregnant animals to meet the heavy demands of un-burned foetus. During this period the cow is generally in dry condition and should build up the body reserves lost in early lactation and there should be regeneration of mammary tissues. During this period, body weight of the cow should be increased by 20-30 kg, to enable the animal to with stand the stress of parturition and to maintain the persistency of milk production during the subsequent lactation. In this method, dry pregnant cows are offered extra
quantities of concentrates which increase gradually during the last 6 week of pregnancy. Normally 50% of DCP and 25% of TDN of the maintenance requirements are fed above the maintenance requirement and to cover these nutrients 1-1.5 kg of additional concentrate mixture over the maintenance ration should be fed.
Feeding pregnant heifer:
Under standard farm practices, heifers conceive at the age of active growth i. e. at 15-18 months. Therefore nutrient is required both for growth of foetus as well as for the heifer itself. Cereal forage or a mixture of leguminous fodder and straw at 1:1 ratio on DM basis or 7:1 ratio on fresh basis should be fed ad libitum supplemented with 1 kg of concentrate per day. In the last 2-2.5 month of gestation period an extra 2-3 kg concentrate may be fed for normal growth of the foetus as well as the heifer. During the last 3 days prior to calving the amount of concentrate mixture should be reduced and a little warm bran is to be fed to keep the animal in laxative condition before calving.
Conclusion:
The requirements of different nutrients of dairy animals depends on their species, sex, age, stage of growth and production etc and although no single feed ingredient could provide all the nutrients required for them in spite of lots of region specific feed ingredients available all over the world. However, their feeding should always aim to provide a balanced diet with abundant supplies of clean and fresh drinking water so that they could get sufficient nutrients as per their requirements. Their rations must be adjusted according to their age, body weights and to achieve optimum productivity.
References
Baruah K K, Paul V, Ahmed F A, Chakravarty P, Deori S, Sarma H and Saikia A. 2012. Effect of strategic feed supplementation on growth performance and nutrient utilization in yak calves during winter. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 82: 220-22.
Reddy, D. V. (2003). Nutrient requirements of Indian Cattle and Buffaloes.
Applied Nutrition (Livestock, Poultry, Human, Pet, Rabbit and laboratory Animal Nutrition). Published by Oxford & IBH
- https://www.fao.org/ag/aga/agap/frg/AHPP86/Leng.pdf
