LPM 121: Fodder Production and Grassland Management (1+1)

COMPUTING RATION FOR A MILCH COW

The requirements for 1 kg milk are 0.048 kg DCP and 0.340 kg TDN. This can be supplied by a mixture of the following composition.

Forage	Parts	DCP (%)	TDN (%)
Barley	5.0	4.02	38.8
Groundnut Cake	10.0	4.17	7.1
Gram Husk	20.0	0.00	11.0
Wheat Bran	20.0	2.12	13.5
1 kg mix		0.10	0.70
Requirement per 2 kg milk		0.10	0.68

• Thus one kg of mix is sufficient for producing 2 kg milk with 4.5% fat. Therefore for 8 kg of milk 4 kg mix should be fed in addition to maintenance quota, providing DCP 0.68, TDN 6.01 and total dry matter 6.2 + 3.6 = 9.8 kg.
• A blend of grasses, green legumes , dry roughages and concentrate feeds is generally suited for milch animals. Providing high quality forages with lucerne berseem or cow pea saves costly concentrate feeds and reduces cost of milk production: such a combination for cow/buffalo providing 8 kg milk/day is indicated below in kg.

Maize Green	20	Berseem Green	25	Maize Silage	30
Cowpea Green	10	Wheat Bhusa	7	Lucerne Green	10
Jowar Hay	7
	37		32		40