Feeding the lactating animal
The nutrition Requirement
of modern dairy cows is much higher than that of old cows which are low producers
or just produce milk only for their calves. It also depends on the cow breed. Cow
selected at that time were dual purpose I.e. meat and milk. Cows in previous years
produced milk only for their calves, i.e. 2-10 liters a day that was enough for
feeding the calf. It’s not surprising that through research and development cows
touched 50 liters of milk in a day, which is amazingly high concerning the
breed improvement thanks to the new era of scientist who worked day and night to
cross such a huge millstone. This increase in milk production brings some challenges
like their demand for nutrient is exceptionally high. For comparison, just before parturition the fetal calf requires approximately 10% of the cow ́s net
energy intake, while the energy requirement for milk synthesis can approach 80%
of the net energy intake.
It is a well-known
phenomenon in modern dairy production that the first part of lactation is
associated with metabolic disturbances i.e. milk fever, ketosis, negative
energy balance, and retained placental membrane. High-producing animal’s usually go
into negative energy balance in their first week. High-producing cows have
limited energy to support their due to less intake.
Dairy cows have to
consume their body reserves to maintain their mil production. From an evolutionary
perspective it is not strange with a short period of negative energy balance,
the animal ́s metabolism is shifted from an anabolic to a catabolic situation. As
dairy cows milk production goes to nest level so their maintenance and energy requirement
is a real challenge for the farmer.
However, Feeding of Cattle
not only in its early stage of milk production is important but also heifer nutrition
and growth rate is also affect milk production of that heifer in the longer run
as rapid growth can lead to the low yield or low milk production of the animal
The initial framework on which secretory tissue is subsequently laid takes
place before puberty. Heifers grown on rapid growth system have more fats deposition
of mammary gland as compared to the heifers that reared on slow growth pattern.
Furthermore, heifer raise in the rapid pattern have less plasma growth hormones
so have less production capacity. Keeping in view the effect of growth rate we recommend
650 g maximum growth rate/day in Holstein Heifer in the window of 90-325 kilo
grams and weight gain should be around 800 g per day in the period from 325 kilo
grams up to three months before calving .
Feeding
during the dry period is also challenging. During the dry
period nutrition should be calculated to avoid metabolic problems in the early
start of milk production. It is advisable for a dry to adopt high feed intake
in the end of its dry period to avoid such metabolic problems in the start of
its milk production. Therefore Research work going on these subject to further optimize
the dairy cow production with less metabolic problems. In future we will see further
development in this area.
As a ruminant animal dairy cows has special
capacity to digest feeds which contain high amounts of fiber, generally these
feeds are not very good for monogastric animals. Therefore, the feeding for
dairy cows ought to consist of a ration with a high proportion roughage and low
proportion concentrate. Farmers are feeding their animal with high quantity of
concentrates rich in starch and poor in fiber contents which change the ruminal
environment. In the end this misbalance alter metabolism of fat at mammary
glands level than influence the overall fat in the milk. Hence reduction in the
milk fat percentage. Too much offering of concentrate can create metabolic
disorders in dairy cattle therefore compromise in milk fat. So its very
important while offering concentrate to observe metabolic disorders to keep fat
consistent.
What
is then so special with a ruminant ́s digestive tract?
As mentioned above the
unique ability of the ruminant is its possibility to digest fibers. A lot of
microorganism involved in ruminal fermentation. This fermentation takes place
in rumen in which dietary carbohydrates are converted to volatile fatty acids
i.e propionate, acetate, and butyrate which are absorbed in the ruminal mucosa.
Degradation of protein results in 20-80 % of Microbial Protein and rest is
undegraded microbial protein. This undegraded after that will be digested in
the abomasum or intestine together with the microbial protein. Dairy cow normally
fed low fat diet which after that digested to the glycerol and fatty acids. Other
by products of the fermentation passed through the gut and absorb in the different
part of the intestine. The rumen, reticulum and omasum can be compared to a kind
of foregut fermentation chamber.it is very important while feeding to the
ruminants we have to feed the rumenal microbes first then they digest the fiber
and carry out the fermentation process.
Feed
consumption of high producing dairy cattle.
Feed consumption of cow
largely dependent on different factors like stage of lactation, environment,
weight and breed of the cow. Actually Dairy cow appetite is managed by hormones
and the ruminal acid which actualy called as fermentation acids. Faty animals
sometimes reduced feed intake. Milking stage, milk quality and quantity,
nutrient composition, and feeding rate are also factors of great importance.
Mostly, a Lactating cow of 600 kilograms body weight producing around 50 liters
milk consumes about 24-25 kg dry matter of feed per day, or in other words a high
producing cow must at least consume 4% of her bodyweight on dry matter basis
per day. Water consumption varies from 3.5 to 5 liters of kg total dry matter.
Hence A Dairy cow
nutrition is much tricky as you have to consider a lot of factors while you do formulation
.
|
Type (DMI) |
Dry Cow (BW %) |
Milking Cow (BW %) |
|
Forage |
2 |
2 |
|
Total |
2 |
3.5-4 |
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