The Indian cattle feed industry has grown at over 6 per cent per annum in the last decade making India one of the largest and fastest growing cattle feed markets in the world. Despite this growth, there is a huge gap between requirement and production. There is a huge opportunity for cattle feed formulators to reposition themselves as an effective tool to enhance livestock productivity. The future of cattle feed sector is challenging and bright.

With the increasing popularity of commercial dairy farming, the setting up of cattle feed manufacturing units is becoming economically viable. The commercial aspect of feed manufacturing must be studied carefully before venturing into the cattle feed industry. The erection of the plant is not difficult. Selection of raw materials and quality control are the two key factors that contribute to the viability of the commercial compounded feed manufacturing plants. Various aspects of cattle feed production are highlighted.

Silage is fermented, high moisture stored fodder for the feeding of ruminants. The process of making silage is called as ensiling. Crops like maize, sorghum and grass etc can be used for silage making. Focusing on silage preparation is very important to preserve the green fodder when it is available plenty. Silage also gives great flexibility for the dairy nutritionist as the nutritive value is ensured throughout year.

Unless sustained efforts are made to implement strategies and programmes to augment the availability of feeds and fodder resources and to improve their efficiency of utilisation, it may not be possible to sustain the required growth in milk production. Even with the available feed resources, there is ample a scope to improve productivity of milch animals by way of providing ration balancing advisory services to milk producers at their doorstep. This will also help reducing the cost of feeding per litre of milk. The looming impact of climate change is likely to exacerbate the shortage of residues. In the order of priority, best of the feed resources available with the milk producers are first allocated to lactating animals, followed by dry-pregnant animals, dry animals, heifers, growing calves and non-producing animals.

There are straw rich states which burn millions of tonnes of rice and wheat straw every year as a means of disposal. Salvaging the straws for animal feed will go a long way in increasing the availability of ruminant fodder and feeds. Production of very high yielding perennial tropical grasses will benefit both the grower as well as the dairy farmer.

Many innovations are under way to meet nutritional needs of dairy animals. Feed is the largest input into commercial milk production and accounts for over half of its total cost. Proper attention to feed can help bring down this cost. Moreover, India’s present milk output could be doubled if the dairy animals were only adequately fed.

In view of the acute feed shortage coupled with the poor management of feed resources in India, like burning of straw in states where straw is surplus, improved feed management practices are urgently required. In this respect, the technology of Straw based Densified Complete Feed Blocks provides a good opportunity to supply balanced feed to dairy animals and also remove regional disparities in feed availability.

Hydroponics is the science of soil-less growing of plants in nutrient-rich solutions and is a technique where the physiological requirements of plants can be met without use of soil and natural sunlight. Experiments have proved that hydroponic fodders can improve animals’ fertility as well as the quantity and quality of milk produced. Fodder availability can be assured throughout the year irrespective of weather and rainfall.