Importance of Fodder for Successful Dairy Farming:
Dairy farmers spend most of their money on feeding their animals for growth. Approximately 60% of all expenses on dairy farming are spent on the provision of appropriate feed according to the requirements of animals.
God Almighty has blessed dairy farmers with different kinds of fodder for the health of his animals and to make his business profitable. He can provide the best quality of feed to his animals with comparatively less expense.
Fodder for Animals:
1. The cheapest source of feed. 2. Fodder provides a variety of important nutritients. 3. Fodder provides animals their favourite feed, throughout the year. 4. Excessive fodder can be easily stored for seasons when there is a shortage of fodder.
Types of Fodder:
God Almighty has blessed man with various kinds of fodders according to the needs of the animals in different seasons. For instance, wintertime fodders have a higher protein content to help tolerate a cold climate; in the summertime fodders contain less protein to counter the ill effects of high temperatures. These fodders can be divided according to the productive age of the fodders and different seasons, as listed below:
1. Multicut / evergreen fodders 2. Winter Fodders 3. Summer Fodders
Evergreen Fodders (Perennial):
This is the fodder which is planted once only and may be utilized all year long or even for many years. These fodders are lucern, mott grass, sudan grass, etc.
Fodders of the Winter Seasons:
These fodders are grown at the beginning of winter. They ensure provision of fodder in the cold season and reaches maturity in summer. These fodders are barseem, oats, rye grass etc
Fodders of the Summer Seasons:
These fodders are grown at the beginning of summer. They ensures provision of fodder till the beginning of the winter season. These fodders are maize, sorghum, millet etc
Nutritional Value of Different Fodders
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The Schedule of Permanent Provision of Fodders to the Cattle:
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Modern Trends in the Production of Fodder:
1. Selection of fodder with higher nutritional value 2. Preference for fodder with a higher per acre production 3. Preference for (multicut) fodder 4. Preference for fodder which can be easily preserved/stored
Important Factors that Increase per Acre Production of Fodder:
1. Seeds which produce high yield 2. Timely cultivation according to schedule 3. Timely use of balanced fertilizers and water 4. Timely use of insecticides 5. Timely harvesting
Use of crop residues and bye-products:
It is important to reduce expenses on the farm to a suitable level to make the dairy business a successful industrial unit. This aim can be achieved by using the inexpensive residues of crops in a better way, because they constitute 2/3 the amount of total production of grains. These residues include wheat chaff, maize stems and cobs etc. It can be purchased at a low price at the time of their harvesting. Its nutritional value can be easily increased by mixing it with urea, molasses and mineral mixture
According to NARC, the nutritional value of wheat straw for animal feed can be increased according to the following formula
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According to the UAF, the nutritional value of maize cobs can be increased considerably according to this formula
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Hurdles in Continous Provision of Fodder and How to overcome them:
Sowing and harvesting fodder depends on weather suitable for growth of each required fodder. The farmer divides fodder into groups of winter, summer and perennials according to the appropriateness of sowing and harvesting. He has to grow the required fodder according to the weather conditions to get a better yield. Due to this seasonal schedule of sowing and harvesting of fodder, he has to face its shortage three times in a year.
A farmer has the following options during this fodder shortage:
1. Purchasing expensive fodder to feed animals thus wasting all his possible savings 2. Keeping his animals hungry or under-fed and as a result adversely affect their production 3. Buying cheap fodder of low quality and then bear losses of health and production of his animals
Traditionally, the farmer bears the negative effects on the health and production of his animals, but it is not difficult for a successful dairy farmers to find a solution to these problems. The secret of his success is in providing cheap but quality fodder to his animals all the year round, without hindrance.
If the dairy farmer takes note of these points and acts upon this procedure, he will always benefit from his dairy farming. There would be no negative effects on health and production of the animals.
1. The farmer must know how much fodder is required for all of his animals for the whole year and he must meet his target.
2. He must choose those fodders whose per acre production is double that of tradi tional fodder. He can thus double its production and feed more animals from the same piece of land. The per acre production of traditional sorghum is 300 maunds (12000 kgs) whereas the per acre production of hybrid sorghum is 700 maunds (28000 kgs). Just by changing the variety of the crops he gets double the production of fodder and reduces the price of per maund fodder.
3. He can get the whole production in one go, unlike growing traditional fodder in which he has to go through the process of growing the fodder and preparing the land again for planting; whereas due to the use of scientific methods in agriculture he can get fodder seeds which yield many times more production. He can get many cuts and more fodder by using these methods. 4. If he grows seasonal fodder on one piece of land and perennial fodder on the remaining land, he can manage the problem of fodder shortage which he encounters thrice a year.
5. The latest blessing in these contemporary times for the farmer is the technology of preserving fodder. He can preserve, in the form of hay and silage, the fodder that he gets when the production is in plenty. This preserved fodder can be easily used at the time of scarcity of fodder. Thus he can maintain the health and production of his animals, and he would be known all around as a successful farmer.
6. Better use of the residues of crops.
What is Good Fodder?
Dairy farmers should choose the best type of fodder for better growth of their animals. The growth and production of animals depends on the fodder they eat. Only the best fodder can guarantee their growth and maximum production. So fodders which fulfill the following criteria should be given to the animals for profitable dairy farming.
1. Fodder according to the animal’s liking, that it consumes happily. 2. There should be a reasonable amount of dry matter in the fodder. 3. There must be an appropriate amount of raw proteins to meet the requirements of the body. 4. There should be enough digestible raw proteins in the fodder so that the animals’ digestive system remains healthy. 5. The fodder should be completely digestible. 6. It must have the quality to be preserved so that the farmer knows how much of the nutritional requirements of his animals are being fulfilled.
Given below is the importance of the fodder according to its nutritional value:
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