Fooder Production

Introduction of fodder production
Forage is the edible herbage eaten by the animals. The term forage is used for roughages. The
forage is bulky feed either due to lightweights of dry forage or due to high moisture and loose
structure of green herbage. Nutrient density varies from very low feeding value of straw to very
high nutritional value comparable with many concentrates such as berseem, lucerne and well
cobbed green maize, harvested at milk stage.
Forage is grown for feeding domestic animals reared on a farm. Domestic animals are either
allowed to graze for themselves or simultaneously are also feed to supplement grazing with cut
grass in stalls. Although forage and fodder crops are synonymous terms, yet the latter is referred
to cultivated forage crops, which may be either cereals or legumes.
At present almost 90% of the herbivores subsist on naturally growing grasses, which are of low
nutritive value. Moreover the amount available to the herbivores is less than the requirement.
For better health and high production, the animals especially the ruminant must be provided
either with additional forage crops (fodder) or concentrate feed. Unfortunately, farmers cannot
afford to feed the bulk of the ration as concentrate feeds.
Animals yielding as high as 10 liters of milk can easily be maintained solely on green fodder
without any complaint. This reduces the feed cost by 20-25% compared to normal dry roughages
(straw) and concentrate ration. It is well known fact that for any livestock farm, feeding alone
involves 60-75% of the total expenditure.
The domestic animals in general are dependent on plants for the supply of their food material.
They consume forage crops (dry and green), straw, concentrate and their bi-products for
maintenance, growth and production.
There are various stuffs available for livestock feeding. These feedstuffs can be grouped into
different classes on the basis of bulkiness and chemical composition. The feeding stuffs can be
classified into two main heads:
a) Roughages
b) Concentrates
Roughages are bulky feeds containing relatively large amount of less digestible material that is,
crude fiber more than 18% and low in TDN (total digestible nutrient) (about 60 per cent on air-
dry basis).
Concentrates are feeds which contain relatively lesser amount crude fiber, that is less than 18%
and have comparatively high digestibility with higher nutritive value having more than 60 per
cent TDN.
Roughages are further categorized as follows:
-Dry roughages e.g.straw, hay
-Green roughages e.g. legume and non legumes
-Legume e.g. berseem, Lucerne, cow pea etc.
-Non-legume e.g. maize sorghum, bajra, oat etc.
-Fodder tree e.g. Legume & non-legume7
Concentrated feed is expensive as compared to roughages. Therefore, production cost goes
up if the ruminants are regularly fed with such ration. In case of non-ruminants and poultry,
however, feeding with concentrate ration is a common practice because they can not digest
and utilize the roughages in significant amounts.
There are various sources of concentrate feeds, such as:

Animals sources e.g. fish meal, meat meal blood meal etc.
Plants sources further grouped into
Carbonaceous e.g. crushed maize, sorghum, bajra, barley etc.
Proteinous e.g. ground nut cake, soybean cake, mustard cake, til cake, linseed cake etc.
Agro-industrial by-product e.g. wheat bran, rice bran, rice chunni etc.
Additives:
Vitamin and mineral supplements, antibiotics, probiotics, anabolic agents etc.
Total pasture area of Nepal: 17, 57,345 ha.
Concerned agencies for pasture development:

Department of Livestock Services, Livestock Development Project, Community Livestock
Development Project, Hills Leasehold Forestry Project, National Agriculture Research
Council.
Approximate animal feed sources:

Agricultural bi-products: 31.5 %
Forest: 50 %
Pasture: 18.5 %
Feed stuff: Material fed to animals for the purpose of sustaining growth & development.
Dry matter: The part of feed that is not water, sometimes referred to as total solid.
Nutrient: Any chemical compound having specific function is the nutritive support of
animal life.
Dry matter requirement: -
Zebu cattle:- 2-2.5 kg. DM. /100 kg. body weight.
Buffalo & cross bred:- 2.5-3 kg. /100 kg. body weight.
Importance of forage crops:
1. These are highly digestible when harvested at proper time.
2. Grass proteins are particularly rich in ariginine and also contain glutamic acid and lysine.
3. Green fodder contain higher amount of carotene which is converted to vit-A in the liver.
4. Green fodder reduces the cost of production of milk, meat and wool.
5. Green fodder is the cheap source of animal feed, which provide proteins, vitamins, minerals,
carbohydrates, fat etc.

Fooder Production

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Fooder Production

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Introduction of fodder production

There are various sources of concentrate feeds, such as:

Concerned agencies for pasture development:

Approximate animal feed sources:

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