Formulation of balanced ration

FORMULATION OF BALANCED RATION

  • The first consideration is the capacity for consumption of food by the animal. Cattle generally eat 2-3 kg dry matter for 100 kg live weight.
  • If feed is succulent, the dry matter consumption may be as high as 3.5 kg/100 kg body weight. Buffaloes are slightly more heavy eater than cows. Out of this the dry matter 1/3 may be supplied as concentrates and 2/3 roughages like green grass, silage or hay.

Computing ration for a milch cow

  • A cow weighing 400 kg and yielding 8 kg milk/day with 4% milk fat has to be provided a balanced ration. The available feed stuffs for the purpose are jowar silage, wheat bhusa, gram husk, barley, wheat bran and groundnut cake. The animal's capacity of total dry matter consumption is around 10 kg which should be conveniently divided two parts, one for maintenance and the other for milk production. The maintenance requirement is 0.28 kg DCP and 3.4 kg TDN.

Feed

Quantity (kg)

DM (kg)

DCP (kg)

TDN (kg)

Wheat

3.0

2.7

0.00

1.32

Jowar Silage

10.0

3.0

0.07

1.53

Groundnut Cake

0.5

0.5

0.21

0.36

13.5

6.2

0.28

3.21

Last modified: Monday, 1 August 2011, 7:41 AM