Making dairy supplements using locally available and less expensive feeds can help farmers to realize higher milk yields at a lower cost of production.

The cost of milk production in dairy farming tends to increase when the farmer primarily depends on the commercial feeds which are very expensive.  This causes the farmer to incur heavy losses. However, farmers can reduce their cost to achieve higher milk production by formulating their own feed supplement much more cheaply while at home. This article will guide you step by step on how to go about this.

But before that, let’s look at the advantages of homemade feed supplement.

1. It has the same quality as the commercial dairy meal.
2. It is very cheap as compared to the commercial dairy meal
3. It is acceptable to the cow
4. It is easy to handle and process.

A cow fed on grass alone cannot achieve its full milk yield potential hence there is a need to give supplementary feeds. Commercial supplements such as dairy meal tends to increase the total cost of milk production hence reducing farmer’s profit margin.

Homemade dairy supplement

For the supplement to be useful to the cow it must contain balanced proportions of energy, proteins and minerals.

1; Examples of high energy feeds

1. Maize germ
2. Wheat pollard
3. Molasses
4. Maize bran
5. Wheat bran

2; Examples of High protein feeds are;

1. Cotton seed cake
2. ,Lucerne hay
3. Soya bean meal
4. Sunflower seed cake
5. Sesbania leaves
6. Fish meal

3; Sources of minerals

1. Dicalcium Phosphate (DCP)
2. Limestone
3. Rock phosphate
4. Mineral premix

PROCEDURE;

HOW TO MIX THE DAIRY SUPPLEMENT

1: Ordinary supplement

To make 100 kg of the supplement use;

• 75 kg energy feeds
• 23 kg protein feeds
• 2kg minerals
• For example
• 57 kg maize germ
• 18 kg wheat pollard
• 17 kg Lucerne hay
• 6 kg soya bean
• 2 kg Dicalcium Phosphate (DCP)

2: Higher yielder dairy supplement

To make 100 kg of the supplement use:

• 60 kg energy feeds
• 30 kg protein feeds
• 2 kg minerals
• For Example
• 50 kg maize germ
• 16 kg wheat pollard
• 2 kg molasses
• 14 kg cotton seeds cake
• 12 kg Lucerne hay
• 4 kg fish meal

CONCLUSION

It is advisable for farmers to grow feeds rich in protein nutrients like the supplementary forages e.g. desmodium, Lucerne, or caliandra leaves etc.

The farmer will definitely make a saving when using homemade dairy supplement feeds instead of the commercial dairy meals.