India, the cradle of Indus valley civilization, is well-known for the agriculture in the past. Aryans had brought with them cows to generate power for agriculture operations and milk for their consumption. The story of 'holy cow' is till in the history and is used as a mighty tool in politics. Nevertheless India has been recognized as the top nation in the world for milk production reaching 104...
Thank you for such a nice article on revolution in milk production, no doubt india has turned out to be from milk deficit state to milk surplus state due to efforts of charishmic leader like dr.v.kurien.productivity of indian cow &buffalo is an importent issue required to be addressed at much faster speed so as to realise potential of milk production. i agree with author that new feeding technology should be adopted by feed manufacturers but a missionary zeal like operation flood implementation is what is needed.
Universidad Zamorano - Escuela Agrícola Panamericana
1 de marzo de 2011
1. In the tropics we have C4 grasses, less digestible than the C3 grasses used in temperate climastes, therefore the production which can be expected is less. Concentrates are not the whole answer since a balance with forage has to be mantaines in order to avoid acidosis.
Instead of concentrating in milk per cow we should focus on milk per ha, and here the tropical forages have a big advantage over temperate ones.
2. TMR was developed when oil was at $4 per barrel, at $100 letting the cows graze is much cheaper (see New Zealand but also Brazil in the tropics).
Regards,
Miguel Vélez.
The concept of feeding green fodder is very much essential and more over not only the production performance of the animal is taken into account due weight age has to be primarily given for the inter calving period. I am of the opinion if the inter calving period exceeds 14 months then whole balance sheet of cost benefit ratio will be adversely affected in the negative side.
Hello sir, congratulations for the article about milk production. I am Raju working in dairy farm in New Zealand, I am looking for grass verities for grasing in India can anyone help me what are the grasses available for grasing which survive in tropical climate?
Dear Raju
You need grass seeds for grazing which can grow and produce well in tropical areas like NZ.
Such grass should be fast growing and must have fast recovery after grazing.
I have worked both in tropical and sub tropical countries and I am of the opinion that whatever you are having in NZ is best suitable in that area.
If you want to demonstrate the seed from India just to be proud of then it is ok but if you are thinking in economical terms then leave this idea and better concentrate on whatever is available there
sir thanks for your valuble openion, but i have not ask about these grass seeds to introduce to nz , i am planing to start a small dairy farm in my village in south india, i have some coconut plantation ( which is not giving propar income) and some good irrigated land so i am loocking for a grass to put in coconut plantation to graze my dairy animals and use irrigated land for growing green fodder for shed feeding. so are they any verities of grass which is sutable for grazing. as u know grazing is more economical and fredom for animal to behave like them.
Dear All, I appreciate the comments on my article about milk production. I would like to add some of my suggestions on the comments. 1. TMR. The concept of TMR was developed long back. It is coincidential that the oil price was $4 at that time. The feeding of TMR has great benefits nutritionally if it was compounded properly. One of the draw back noticed is the separation of micronutrients unless it was addded in small pellet form. The continuos availability of the complete feed to the cow could reduce rumen metabolism problems, The proper formulation of TMR is vital 2. Green fodder. It was the impression long back because the dairy cows were maintained in the countries with vast grazing lands and plenty of green saccular forages. Later, the suitable technology was developed to produce milk even with out feeding green fodder. In the gulf where there is no scope for grazing nor cultivation of green forage milk is produced 50-60 litres/per day/cow. The bottom line is the supply of protein, energy, fatty acids, ADF.NDF and water that contros the milk conversion. 3. Dairy cows in coconut farms. It is not ideal to grow grass in coconut gardens and allow cows to graze. Even today several farmers do that in south India. When the feed technology has well developed, the tethered husbandry is recommended where land is shrinking. Even the coconut leaves could be converted to good energy rich haylage if we use feed technology. The ADF.NDF ratio is more important than the original form of grass or forage.
We must develop technologies to decrease the feed conversion from 1:6 to 1:3-4 in dairy cows with the usage of feed technology. Good luck
Very good and informative article about milk production. In today's scenario of feeding standards, there is a huge margin for development. I think, Dr. Kunju John should take a forward step towards this. Also, it is imperative to find some new feed technology to sustain the milk production both in quality as well quality.
Dear All, The comment of Dr. Chandrakant Patil on the need for technology development in dairy nutrition particulalrly in India is laudable as the country is in the top of milk production today. Mostly the technology development is monitored by the public sector which has several hurdles to take up a new research model. I had faced the above intricate situation while developing bypass protein and molasses block in eightees. Further more fund availability is another big constraint. In the private sector collaborating with multinational companies that are in the feed business, is welcomed. Therefore, need based research and technology development is pushed aside. In the past NDDB was engaged in the practical technology developments. As I had indicated some important areas for feed technology development in my article a creative interraction from the scientific community would go a long way to accomplish the goal. My sincere participation is always promissed. In order to take up such innovative steps the formation of Research Foundation with scientists and practitioners would be felt helpful. Since Dr.V.Kurien showed the way of development in dairying in India an organisation in the name of 'Dr, Kurien Researcg Foundation' could be thought.
A very knowledgable and brain storming article about milk production. Balancing of ration (TMR) with balanced quantity/ ratio of green forage,silage and concentrate with required % of protein, energy ADF-NDF ,well compounded in consumable DM will definitely give good results. APPRECIATED.
Dear Raju
It is good you have cleared the concept that you want some fast growing grass for your coconut plantation in India.
Well to me following two grasses will be suitable for you
1.Setaria
2.Rhodes grass
Further Rhodes grass is more suitable and its seed is easily available from Kenya, Zimbabwe and Australia through any seed co there.
Rhodes grass is better as it is palatable,having fast recovery trend after grazing or cutting and it has CP in the range of 10-12%. It can be more even depending on it stage of growth at the time of cutting/grazing and the intensity of crop inputs you will use especially urea.It has many varities but the following are more famous
1. Boma comparatively slow growing but it is good for grazing and it recovers fully after 60 days
2.Pioneer Thin stem fine variety and is very good for cutting and baling
3. Katambora very fast growing,early flowering and fast recovering and good for cutting and baling
4. Callide medium type
5.samford thick stem and good for cutting
However i will suggest you Pioneer for baling and Boma for grazing
Sir,
Is it not possible to promote hydroponics fodder growing to enhance availability of green fodder-particularly Barley green?
For use in India less sophisticated, and based on Organic methods, smaller hydroponics devices can be developed to suit individual climate zones. It will be possible to make hydroponics fodder production more energy efficient in India- by reducing requirement of air conditioning and utilization of natural light to the maximum extent. Integration of Hydroponics fodder production with Biogas plants can completely make this a green strategy.
Dear All, Growing fodder grass or hydroponic fodder may look good but for its cost effectiveness abd practicality. Today, where the technological advancement is gallopping in all areas why not it could be implemented in feed technology. The feed technology is possible to convert the non edible fibre available as straw, stover, dry grass etc into digestible NDF to provide energy to microbes in rumen for microbeal cell multiplication which in turn become the food for cow. The technology that was dveloped by me is 'sweet haylage'. The further development of it can go a long way to offset the fibre shortage for feeding dairy animals in India.
The main concern is to enhance Omega 3 content of milk. The most cost effective way to deal with this is to increase green feed to our cows. Hydroponics fodder need not be a costly alternative. Technological interventions to avoid dependance on high energy requirements by way of air conditioning , artificial lighting and special seeds /fertigation , can be handled by resort to more user friendly local area specific biogas plant assisted innovation and cow dung urine based interventions. This is our experience of an ongoing in house research effort in hand in our Goshala in Delhi.
Dear Mr.Subodh kumar,
It is indeed worth pondering to produce omega 3 rich milk. This is not possible by hydroponic grass feeding as it doesn't contain omega acids. In fact feeding digestible fibre more may evolve the bio hydrogenaion in rumen which may result in the formation of CLA. For increasing PUFA in milk and omega acids the possibility is manipulating bypass fat which may be excreted into milk. Needs lot of research.
In India there was a proposal with the blessings of then Loksabha speaker Mr Jackar who supported the commercial enterpreuner of the technology which was eradicated later for its high cost against its benefit. Later it was moved to Gulf. However, it got more routed for vegetables than fodder. If Mr. Kumar can explain a cost effective technology it would be indeed welcomed
Sir,
I am fully familiar with intiative of the Agriculture minister Sri Jakhad with blessings of our late P.M. Rajiv ji. in import of Fometa devices. In all 56 of these Fometa had come to India. And our country hd the misfortune for inept handling and bungling of the entire issue.
For the last nearly 5 years I have working on this project, without any help or support from any professionals.
I was in touch with Dr Suresh Gulathi a cattle nutrition expert from Ausrtralia. Shri Gulathi has been a consultant to NDDB also and visits them . Enhancement of Omega 3 by feed formulations by special fat additives has been his special area of research. Shri Gulathi has also visited us in Delhi in the past.
Photosynthesized green feed is the precursor for the enzymes in cow rumens to convert it in to CLA. This is the nature's route to CLA formation. Green fodder produced by hydroponics fodder is equally effective in producing CLA rich milk.
Dear Mr.Kumar,
Thanks for your information on Fomata. There is no argument on its capacity to produce hydroponic fodder by using barley seeds. As I indicated one should work out the cost:nutrition ratio for its practical adoption in dairy field. Any one knows about the status of those 56 units in India ?
Dr.Gulati is known to me while he was working with CSIRO Sydney. He must have become a consultant to NDDB after I left NDDB. The manipulation of bypass fat through feed technology is tried to enrich milk fat with PUFA. But CLA enrichment is a separate technology. This is accomplished owing to the bio hydrogenation in rumen. The feeding of digestible fibre from fodder is tried. Hydroponic fodder also could give the same effect. This technology if more applicable in goats. It is well tried in Canada for goat meat production. It could be tried in India for goat milk production. There is good scope of buffalo milk too.
I am not finding any research institution in India to take up such advantageous projects. If possible why can't your organisation take up for the benefits of the country.
Sir,
You have made an excellent suggestion regarding promotion of small ruminants like goats and vichoor . In fact the out put input economics improves as the ruminant size reduces. This is one reason why there is an emphasis in USA on miniature cattle.
Regarding improvement of Omega in milk, we may like to remember that under 'Lipgene project' a major research inititiative is in hand in EU to reduce the total saturated fat content of milk.
I am a uneducated person as far as rumen technology is cocerned. But the least I can say is that entire modern science in spite of its gigantic advances can lay claim to knowing only very little of the inticacies of Nature's phenomenon. What goes onin side the rumens when feed is converted to precious nutritive milk is little known .
I had once asked Dr Dhiman about hydroponics fodder and its relation to producing CLA in milk. It is well known in the world that there is more CLA in grass fed cow's milk. Dr Dhimaninformed me that Hydroponics fodder will add to CLA as any green fodder would. On this subject I have references from Katilya'as Arth Shastr that informs that total fat in cow's milk in those days was less than 1%. Atharv Ved also says that Cows producing high fat content milk should be donated to Priestly class to put the milk fats as offerins in Agnihotras, because high fats are not good for welbeing.
The way I look at it almost 90% of energy in seeds is contained in the form of Omega6 fats. This energy plays important role in germination of the seed. Photosynthesis produces the green component in the growing plant / This becomes the precurser for its conversion to Omega 3 in Rumens. It is a similar process to that wjhat happens in human digestive system . Threr alsogreen leaafy components of our diets supply some Omega 3 to human body.
How ever these are only conjectures. The best alternative will be t conduct an actual field experiment to study the rffect of seeing the results of feeding green fodderte as well as Hydroponics fodder to dfairy cows and observe the changes in Milk CLA contents.
As far as I am concerened I am a small Goshala operator, with no resources to do any research on such topics. However I feel these are very important areas that should attract serious considerations by more competent authorities.
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