Vol. 10, Special Issue 4 (2021)

Author(s):
Diwakar Verma and Kuladip Prakash Shinde

Abstract:
Twelve post-partum high yielding buffaloes maintained at Animal farm of ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar were selected for the present study. These buffaloes were selected on the basis of equal milk yield into two groups of 6 animals in each group. One group was kept on organized farm feeding management (control group) and another group was kept on the most rational feeding management (treatment group) i.e. practice of the farmer. The experiment was conducted for 3 months. During the period test day milk yield was recorded. In the control group, the lactating buffaloes were fed farm feeding (concentrate mixture, Green feed, and wheat straw). In the treatment group, the feed was offered two times a day 1 hr. before the milking time i.e. 5 .00 AM and 4.00 PM and each buffalo were fed 3 kg gram churi, 1.5 kg cotton seed cake, 1.5 kg wheat dalia, 10 kg green fodder and 1 kg wheat straw in each time.Economics was calculated by adding cost of various ingredients used to the preparation of concentrate mixture, the cost of green fodder and wheat straw fed to the animals. Feed cost of control ration was Rs.1984.10/qtls and that of treatment was 2191.75 + mineral mixture cost extra. The mineral mixture was given on the basis of milk production. Feeding cost/buffalo/day was Rs. 217.50 and Rs. 315.10 in control and treatment groups respectively. Total milk production in days was 6197.10 and 6835.00 kg in control and treatment group respectively. 637.9 kg more milk was produced in the treatment group. Feed cost/kg milk was Rs. 19.15 and 25.20 in control and treatment group respectively.On-farm feeding, the economics of feed/ buffalo/day and feed cost/ Kg milk was higher in the treatment group as compared to control group, the reason behind this was buffaloes in this group were fed more concentrate mixture to validate the feeding management of high yielding buffaloes under field conditions.