Pay attention to livestock nutrition needs, say experts

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 1

The Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) celebrated Livestock Nutrition Awareness Week from February 22-26. Dr Parkash Singh Brar, Director, Extension Education, revealed that major chunk of dairy farming in the state is still in the hands of small farmers. These farmers often lack awareness about nutritional requirements of their animals. However, lack of proper knowledge about compounding of balanced rations for different categories of animals, often, make the livestock rearing venture unviable.

Dr Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, realised the need to make the farmers and other stakeholders aware of the importance of balanced nutrition. He informed that among all livestock operations, animal feeding costs around 70 per cent of the total expenses incurred on the farm.

The awareness week started with a one-day workshop on “Recent trends in livestock nutrition to optimise their productivity” organised at the campus. More than 120 stakeholders including dairy, poultry, pig farmers of the state, field officers from Milkfed, faculty members, and students attended this workshop. The next event was an exposure visit to feed manufacturing plant of Markfed in Kapurthala district. The visit was organised by Department of Animal Nutrition under the guidance of Dr Udeybir Singh. A hands-on training was organized for farmers for manufacturing mineral mixture. During the chain of events, the Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education also organised a refresher training for field vets at Shiv Batalvi Auditorium, Batala.

Dr RK Sharma and Dr JS Hundal refreshed the knowledge of around 70 veterinary officers of Gurdaspur district about latest trends in animal nutrition. The last day of the week witnessed a training programme on balance nutrition for dairy farmers at Manupur village in Ludhiana. Dairy farmers of the area were sensitised about inclusion of mineral mixture, uromin licks and bypass fat in animal feeds.

During the awareness week, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mohali, Barnala and Tarn Taran organised awareness camps and training programmes to emphasise on the importance of balanced nutrition for livestock.

The stakeholders were also sensitised about issues related to animal nutrition through TV/Radio Talks, newspaper articles etc.