Use technology to economise on animal feed, say experts

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 14

The Department of Animal Nutrition, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, organised a five-day hands-on-training on ‘Nutritional technologies for dairy farmers’, under the aegis of the Directorate of Extension Education, GADVASU.

Six dairy farmers from various districts of Punjab participated in the training. During the concluding function, Dr HK Verma, Director of Extension Education, said feed accounted for 70 per cent of total cost of dairy farming. “By using technologies, farmers can economise on feeding animals to make it a profitable venture. Diversification in agriculture is need of the hour and answer lies in livestock farming,” he said.

Course Director-cum-Head, Department of Animal Nutrition, Dr Manju Wadhwa, said nutrition was a backbone of every production system. Adoption of nutritional technologies would provide unemployed youth a way to be a successful entrepreneur, she said.

Animal nutrition experts imparted knowledge about nutrition technologies, along with practical demonstrations. The objective of the training was to ensure balanced feeding of different categories of animals throughout the year using locally available feed resources.

Role of mineral mixture, urea molasses mineral block, and bypass nutrients was highlighted. Conservation of fodders (silage and hay) was also demonstrated.

The department is helping out the farmers by providing them with facilities such as area-specific mineral mixtures, mineral mixture for high yielding dairy animals, mineral mixture for pigs, fortified bypass fat at nominal prices.

Wadhwa revealed that farmers could contact the department for any query regarding balanced feed formulations or for getting their feed tested.