Fodder farm to increse profit

ALTERNATIVE: A fodder unit at the Card-KVK farm in Pathanamthitta district.

Farmers are earning Rs. 15,000 as net profit annually by selling the grass

In Kerala, even though 60 per cent of the milk requirement is met by procurement from other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, cattle rearing is fast declining due to high cost of production, labour shortage and shrinking land.

Heavy dependence on other states for raw materials pushes up the cost of concentrate feeds.

“Dry straw (hay) used to feed cattle has become scarce due to decline in area under rice cultivation. It becomes a dire necessity for dairy farmers to start growing green fodder (grass) if they desire to run their unit profitably,” says Dr.S. Prabhu Kumar, Zonal Project Director, ICAR, Zonal Project Directorate, Bangalore.

Grow own fodder

And he adds that mere distribution of milch animals by the Government is of no use to farmers.

Along with the animals they must be also made aware of the importance of growing their own fodder for the animals.

Buying several commercial feeds available in the markets today is not profitable for a small farmer and is sure to burn a hole in their pocket, according to him.

Take the case of the Koipuram Milk society established on the banks of river Pampa nearly 20 years back by one Mr. Gopalakrishnan Nair to prevent dairy farmers from being exploited by middlemen who were not providing timely price for the milk supplied.

During peak production time farmers used to get only Rs.2.40 per litre of milk while the market price was Rs. 6 per litre.

The society was initially started with 400 members and 1,500 litres of milk was sent daily to the milk marketing federation of Kerala for further processing and sales. The price was fixed by the society.

Cultivated acreage

Since 1995 the society encouraged fodder production for its members and introduced different fodder grasses like Congo Signal, Gunnie grass, Hybrid Napier like CO1, CO2 and CO3 in the area. By 2009, 150 hectares in the region were brought under different types of fodder cultivation.

“We brought four cuttings of CO4 Hybrid Napier grass from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University Coimbatore, and multiplied it in our KVK farm.

“Today our farmers are selling this fodder to several private farms in Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam and Idukki Districts. On an average 800-1,200 Kg of green fodder is being sold today by the farmers of this society,” says Dr. C. P. Robert, Programme Co-ordinator, CARD-KVK (Christian agency for rural development- Krishi Vigyan Kendra), Pathanamthitta district, Kerala.

CARD KVK has been in the forefront of fodder promotion in the Pathanamthitta district and has been conducting many trials to identify suitable forage varieties for the district.

Dairy farmers are given training on scientific fodder management practices as and when the need arises.

Feeding ratio

“Feeding one bundle (15Kg) of CO4 grass has been found to increase milk yield by almost 200 ml per cow. Seeing this superior growth characteristic, farmers are replanting CO4 variety today and it has almost replaced the previous CO3 variety,” says Dr.Robert. Till date several lakh cuttings of this grass have been sold to different agriculture project areas in Kerala.

Marketing

Farmers are selling this fodder for Rs1.30 a kg and are able to harvest 7-8 cuttings a year (the cuttings may vary with the availability of water). Many are able to get an average yield of 270 tonnes per hectare and earn Rs. 15,000 as net profit annually.

The society also generates 300 days of employment through this activity a year, according to Dr. Robert.

For more details contact Dr. C. P. Robert, Programme Co-ordinator, CARD-Krishi Vigyan Kendra-Pathanamthitta District, Kolabhagam Post Office, Tiruvalla(Via), Pathanamthitta Dist, Kerala.

 email: cardkvk@yahoo.com, Phones:0469- 2662094 and 2661821, mobile:09447139300.

 Article Courtesy :

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/article3551839.ece

http://www.sab.ac.lk/journal_agri/papers/agri_vol2_1_2006/agri_vol2_1_2006_article3.pdf

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/agriculture/story-276425.html

Vaccination Schedule for Cattle

Vaccination is very important part of any cattle operation. Here is the table for the vaccination schedule for cattle mostly for Pakistan and Indian region.

Month	Cattle &Buffaloes		Sheep & Goat
	Calves upto one year	Adults	Lambs/Kids	Adults
January	FMV & ETV	HSV	ETV	ETV
February	--	FMV & Anthrax	--	Anthrax
March	--	Theliria	--	Pox Vaccine
April	--	Black Quarter	--	FMV
May	FMV & ETV	--	ETV	CCPV
June	HSV	HSV	--	HSV
July	--	--	--	ETV
August	FMV & ETV	FMV & Anthrax	--	Anthrax
September	--	HSV	ETV & FMV	Pox Vaccine
October	--	Rinder Pest	--	FMV
November	--	--	--	CCPV
December	HSV	HSV	--	HSV

FMV= Foot & Mouth Vaccine;        

Enterotoxaemia Vaccine;  

HSV=Hemorrhagic Septicemia Vaccine

CCPV=Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia Vaccine

10 Key Principle of Profitable Calf Rearing

(NRM) Dr Bas Schouten Key Principles in Successful Calf Rearing

1. Calf Selection – Purchase a good quality calf

• Minimum weight 40kg
• No twins, sick, or induced calves
• Must be 5 days of age
• Dry and clean naval cord
• Bright and alert
• Check joints for swelling and pain

2. Colostrum – A good colostrum intake is vital for animal health and survival

• A calf needs at least 4 litres of colostrums within the first 12 hours after birth (ie 2 litres twice a day)

3. Entry into Barn

• Do health check (as in rule 1)
• Transport calves humanely in a covered vehicle with soft clean base of shavings, straw or bark at a minimum depth of 100mm. There must be enough floor space for calves to be able to sit - about 1 square meter per calf
• Spray cord with iodine before and after transport
• On entry into barn allow time for calves to de-stress by allowing rest
• Feed only electrolytes for the first 12 hours

4. Pen sizes

• Allow at least 1.5 – 2 square meters per calf
• No more than 10 – 12 calves per pen
• No more than 100 calves per barn
• Use more than one barn to control diseases and to separate age groups
• Separate old calves from young calves
• Avoid mixing calves – leave in one pen for the first 3 weeks

5. Housing – Calves must be sheltered for at least 3 weeks

• Calves should be dry and draught free
• Best is a barn that is twice as deep as it is wide
• Check for draughts at ground level
• Flooring – base of clay/sand with a slope to allow drainage
• Slats or raised flooring is often draughty and less suitable
• Bedding – straw, bark or shavings at least 200mm deep
• Add to bedding when required
• Control rodents and birds to prevent disease transfer
• There must be no water lying around barn or feeding areas

6. Ventilation and Drainage

• Good ventilation is critical to remove affluent gases.
• Ventilation should be adjustable by doors and windows on exterior walls in the barn
• High levels of ammonia indicates insufficient ventilation
• Drainage – see housing

7. Feeding Schedules

• Feed milk or a good quality Calf Milk Replacer (CMR) at the rate of at least 10% of the body weight daily (ie 40kg calf requires at least 4 litres a day)
• CMR – Follow the recommended mixing rate and volumes on the bag
• Make changes in volume or strength gradually and allow 3 days between changes
• When animals are under environmental or nutritional stresses, or when recovering from disease challenges, increase CMR concentrate to aid recovery

8. Milk and Milk Feeders

• Best results are achieved if calves are fed twice a day for at least 10 days
• Feed hot (40oC) for at least the first 14 days
• Teat feed – with a compartmentalised feeder
• Feed by the same person each day – preferable a woman

9. Concentrates and Roughage

• Feed a highly palatable concentrate ad lib from 5 days of age
• Allow access to hay or straw from 5 days of age
• Allow access to clean fresh water at all times
• Calves can be weaned off milk when consuming 1 kg concentrate per calf per day
• Continue meal/pellet supplement for at least 1 month post weaning off milk at the rate of 1.5 – 2 kg per day

10. Animal Health

• Sterilise barn, bedding and feeding utensils with a proven virucidal spray before entry into the barn and then twice weekly
• Carefully observe calves daily. Record and treat properly at therapeutic levels
• Autopics and faecal cultures and blood tests are valuable for the prevention and prevention of disease – consult with your vet
• For the treatment of calf scours remove calves from milk. Treat with a good quality electrolyte mixed at adequate levels to correct dehydration and to maintain fluid and energy balance. About 6 – 10 litres of electrolyte are required daily. Return to milk feeding when the scouring stops

Resolutions for cattle producers in 2012

(Iowa Beef Center) A recent publication listed the top New Year’s resolutions for 2012. As you might guess the most popular ones had to do with pushing away from the table, getting more exercise, getting their lives more organized including budgeting and getting more out of life. By the time you read this you have probably already broken one of them.

The following list is 10 resolutions for your beef operation that you can stick to in preparation for the challenges coming in 2012.

1. Keep better records.

Whether it is a feedlot or a cow calf operation, management of costs in a high cost environment requires knowing what they are and making sound decisions on that basis. Increasingly, good records on environmental management, animal production, animal health and animal care are needed for good stewardship and market access.

2. Attend an educational event.

You never quit learning and the business and technology changes fast. Check the upcoming events on our website for an event near you.

3. Become a better environmental steward.

Do you know where the water goes when it leaves your feedlot or feeding area? Are you a medium CAFO? Learn about the changes in rules and permitting that might affect you. The IMMAG website (www.agronext.iastate.edu/immag/) and the Iowa DNR (www.iowadnr.gov/) are good resources.

4. Develop a health program.

Work with your veterinarian to develop a state of the art health program. Don’t wait until an emergency to give him or her a call.

5. Manage feed storage and handling losses.


The first step in managing feed storage losses, whether it is wet corn co-products, commodities, silage or forages is to measure it. Weigh your feed in and out of storage. You might be surprised how much feed you are losing before the cattle see it.

6. Test your feeds and balance your rations.

Underfeeding reduces productivity and overfeeding increases costs. Send your feeds in for analysis and share the information with your nutritionist. If you balance your rations yourselves, consider the BRANDS program to fine tune and reduce feed costs.

7. Take credit for your manure value.

With increasing value of fertilizer nutrients this is a resource that should be accounted for. This requires testing and applying the manure at agronomic levels.

8. Evaluate your facilities.

Cattle comfort can pay off in better performance, particularly during periods of weather extremes. Efficient handling facilities are makes life easier for both human and bovine.

9. Manage your margins.

Risk management today involves managing the risk of both input costs and market prices. Learn more about the cattle “crush margin” and how to use it for managing volatility and price risk.

10. Get more out of your pastures this summer.

Take a pasture walk or attend a grazing clinic. Forage and grazing management is one way to get more productivity out of fewer available acres.

IBC at Iowa State University serves as the university’s extension and outreach program to cattle producers. Our center comprises a team of faculty and staff from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Iowa State University Extension. We work together to develop and deliver the latest in research-based information to improve the profitability and vitality of Iowa’s beef industry. Call us at 515-294-BEEF, or e-mail us at beefcenter@iastate.edu

Dan Loy is the interim director for the Iowa Beef Center. This column originally appeared in the Growing Beef e-newsletter

Osmanabadi Goats

History

Historically this breed is known to have existed on our Deccan Plateau since decades. It is believed that there is not only extensive literature available in our Veterinary Universities of Southern India but also on Internet. The name Osmanabadi goat is derived from their distribution area Osmanabad in Maharashtra, which is located at a distance of 271 Km from Hyderabad. These Goats are reared mainly in 3 southern states of India and are one of the largest contributors to meat production in southern India as their meat is very tasty when compared with local breeds. PerformanceOsmanabadi breed shows a very efficient reproductive performance and resistance against diseases not only in well managed semi stall feeding system but also in severe drought conditions. The age at the first kidding is around 15 months with the lactation length of around 130 days. The dressing percentage varies from 50- 55 %. In favorable conditions the does will breed twice a year, twinning is common and the milk yield ranged form 700 gm to 1500 gm.  In the end the leather of osmanabadi goat is fairly of good quality and its meat is preferred by majority of the rural and urban population in southern India.
DistributionThe breed is spread over the greater part of the central peninsular region, comprising the semi-arid areas of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It covers the Major part of Southern Maharashtra (especially Osmanabad, Beed, Sholapur, Latur, Parbani and Ahmed Nagar Districts) Western Andra Pradesh and North Eastern Karnataka.
CharacteristicsOsmanabadi Goats are mostly medium size animals usually black in color, but in some areas of Maharashtra and Western Andra Pradesh brown or spotted ones can also be seen. Mostly the males (89.5%) are horned and the females may be horned or polled. The ears are medium long with a length of around 18.0 cm and the tail is thin, with a length of around 16.6 cm.                                                    Adult Males          Adult FemalesBody weight (Kg)                       40.6                           30.6Body length (Cm)                       69.12                         67.51Height at withers (Cm)              77.87                         74.79Chest girth (Cm)                        72.06                         72.04
MortalityMortality among kids younger than 3 months and from the age 3 to 6 months is around 8.4 % and 4.8%. The mortality is 6% for the kids aged 6 to 12 months and 3.7% for among adults. If the vaccinations against enterotoxaemia, haemorrhagic septicaemia and PPR, Deworming and spraying against Ecto Parasites are carried out regularly heavy economic losses to the farmers can be avoided.

Breeding SeasonsThe major breeding season of Osmanabadi does is from May to July, followed by August to October and a small number of does also breed from October to March. 

Green fodder in 7 days

Now, produce green fodder sans soil in 7 days

(Times of India) Farmers paying high costs for cattle feed have some good news to chew on.

They can produce green fodder in an electronic machine without soil in just seven days. A hydroponics green fodder production unit, which can produce it faster than conventional method, was inaugurated at ICAR research complex, Old Goa, by A K Singh, deputy director general, ICAR, New Delhi on Sunday. "The seed has to be placed on a tray filled with water and kept in a machine under the right temperature, light and humidity," said N P Singh, director ICAR, Old Goa.

The conventional method takes 30 to 45 days, but the machine delivers it faster. "A 1.5 kg of maize seed can produce about seven to nine kg of fodder and its height grows to 20 to 25 cms," Singh said.

The state agriculture department has entrusted the scheme to Goa state cooperative milk producers' union limited for implementation. "The project worth Rs 2.20 crore is being taken up under the central government's Rakshtriya krishi vikas yojana (RKVY)," S Tendulkar, agriculture department director said.

The Goa dairy will purchase 11 electronic machines on a pilot project basis and install them in high milk producing areas.

"Each unit costing 25 lakh will be put at the farmers' service in areas with high concentration of dairy farmers," Madhav Sahakari, Goa dairy chairman said.

Goa has just around 8,000 dairy farmers as their number has declined due to higher production costs and other factors. "The milk production is around 50,000 litres per day," Sahakari said.

But the bulk of the requirement is procured from outside the state.

Though the animal husbandry and veterinary services department provides an attractive subsidy scheme to dairy farmers, the quantum of green fodder grown in the state is negligible," sources said.

"The dry concentrated feed is costly and farmers are facing problems in coping with production costs," Sahakari said. The machine produced fodder will also have higher protein content.

The use of hydroponic technology will also help reduce labour costs drastically.

"A single person can operate the electronic machine," Sahakari said. The farmers can place their trays in the unit and collect the fodder after a week. A specially formulated, energy-rich, feed supplement called 'bypass fat', prepared by ICAR from farm oil fatty seed for cattle was also released on Sunday.

"The simple, pro-small farmer indigenous technology for preparing the bypass fat is specially meant for the high-producing dairy animals," said P K Naik, ICAR senior scientist.