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...
Dear Sir,
There are several references regarding the CLA rich milk. However, no economically feasible method has been evolved. Hydroponic fodder has limitations while considering the input cost. Other wise it must have been the accepted tool for milk production. Research is a good solution. But who will finance ?
Dear Dr,
I have read about your points in the article and and further discussions. I am working as Farm Manger in a large automated dairy farm in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Our targeted capacity is 5000 milking cattle and the present strength is 600. In the conditions stated by Dr. Kunjumon a farm like ours can take up the challenges as described in the article and discussions. Actually, we are on the way for hydroponic fodder farming due to scarcity of proper fodder for feeding our animals. We are also in the efforts for using soya hulls available in plenty in this as a source of fibre, as an alternative, to some extent
Dear Dr. M Nair,
It is good that you use the feed technology methods to produce feeds for your stock. Hydroponic is a fancy idea. there is no acceptance of it even in Gulf (GCC). AS I taked about sweet haylage it can substitute gree forage. feeding right nurients with high digestibility would enhance the milk yield. I could be made available as consultant if given prior information. You may contact me at pgk john@gmail.com
Dear Mr.Salman,
I am not aware of any irregularity in using the term Gulf countries. Persian Gulf may demarkate it from Mexican Gulf. Any way thanks for your geographical indication
I am glad to learn about the intertest shown by Dr K Muraleedharan Nair in Hydroponics Fodder. I am located in Delhi and have been working on the development of cost effective energy efficient Hydroponics Fodder device for my Goshala where I have over 600 cows.
We have made excellent progress and feel very confidant about future of Hydroponics Fodder growing in India.
If Dr Nair is visiting Delhi at any time he is welcome to visit us , see our work . We share our experiences and knowledge on these subjects in public interests , freely wqith every body. Subodh Kumar-subodh1934@gmail.com
Dear Mr/S kumar,
Good that if hydeoponics can cater the gree fodder requirement of cows. Please confirm the following. A cow producing 40 kg milk may need 14 kg DM forage. I understand that hyroponic will give 10% DM therefore one has to feed 1400 kg hroponics for a cow. can it be possible ?
Sorry for typing error. It is 240 kg. Is it practical. Or the recommendation is 10% of the the green fodder requirement. The sweet hylage developed by me can substitute green fodder totally. We have develped suitable p;ant for the production of sweet haylage. Any roughage like banana leaves and stem, coconut leaves, palm leaves, acasia leaves, bagasselo, natural herbages, forest grass etc could be succesfully compunded with minerals and probiotics. Adjusting C:N:S:P ration for better microbeal protein and VFA production to treat the haylage with in 20 days would be a practical solution. The plant can produce 3 MT per hour. It may cost INR 600,000/ Omyerested partied can contact me
Natural feed for cattle is recognised to be self feeding in pastures. NZ made it in to a great management practice to reduce their cost of milk production to about the lowest in the world. I wonder if the cattle nutritionists in NZ are following such sophisticated cattle feed formulations and strategies. Compared to pasture fed cattle all these interventions should increase the cost of production of milk- while not talking about any changes in milk compositions. How do the modern nutritionist strategies help a small rural farmer who owns a few cows only?
Dear Mr. Subodh Kumar, Sorry to make you understand that the feed technologies are being tried to increase the conversion efficiency of dairy cow. In Newzwland land is plenty for fodder and producing milk with no input cost is possible. But in other countries where land is shrinking and resources are dear to feed for milk production the nutritionists strive to apply technolohies to convert more feed to milk.
Hope you can appreciate the efforts.
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Syed Hasan Raza
24 de julio de 2011
It is too long discussion and have turned from practical solution to academic discussion and hope will end up with out any solution.
I assume that if feeding strategies are needed for coconut growing areas we can get some advice from Malaysian dairy industry.
I agree that main thing is provision of right nutrients in right form and amount, how you get it is not issue provided that they have got economic support.
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Syed Hasan Raza
24 de julio de 2011
What I see that discussion has entered in academic side instead of practical solution.
We can also check with Malaysian dairy industry as they have got similar problems.
I agree that we have to provide nutrients in right amount, form and shape, source is not much important if it has got economic back-up.
Dear Dr.Raza,
When a new technology is discussed more discussions are alwayes welcomed. But the practical approach towards adopting the technology would make it useful in the field. You may knidlt appreciate that the most of the technologies remain in the lab because they are academic in nature. The sweet haylage technology developed by me is getting popular because wehave developed a plant and processing system that is suitable in the field. Those who understand silage making, fibre treatments and stra tretment would adopt this technology. As mentioned by you I am happy to contact Malayesian scientists if I get their contacts. The coconut leaves are used after removing the spindle the machine will remove it mechanically. So also banana stems and leaves, water hayacentus are used after removing the juice. The formula to make a suitable fodder feed depends on selection of ingrediants . Ultimately it is a copmpounded fodder feed.
Hi
In Tunisia we are giving 15kg of Hydroponic fodder+ 2 Kg of concentrated fodder ( Mix-up of Maize Barley +Soya)+ 10kg of hay & the cow produce more than 25 litters/day
Dear Doctor, As you know one should see the nutritional composition of the feed in terms of Protein, bypass protien, ME. NEl, ADF, NDF and fatty acids. The quantity of such a ration could be decided by seeing the milk production. Of course the economics of the ration is a major factor too. If you need further discussing please write to me.
Is that Maize silage or Naize grain. No forage from maize has 14% Protein. From the analysis given bt you is quite condusing. I had mentioned about the nutritional composition of the ration use follow in the farn to produce over 20 litre milk. If the analysis given by you is of the ration it is unusual to support 20 litre milk
Hi This is the analysis of Hydroponic fodder of my unit getting from Barley; 1 KG of Barley (Malting Barley Grain) gives 7 to 8 Kg of hydroponic fodder/day, and please have a look this website: Premium Fodder. Our nutritionist recommend to give 15 kg/day of this fodder to dairy +2 Kg/day of concentrated (mix up of DM composed of Barley, soya & Maize) +10kg/day of Hay & we can ensure an average of 30litters of milk per day. According to him, the hydroponic fodder has 3 components of germinated fodder: • Germinating Barley Seeds • Fresh Barley Shoots • Barley Root Mass The composition of each is as below: % Germinating barley seeds Fresh Barley shoots "Barley Root Mass Dry Matter 11,98 7,44 5,11 Oil (Process A) 3,35 3,69 1,83 Protein 12,77 33,8 20,93 Fibre 14,62 23,8 23,48 Ash 4,45 8,41 11,9 NDF 44,26 49,85 57,58 EST ME 10.5 MJ/kg DM EST ME 9.9 MJ/kg DM EST ME 10 MJ/kg DM
I just started my project in Tunisia & I cannot confirm whether this is can be done or not. What do you think?
