Scandinavian “feed unit” standard

SCANDINAVIAN “FEED UNIT” SYSTEM

  • In 1884, Professor Fjord formulated the Scandinavian feeding standard.
  • In this system only one factor, namely, the feed unit was taken into account.
  • The value of one pound of common grain such as corn, barley or wheat, is given as one unit value and the value of all other foods is based upon this.
  • According to this standard one feed unit is required for each 150 lbs of body weight and an additional unit for every three pounds of milk production.
  • This feeding standard was based upon the actual milk production record of the farm animals.
  • Further as per modification to this standard it was suggested that in addition to feed unit,0.065 lbs of digestible crude protein (DCP) per 100 lbs body weight and 0.05 lbs of DCP per lbs of milk production should be given to the animals.
  • Being simple and easy to calculate, this feeding standard is still continued in a number of Scandinavian countries for formulation of ration for livestock.
  • As the grains are of different types in different countries, the feed units should also be different.
  • Hence the Scandinavian units are not applicable in our country unless experiments are conducted here with our own grains.
Last modified: Sunday, 13 November 2011, 4:04 AM