Feeding Practices and Management System Impacting Milk’s Nutritive Content of Primiparous Holstein Friesian Cow at the South-Western Part of Bangladesh
Feeding Practices and Management System Impacting Milk’s Nutritive Content of Primiparous Holstein Friesian Cow at the South-Western Part of Bangladesh
Mahfuza Ferdous1, Sabuj Kanti Nath1 and Mustasim Famous2*
ABSTRACT
The current study was undertaken to assess the present status of feeding practices, milk production, and quality of milk in 42 selected farms from the South-western part of Bangladesh. A total of 80 Holstein Friesian cows who are in first parity (primiparous) were grouped, and milk samples were taken both in the morning and afternoon. The average milk production was 1.63 times higher in the morning than in the afternoon production. In the farms, the tethering grazing system was higher (43%) than the zero grazing (36%) and extensive grazing (21%) systems. 43% of farms relied upon local and natural grasses, whereas 21% produced their own fodder, and 36% supplemented fodder by purchasing. 71% of farms were found feeding raw fodder to the cattle without any kind of processing, and only 29% of farms used chopped fodder before feeding. In feeding concentrate feed, almost 50% of farms mixed the feed ingredients manually, the rest (21%) farms used commercial feed, 29% of farms were found using both commercial and hand-mixing feed. 71% of farmers were found to formulate ration on their own, whereas only 29% of farmers did ration formation by a technically skilled person. In for milk’s nutritive content, Total Solids content was higher at 12.46±0.51 in morning milk in the farms where commercial feed was provided with no significance, but the percentage of fat, SNF, and protein showed significant variation (p<0.005). Feeding methods by implementing new technological approaches, farmers can improve milk quality and gain more profit by minimizing feed costs.
To share on other social networks, click on any share button. What are these?
