(How to grow and provide enough animal feed)
🌽 2.1 Nutrition and Feeding
Types of Feed
Energy Feeds
- Maize silage
- Napier grass
- Pasture grass
Protein Feeds
- Dairy meal
- Legumes (lucerne, desmodium)
Minerals
- Mineral salt lick
- Calcium supplements
Feeding Rule
👉 A cow eats about 3% of its body weight daily
🌽 2.2 Growing Maize for Fodder
Land Preparation
- Plough early
- Apply manure
Planting
- Plant at start of rains
- Use improved seed varieties
Fertilizer
- Use DAP during planting
- Apply CAN for top dressing
Harvesting
- Harvest when maize is milk stage
- Leaves still green
- Grain soft
🌽 2.3 Making Maize Silage
Steps
- Chop maize into small pieces
- Compact tightly
- Remove air
- Cover with plastic
- Seal completely
👉 Silage ready after 21 days
Good Silage Should:
✔ Smell sweet
✔ Be greenish or yellow
✔ Not mouldy
🌿 2.4 Management of Napier Grass
Planting
- Use clean disease-free cuttings
- Plant during rainy season
Management
✔ Apply manure regularly
✔ Weed frequently
✔ Cut at 1–1.5 meters height
🌱 2.5 Pasture Management
- Avoid overgrazing
- Allow pasture rest period
- Control weeds
- Reseed pasture when necessary
