Feed & Fodder Production

Current Scenario of Feeds & Fodders in India

There is tremendous pressure of livestock on available feed and fodder, as land available for fodder production has been decreasing.  Scenario of feed and fodder availability till 2025 is as follows:

Source: Draft report of the working group on animal husbandry and dairying for five-year plan (2002-2007, Govt. of India, Planning Commission, August – 2001).

According to another estimate by NDDB for an expected production of 86 million of milk by the end of 9th plan, annual requirement of green fodder will be to the tune of 1064 million Ton and dry fodder to the tune of 585 million Ton.  The current availability however is estimated at 570 million Ton and 400 million Ton respectively.

What are Forages

In general, forages are the vegetative parts of plants containing a high proportion of fiber (more than 30% neutral detergent fiber). They are required in the diet in a coarse physical form because they:

- stimulate rumination and salivation, which are important processes in maintaining a healthy rumen environment;
- stimulate ruminal contractions and passage rate of digesta through the rumen, which improves the efficiency of rumen bacterial growth
- counter milk fat depression in dairy cattle that occurs when rations high in concentrates are fed. Rations that contain less than about 35% forages will result in milk of low fat content.

Usually, forages are grown on the farm. They may be grazed directly or harvested and preserved as hay or silage. Forages tend to be one of the cheaper sources of feed for cows. Depending on the stage of lactation, they should contribute from almost 100% (for non-lactating cows) to no less than 35% (for cows in early lactation) of their ration dry matter.

From a nutritional standpoint, forages may range from very good (lush young grass, legume at a vegetative stage of maturity) to very poor feeds (straw, some browse). Nevertheless, all of them can be used advantageously, provided: a) they are properly prepared and supplemented and b) the good quality forages are saved for the animals with high requirements (early lactating dairy cows) and the lower quality forages are fed to the animals with lower requirements.

Role of cultivated fodders:

1. Feed & fodder cost constitute about 60-70% of cost of milk production thus cultivated fodder has an important role in meeting requirement of various nutrients & roughage in our country to produce milk most economically as compared to concentrates.
2. It needs feed, which not only meet nutrient requirement but fills the rumen to satisfy the animal.
3. In view of microbial digestion system, feeds have to meet requirement of cattle maintenance, production and requirement of microbes to promote digestion.
4. Fodder crops provide all the critical elements like highly digestible protein, carbohydrates, fats and minerals. Green fodders are a very good source of B-carotene (precursor of vitamin A).
5. Common cereal fodder crops like Maize, Sorghum and Oats are rich in energy and the leguminous crops like Lucerne, Berseem & Cowpea are rich in proteins.
6. Leguminous crops, like Berseem, Lucerne & Cowpea, are a good source of major &micro minerals, so critical for rumen microbes as well as animal system.
7. Fodder cultivation has been traditional in most parts of the country since farmers feel that the fodder crops have some factor, which keeps the animal healthy and productive. And hence since generations farmers have marked out certain varieties and crops for fodder production and cultivate these, depending on availability of land and water.
8. Cultivated fodder crops have a place of importance for feeding of ruminants in view of the following aspects:

a)   In view of the peculiar digestive system, provided by nature, ruminants need feeds, which not only meet their nutritional requirements but also fill the rumen and satisfy the animal.
b)   In view of microbial digestion system the feeds have to meet requirements of the animal, its production as well as the needs of microbes for promoting digestion.
c)   The fodder crops meet these requirements very effectively and hence are important for ruminant production system. As evident from reports that mixed with coarse roughages, like wheat straw, its intake and digestion are improved.

Importance of Forage Quality

Forage quality is defined as the sum total of the plant constituents that influence an animal’s use of the feed. Fac­tors which determined forage quality include the follow­ing:

Palatability:
It represents the extent of animal tendency to eat the forage and may influenced by texture, leafiness, moisture content, pest infestation or compounds that cause a forage to taste sweet, sour or salty.

Intake:
It indicates forage quality which is eaten by ani­mal.

Digestibility:
It indicates the extent to which forage is absorbed as it passes through an animal’s digestive tract.

Nutritive content:
It indicates the level of nutrients which digested forage provides.

Anti quality factors:
Various compounds may be pres­ent in forage that can lower animal performance, cause sickness or even result in death, including tannins, ni­trates, alkaloids, cyanoglycosides, estrogens and mycotox­ins. High quality forages must not contain harmful level of anti-quality components.

Forage is the most important component in the diet of dairy cattle because of the dramatic impact it has on dry matter and nutrient consumption. The quality and form of forage are two of the factors that influence dry matter consumption and milk production in dairy cattle. Forage quality can be defined simply as the ability of the dairy cow to digest and utilize the nutrient components provided by the forage source. Higher the content and digestibility of the nutrients so would be the quality of the forage. The highest-quality and most digestible forage is young herbage, because it contains the lowest amount of structural carbohydrates (cellulose, hemicelluloses) and lignin.

As the forage matures its digestibility, rate of digestion and CP content declines causing the cow to derive fewer nutrients from the forage. A decline in the quality of forage has an impact on the amount of other feedstuffs that the animal is able to consume. The slower passage time of the forage results in a reduction in intake of not only the forage but also other feeds that the animal is consuming.

Landmark Dairy strength

The feed and fodder supplies are being supplemented from our fodder cultivation farm spreading over 100 acres. A dedicated team of forage experts are handling the production, crop protection and cultivation activities with the help of most innovative cultivation and harvesting equipments. We are also running several trials at our Green Houses to enhance the per unit area productivity of green forages.

These forage cultivation farms are sustaining on the organic Compost which is a highly fertile organic process residue during bio-gas production. The liquid manure collected at the farm is also mechanically sprayed on green fields to enhance the nitrogen content in the soil while acting as a natural insecticide. This effort is being made to fulfill our commitment to feed our herd with forages that are free from residues of chemical fertilizers and insecticides to ensure cattle health vis-à-vis clean organic milk. Different fodder crops cultivated on our farm are

What we are growing

Hybrid Napier Varity CO3

It is one of the highest yielding perennial tropical fodder grasses. The characteristic features of CO-3 fodder grass are: profuse tillering, high yield potential, high dry matter and crude protein content, quick regeneration capacity, high leaf to stem ratio, high palatability, free from pest and diseases and low in adverse factors. It recorded an average green fodder of  250 -350 t/ha/yr under local conditions. This grass is propagated through root-slips or stem-cuttings and could be maintained as a perennial crop up to 4 - 5 years. Endowed with quick regeneration capacity, it can be harvested once in 30 - 45 days.

Maize

Maize is the one of the most important cereal crop of the word which is used as food, feed and forage. Maize fodder can safely be fed at all stages of growth without any danger of oxalic acid, prussic acid as in case of sorghum or fodders. A con­siderable amount of research has focused on maize forage production. Crude protein of plants in intercropping system was increased by 30.8% and 99.4% as compared with those for mono cropping maize. An area of 25 acres at our fodder cultivation farm lands is covered by this crop.

Sorghum

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is an important summer season crop grown both for fodder and grain purposes. It is grown under irrigated and rainfed conditions. This crop can also be grown either alone or in mixture with legume fodders for nutritive and palatable fodder production. It can resist drought and hot weather and can be successfully grown on all types of soils except water logged and saline. Mostly tall varieties are sown for fodder production and dwarf varieties for grain production. Yield is dependent mainly on quality of seed, fertilization, package of technology and control of insects and pests. Sorghum is important food crop for dairy animals. The remaining 25 acres of farm land covered by this crop.

Conversion of fodder to Silage:

Silage is produced by harvesting a forage crop at high moisture content (greater than 50 percent) and subsequently fermenting that crop in pit, tower, bunker, trench or plastic silos. Ideally, this process should occur in the total absence of oxygen. Silage-making is much less weather dependent than hay-making. Some forage such as corn or sorghum can be direct cut. After mowing, most other forages can be adequately wilted for silage production in less than 24 hours. This greatly reduces the risk of weather damage to the forage crop.  If good forage quality is assumed, the most important factor necessary to achieve desirable silage fermentation and subsequently maintain high-quality silage within the silo for indefinite periods of time is the elimination of oxygen (air) from the silage mass.

Total Mixed Ration

Total Mixed Rations can be defined as, “the balancing and combining of all feeds into one complete ration”. This complete ration provides all essential nutrients that are required to meet the needs of the dairy cow. The effects of forage, fiber levels and particle size play an important part of Total Mixed Rations.
Maintaining a proper forage size is said to improve the dry matter intake potential of forage diets, even when the forage quality is very poor. Dairy cows require amounts of fiber in their rations to maintain a healthy rumen. When the desired amounts of fiber are not met, many problems can arise, including metabolic disorders. Forage particle length is also necessary for proper rumen function.

Advantages of having TMR:

• All forages, grains, minerals, vitamins and protein supplements are mixed together so that the dairy cow receives its required amount of nutrition.
• Having a complete ration provides a balanced diet and the proper nutrients for the grouped cows. Cows are unable to choose among their feed stuff.
• A TMR system stabilizes the rumen function.
• Feeding a total mixed ration requires less labour.
• Milk production is more uniform when cows are grouped.