Importance of Challenge feeding in Dairy Cattle :Effect of Pre- and Post-partum Challenge Feeding on Crossbred Dairy Cattle

Importance of Challenge feeding in Dairy Cattle :Effect of Pre- and Post-partum Challenge Feeding on Crossbred Dairy Cattle

Challenge feeding:

Challenge feeding means the cow with potential of high milk production are to be fed increase amount of concentrate to challenge them to produce to the maximum. Challenge feeding starts two weeks before the expected date of calving. This challenge feeding will condition her digestive system for the increased quantity of feed to provide sufficient nutrient to initiate lactation on the higher plane. Generally, the animals are started with 1.5 to 2.0 kg concentrate mixture (@0.3 to 0.5% of body weight) on the date 2 weeks before calving followed by an increment of 0.3 to 0.5 kg daily, so that they will be receiving about 1 kg concentrate mixture per 100 kg body weight at calving. This is practice to challenge the cow to reach her maximum milk production potential.

 

Challenge feeding

·         Challenge feeding means the cow with high milk production potential are to be fed increase quantity of concentrate to ‘challenge’ them to produce to the maximum. ·         This starts two weeks before expected date of calving. This challenge feeding will condition her digestive system for the increased amount of concentrate and provide enough nutrients to initiate lactation on a higher plane. ·         Two weeks before the expected date of calving start feeding 500 g of concentrate mixture. ·         The quantity should be increased daily by 300-400 g until the cow is consuming 500-1000g concentrate for every 100 kg body weight. ·         After calving, the concentrate allowance should be increased by 500 g per day in the first 2 weeks of lactation until the cow achieves peak yield somewhere in the second month of lactation on free choice basis. ·         After this the milk yield is tested and the concentrate allowance is fixed accordingly. ·         India is predominantly an agriculture country as 65% of India‟s population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities. The population of milch crossbred animals stands at 19.42 million, in 2012 and milk production is about 16 % of the total milk produced in country. In developing countries, more than 70% of the expenditure, in dairy farming is on the feeding of animals. Most of the farmers are, not aware of the benefits of quality feeding and that of balanced diet. In India, concentrate feeding to animals is neglected due to poor economic condition of farmers. The milch animals are deprived of concentrate during dry period as well as in milking stage and thus these dairy animals are deprived of essential nutrients. These nutrients are very much essential to fulfil the requirements of growth and maintenance of Foetus, placenta, and uterus as well as to replenish the body tissue losses due to milk production postpartum. This lack of concentrate feeding along with low availability of good quality fodders is the major reason behind the poor productivity of our crossbred cattle population. Many reports are available on challenge feeding however, the information showing the effect of Challenge feeding on performance and economic of animal is good under Indian condition ·         Challenge feeding schedule: Period Concentrate  allowance Last 2 weeks before calving Starting from 500g, increase 300 – 400g daily until the cow is eating 500 – 1000g per 100kg body weight. First 2 weeks of lactation Increase 500g per day to free choice level. Second week to peak yield (test day) Free choice From test day onwards According to production as per thumb rules. E.g. 1Kg for every 21/2 kg milk produced Remaining lactation Concentrate adjusted to monthly test of milk Production All periods Green fodder and dry fodder given adequately

 

Feeding during mid and late lactation

·         The nutrient deficit period of early lactation is followed by a relatively stable period during which the cow can consume enough feed to meet the various demands for nutrients and the body weight of the cow remains more or less stable. ·         During this period the cow maybe fed a well balanced ration of god quality fodder and concentrate according to the milk yield and fat percentage of milk. ·         During the late lactation, intake ability of the cow exceeds nutrient needs. This is the time when the cow starts needing extra allowance for the growing foetus. ·         This is also the period when the cow can readily replenish the already depleted body reserve and gain weight very fast. ·         From 7 ½ month to 10 months of lactation, cow may be fed 1-2 kg concentrate feed in addition to their nutrient requirement for maintenance and milk production to replenish the condition lost in early lactation.

 

Feeding high producing dairy cows
·         High producing dairy cow should eat a large volume of nutrient daily to sustain th milk production at that level. ·         This is simply not possible with bulky forages alone due to physical limitation of volume intake (space in the rumen). ·         If high level of concentrate is fed it may change the microbial and chemical atmosphere of the rumen and cause dysfunction. ·         Rumen fermentation can be controlled by a) composition of ration b) ratio of ingredients in the ration c) quantity of feed supplied d) frequency of feeding and e) physical form of feed. ·         For a high producer the forage fed should of superior quality which also reduces the quantity of concentrate required. ·         Crude fibre is very important in the ration of milking cow because it is well known that rumen fermentation leading to acetic acid production is dependent on the percentage of cellulose in the ration. ·         Cows need acetic acid for maintaining normal milk fat percentage as well as total milk production. ·         Ruminant ration should contain a minimum of 20-25 per cent crude fibre. ·         Higher percentage of grain in the ration reduce cellulose digestibility and cause disturbances like depressed milk fat, depressed milk production and in extreme cases damage to the rumen wall, development of acidosis and death. ·         Frequency of feeding: dividing the daily ration into 3 or 4 parts and feeding them in so many installments has been found to be useful in overcoming this problem. ·         This also results in greater digestibility and better utilization of protein apart from preventing explosive release of acids. ·         A high concentrate ration induces less amount of saliva flow compared to roughages. ·         But when feed is given in 4 or 5 installments the proportion of Na and K salts in rumen return to normal. lactation.

Feeding dry cow

 

·         Feed alone constitute 60 per cent of the production cost of milk. Hence, feeding management play a vital role in farm economy. ·         The nutrient requirement should be determined for maintenance as well as for milk production and to meet the fat percentage in milk and gestation. ·         Based on the nutrient requirement ration should be computed. ·         In general the dry matter from roughage should not exceed 2 per cent of cow’s live weight nor should it be less than 1 per cent

 

Mixing of concentrates and roughages

·         Traditionally, concentrate are fed at the time of milking. Roughages re offered either before or after milking. ·         In high producers, when concentrates are fed in heavy doses at milking time, the appetite of the cows will be reduced temporarily and they may not eat roughages for some time. ·         Consequent, there will be 4 different fermentation, two primarily due to concentrate and two primarily of roughages. ·         The feeding of concentrates separately from roughages during a four time feeding schedule reduces acidic acid production and increases propionic acid. ·         It has been observed that feeding grain on top of silage increased the fat percentage of milk production. ·         Feeding concentrates either on top of forages or mixed with forages has been four to favour optimum rumen fermentation. ·         This has led to the concept of complete feeds which incorporates both roughages and concentrates.

 

Complete feeding

·         In order to simplify feeding of dairy cows complete diet system have been introduced. ·         Complete diet is an intimate mixture of concentrate and roughages in a desired proportion processed in such a way as to preclude selective eating. It forms the sole source of food for the cow. ·         It reduces labour requirement and keeps a tighter control on the cow’s nutrition. ·         It also facilitates the application of least cost method of ration formulation. ·         Feeding of complete diet ad libitum to dairy cow has been found to be advantageous in that it increases feed intake, preserve milk quality as result in better utilization of nitrogen. ·         These are in addition to the most obvious advantage of prevention acidosis from over-eating of concentrate by high producer. ·         The complete diet feeding system is radically different from conventional feeding method in that there is no individual approach in feeding cows. ·         Group feeding is practiced in complete feeding system. There are also fewer changes in diet formulation according to the milk yield. ·         This has come as a result of the experimental and practical feeding observation that yield and efficiency are not improved by individual rationing compared to flat rate feeding of cows grouped according to milk yield or stage of lactation.

Feeding of milch animals during early lactation

·         The rate of milk letdown in high yielders (producing above 15 kg of milk/day) in the first six weeks of lactation, is so high that the secretion of nutrients into the milk exceeds the rate of uptake of nutrients from the digestive tract. ·         The nutrient deficit is compensated by the diversion of nutrients from the body reserves (mobilisation of body fat and protein) resulting in weight loss.Too large a loss in body weight can prove harmful and uneconomical. ·         The appetite of the animal during the early lactation (upto 8 weeks) is reduced by 2 to 3 kg per day. So all the nutrients needs of the animal are to be provided within this appetite limit. ·         It is difficult to meet the nutrient requirements, particularly the energy requirement of such high yielders (more than 15 kg of milk production per day in cows and 12 kg milk yield per day in buffaloes) through normal concentrate mixture and fodder. ·         High energy diets are to be formulated and challenge feeding has to be adopted. ·         Adequate fibre (36% NDF in the total ration) is critical for maintenance of normal milk fat. Usually, all such cows and buffaloes will remain under negative energy balance during first 5 months of lactation.

Challenge feeding

• Challenge feeding starts two weeks before the expected date of calving (Steaming up). Feeding concentrate mixture should be started initially at 500 g per day and increase it gradually to a level of 500 -1000g per 100 kg body weight.
• High milk producing animals are fed increasing quantitiy of feed challenging them to produce at their maximum potential. This challenge feeding will condition her digestive system for the increased quantity of feed to provide sufficient nutrients to initiate lactation on a higher plane. This effect has been found to have higher total milk yield in the lactation.
• In the light of advances made in the field of protein metabolism, the protein requirementsin ruminants are calculated based on rumen protein degradability.
• Mobilization of body reserves during early lactation can be prevented by feeding high fat, high protein oilseeds such as cottonseed which supply both protein and long chain fatty acids (LCAs) for post ruminal digestion ( bypass protein and by pass fat).

Feeding Soybean to high yielding cows/buffaloes:

• Soybean has to fed as both whole oil seed and solvent extracted soybean meal to cows during lactation, more so during the first 3 to 5 months, to overcome the negative energy balance.
• A milch cow was fed 6 kg of concentrate mixture (maize 40%, soybean meal 30%, groundnut meal 10%, rice polish 10%, molasses 7%, mineral mixture 3%), 1 kg of soybeans, 30 kg green fodder and adlibitum wheat straw throughout the 10 months of lactation.
• The cow yielded 4836 kg milk during the lactation period. It was inferred that better milk yield persistency seemed to be as a result of supplementing extra energy and additional protein from one kg whole soybean.
• Twenty Murrah buffaloes yielding 9.2 kg milk per day were used to assess the usefulness of feeding full fat soybean on milk production traits.
• The study was conducted fro 11 weeks. Milk fat booster (MFB) was prepared by mixing soybean 60%, soybean meal 30% and maize 10% ( CP -36% and EE -10%). Each animal was offered fat booster 2 kg, cottonseed cake 1kg, maize- 2 kg and straw ad libitum.
• The results showed an improvement in fat percent from 6.69 to 7.48 while there was not much difference in milk yield. Since most of the high yielding cows and buffaloes are expected to be in negative energy balance during first timester of lactation, the soybean feeding can be advantageous to boost milk or milk fat percentage. (Source: S.P.Arora and D.Bhosale” Future of feed industry in dairy sector in India” Technical bulletin of American Soybean Association)

Some examples of concentrate mixtures

Ration 1
Groundnut cake	35
Wheat bran	20
Maize	15
Oat/Bajra/Sorghum	15
Gram chunnies Mineral Mixture Common Salt	12 2 1
Total	100

 

Ration 2
Mustard cake	20
Wheat bran	45
Green gram chunnies Mineral Mixture Common salt	32 2 1
Total	100

 

Ration 3
Tapioca chips	20
Groundnut cake	30
Gram chuni	22
Rice bran Mineral mixture Common Salt	25 2 1
Total	100

 

Ration 4
Groundnut cake	20
Rice bran	25
Wheat bran	10
Gram husk	27
Cotton seed cake Mineral Mixture Common Salt	15 2 1
Total	100

High yielding Dairy Cattle Nutrition

• Cows yielding more than 20 kg/day and buffaloes yielding more than 15 kg per day are high yielding animals.
• Nutrient requirements vary with the stage of lactation and gestation. Five distinct feeding phases can be defined to attain optimum production, reproduction and health of dairy cows:
• Phase 1 : Early lactation—1 to 70 days (peak milk production) after calving (postpartum).
• Phase 2 : Peak DM intake—70 to 140 days (declining milk production) postpartum.
• Phase 3 : Mid- and late lactation—140 to 305 days (declining milk production) postpartum.
• Phase 4 : Dry period—60 to 14 days before the next lactation.
• Phase 5 : Transition or close-up period—14 days before to parturition.

Cows yielding more than 20 kg/day and buffaloes yielding more than 15 kg per day are high yielding animals.  The milk production in high yielders (producing above 15 kg of milk/day) in the first six weeks of lactation, is so high that the secretion of nutrients into the milk exceeds the rate of uptake of nutrients from the digestive tract. High energy requirement for milk production combined with low feed intake can result in an energy deficit or negative energy balance. A severe negative energy balance is related to an increased risk of metabolic disorders and diseases like fatty liver and ketosis. The nutrient deficit is compensated by the diversion of nutrients from the body reserves (mobilisation of body fat and protein) resulting in weight loss. Too much loss in body weight can prove harmful and uneconomical. The appetite of the animal during the early lactation (upto 8 weeks) is reduced by 2 to 3 kg per day. So all the nutrients needs of the animal are to be provided within this appetite limit. It is difficult to meet the nutrient requirements, particularly the energy requirement of such high yielders (more than 15 kg of milk production per day in cows and 12 kg milk yield per day in buffaloes) through normal concentrate mixture and fodder. High energy diets are to be formulated and challenge feeding has to be adopted. Adequate fibre (36% NDF in the total ration) is critical for maintenance of normal milk fat. Usually, all such cows and buffaloes will remain under negative energy balance during first 5 months of lactation.

Nutrient requirements vary with the stage of lactation and gestation. Five distinct feeding phases can be defined to attain optimum production, reproduction and health of dairy cows

Phase 1: Early lactation—1 to 70 days (peak milk production) after calving (postpartum).

Phase 2: Peak DM intake—70 to 140 days (declining milk production) postpartum.

Phase 3: Mid- and late lactation—140 to 305 days (declining milk production) postpartum.

Phase 4: Dry period—60 to 14 days before the next lactation.

Phase 5: Transition or close-up period—14 days before to parturition.

Nutrient Requirements of High Yielding Dairy Cattle During Different Phases Of Lactation

1. a)Water requirements

• Lactating dairy cows need 60–70 litres of water each day for maintenance, plus an extra 4–5 litre for each litre of milk produced.
• Water requirements increase by 6 lts/day for every 4 0 C raise in air temperatures.
• Lactating cows will drink 150 to 200 litres of water per day in the summer months

1. b) Crude protein requirements

Stage of lactation	% CP in the ration
Early lactation	16 – 18 %
Mid lactation	14 – 16 %
Late lactation	12 – 14 %
Dry period	10 – 12 %

Undegradable or bypass protein (UIP) should be 35 to 40 percent of the CP in early lactation and 30 to 35 percent of CP in late lactation.

Requirements for metabolizable methionine and lysine should also be considered as these are the limiting amino acids for milk production

(c) Roughages:  Roughage quality is partly determined by fibre levels. Complete feed of high yielding cow should not contain less than 21% ADF or 28% NDF. More than 80% fibre should come from lush green forage or good quality silage and remaining from quality hay or naturally fermented straw. The recommended roughage to concentrate ratio for high producing cows should be 50: 50, 60:40 and 75:25 in early, mid and late lactation

(d) Fat: Fat plays important role in performance of lactating animals. The BIS specifications have recommended only 3.0 % and 2.5% fat, in type I and type II concentrate mixture, respectively. Whereas NRC feeding standard have recommended 3.0 % fat, in the complete feed for dairy cattle. However, recent reports indicate that dietary fat upto 5% (complete feed) have direct positive impact on the quantity as well quality of milk.

 (e) Salt: 0.5 percent of the ration DM or 1 percent of the concentrate mixture.

(f) Urea • 3 % of concentrate mixture or 1 percent of the total dry matter intake.

• Ration form: Avoid too fine chopping of forages and concentrates

Minerals and vitamins:

Calcium is one of the most crucial elements in the ration to be considered more carefully. At the beginning of the lactation, the demand of calcium for milk production increases dramatically, leading to the fall in blood calcium levels. This stimulates the secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) from parathyroid glands, resulting in activation of Vitamin D3, which increases the absorption of Ca from intestine and mobilization of bone calcium. But this whole process requires 24- 48 hours, and can’t prevent animals from milk fever as more than 60% cases of milk fever occur within 24 hr of parturition. To avoid incidences of milk fever, the best feeding management practice is to provide low Ca (<50g/d) diet during the dry period (last 2-3 weeks of gestation) which should be increased to 100g/d, at least 2 days before parturition. The diet after parturition should have sufficient Mg, essential for conversion of Vit D3 to 25 H D3 in liver.

Selenium and Vit E play an important role in lactating cows. Both help to maintain the immune system and reproductive efficiency of the animal. The recommended dose is 0.4- 06 g/ day Vit E and 0.3 ppm selenium/ day. Niacin (Vit B complex) being synthesized in the rumen is inadequate for high yielder. It stimulate feed intake, prevent ketosis and improves milk production and increased milk fat content. The recommended dose is 6g/cow/ day.

Dietary Buffers:

The diet of high yielding cow contains more than 50% concentrate mixture, which results in less salivation and rumen buffering. The easily fermentable grain based concentrate, lead to increased acid production resulting in decreased rumen pH, reduced  fibre digestion, depressed feed efficiency and low milk fat percentage. Addition of dietary buffers @1.5% in high concentrate ration can neutralize the acidity in rumen.

Dietary cation anion balance:

Dietary cation anion difference (DCAD) or balance can be used to alter the metabolic status of both dry and lactating cows. DCAD is calculated by subtracting the milliequivalents of positively charged cations, sodium and potassium, from the negatively charged anions, sulfur and chlorine.  If more milliequivalents of cations are available, then the charge is positive and if more anions are present then the charge is negative. Dry cows can benefit from low DCAD resulting in improved in improved bone calcium mobilization and lactating cows benefit from positive DCAD that buffers acids produced during ruminal digestion.

Bypass nutrients:

The term “Bypass Nutrient” refers to that fraction of the nutrients which gets fermented in the rumen to a comparatively low degree. It then becomes available at the lower part of the gastro-intestinal tract in the intact form for subsequent digestion and absorption. Examples of bypass nutrients include; protected proteins/amino acids, protected fat, protected starch and chelated minerals and vitamins. Protein that is not degraded in the rumen and reaches the small intestine unmodified is called rumen bypass protein. Supplementation of this type of protein can improve productivity in terms of improved efficiency of meat, milk and wool production. Various methods have been used for protecting proteins from rumen degradation, such as heat treatment and formaldehyde treatment. Supplementation of bypass fat in the diet of animals has proven very useful to increase milk yield, FCM yield, efficiency of nutrient utilization, postpartum recovery of the body weight, body condition score, reproductive performance and alleviate problems of negative energy balance without adversely affecting the dry matter intake and rumen fermentation.

 

Feeding management tips:

• Feed the cow in several small meals rather than two large ones especially in hot weather.
• Have fresh feeds available in mangers after milking.
• Allow cow access to feed for at least 22 hours of the day.
• Purchase high quality feed ingredients, must get them analysed periodically.
• Minimize drastic changes in the ration.
• Offer minimum mineral mixture before parturition but increase it significantly immediately after parturition.
• Stop milking at least 60 days prior to parturition.

Compiled  & Shared by- Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)

 

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Reference-On Request.

FEEDING STRATEGIES OF DAIRY CATTLE IN INDIA  FOR GOOD HEALTH & BETTER MILK YIELD