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Development of Practical and Economic Ration | Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Optional for UPSC PDF Download

Development of Practical and Economic Rations for Sheep, Goats, Pigs, Rabbits and Poultry. Supply of Green Fodde Feeding Regimens for Young and Mature Stock

Sheep Diet Basics

  1. Natural Diet:

    • Sheep primarily rely on natural pastures for their food and nutrition.
    • They graze on various grasses, legumes, weeds, herbs, and shrubs found in cultivated and uncultivated lands.
    • In India, sheep commonly feed on wild grasses, crop by-products, and farm waste materials.

  2. Daily Consumption:

    • When kept indoors and fed in stalls, sheep typically consume around 2.5 to 3.0 kilograms of dry matter per head per day from good quality roughage.
    • On pastures, they consume approximately 15% more dry matter compared to when they are fed indoors.

  3. Nutritional Needs:

    • Sheep require a higher proportion of protein in their diet due to the wool fibers, which are composed entirely of protein.
    • Good quality roughage usually provides sufficient Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) for sheep growth.

  4. Essential Minerals:

    • Important minerals for sheep include salt, calcium, and phosphorus, which are crucial for their overall health and well-being.
    • Legumes in the diet can supply adequate calcium, while bone meal can be included to provide phosphorus.
    • Copper is another essential element for sheep health, and supplementation may be necessary in deficient areas.

  5. Feeding Recommendations:

    • A concentrated mixture consisting of barley, oil cake, and wheat bran, along with legume hay, is considered effective for sheep nutrition.
    • For adult sheep, a practical and economical diet typically includes a free choice of maintenance quality forages like oat hay, dub grass, and maize, along with a small amount of concentrate mixture.
    • If leguminous roughages are available in sufficient quantities, feeding concentrate can be restricted to productive stock only.
    • Providing a little straw with roughages can help prevent digestive disorders.

  6. Feeding Challenges:

    • In the absence of good quality forages, straws and stovers (stalks and leaves of crops after harvesting) may be fed along with a concentrated mixture.
    • However, this may increase feeding costs and is recommended only under unavoidable circumstances.

Feeding Lambs

  1. Creep Mixture:

    • Lambs up to 12 weeks of age should be supplemented with a special feed called creep mixture.
    • This creep mixture helps enhance the growth rate of lambs.
    • The composition of the creep mixture includes maize flour (67%), groundnut cake (10%), wheat bran (10%), fish meal (10%), common salt (1%), and mineral mixture (2%).

  2. Supplementation:

    • For every 100 kilograms of the creep mixture, additional supplementation includes 150 grams of TM-5 and sufficient vitamins to meet the Vitamin A requirements of the lambs.

Feeding Lambs at Different Stages

  1. When Good Quality Forage is Available:

    • If you have good quality forage like peas, maize, or hay harvested at the right stage, follow these feeding amounts based on lamb weight:
      • 10-15 kg: No concentrate needed
      • 16-25 kg: 100 grams of concentrate
      • 25-36 kg: Adjust concentrate amount accordingly

  2. When Quality Forage is Limited, and Lambs are on Straw:

    • If lambs are on straw due to a lack of good forage, the daily concentrate requirements are:
      • 10-15 kg: 300 grams
      • 16-24 kg: 400 grams
      • 25-35 kg: 600 grams

  3. For Intensive Growth (Weaning to Six Months):

    • Provide one of the following options per kg of lamb weight:
      • (a) 100g of groundnut cake or similar fodder
      • (b) 250g concentrate mixture (20 parts groundnut cake, 20 parts maize, 60 parts wheat husk)
      • (c) 200g concentrate mixture (33 parts groundnut cake, 23 parts wheat bran, 33 parts oats) plus roughage
      • (d) 100g concentrate mixture (as in c), 200g of berseem hay, pea hay, or leguminous roughage, plus straw or stovers ad lib (as needed)

  4. Semi-Range Conditions (8 Hours Grazing):

    • Choose one of the following additional supplements:
      • a) 75g groundnut cake
      • b) 200g concentrates as mentioned above
      • c) 150g concentrates as mentioned above

  5. For 15-20 kg Lambs:

    • Increase roughage and concentrates as needed. Always provide minerals freely.

Highlights for Easy Understanding:

  • Adjust feed based on lamb weight and available forage.
  • Use specific concentrate mixtures for different growth stages.
  • For intensive growth, offer groundnut cake or specified concentrate mixtures with additional roughage.
  • In semi-range conditions, provide extra supplements after 8 hours of grazing.
  • Increase feed for 15-20 kg lambs and ensure free access to minerals.

Finishing Rations for Lambs (20-30 kg) in Intensive Conditions:

  • Provide 500-700g of a mix containing 70% concentrate and 30% roughage.
  • The composite ration should have 10-13% protein and 26 MJ of Metabolizable Energy (ME).

Under Semi-Range Conditions

  • Grazing takes care of roughage; during lean periods, offer 150g of concentrate mix.
  • Ensure free access to mineral mixture, common salt, and sufficient vitamin A.

Breeding Rams and Ewes in Last Six Weeks of Gestation in Intensive Conditions:

  • Green feeds like maize, cowpeas, and dub grass suffice without concentrates.
  • If low-quality roughages are all that's available, supplement with 400g concentrate mixture and 1.5kg Jowar hay.
  • Usual grazing handles roughage; during lean periods, provide 150g of concentrate mix and mineral mixture.

Lactating Sheep

  • Legume hay is given freely for the first 10 days.
  • From the 10th day after weaning, provide 250g of concentrate mix along with unlimited Legume hay for up to 2 months.

Pre-Mating Preparation:

  • Two weeks before rams join ewes, give 200g of concentrate with good quality roughage (feast, dub, cowpeas).

Lean Period Feeding Strategy:

  • Evidence suggests that feeding 125-750g of concentrate during lean periods benefits indigenous sheep.

Creep Rations (Supplying 12-18% DCP and 25-29 Meal MK per kg feed):

  • These special feeds help young lambs grow well, providing the needed nutrients.

Feeding Goats

  1. Offer a Variety of Greens:

    • Provide free access to options like dub, oats, cowpea, berseem, or lucerne.
    • Goats enjoy browsing on tender twigs of herbs, shrubs, and small trees.

  2. Preference for Browsing:

    • Goats prefer browsing over grazing.
    • They use their hind limbs to reach and pluck tender twigs.
    • Urban areas often practice stall feeding.

  3. Principles of Feeding:

    • While goats can utilize coarse fibrous feed, it's better to offer green and tender leaves to prevent energy loss.
    • Dry matter requirement is 3-4% of their body weight, higher than larger farm animals.
    • They need slightly higher protein levels and are fed 3-4 times a day due to their smaller stomachs.
    • Goats tend to eat throughout the day.

  4. Creep Feeding:

    • Kids vary in birth weight depending on breed and maternal nutrition.
    • Creep feeding with a balanced starter feed is provided up to 10 weeks to spare goat milk for human consumption and promote faster weight gain.
    • After 4-7 days of nursing, kids are separated and started on starter ration, bottle-fed, and provided with legume hay, minerals, and water.

  5. Grower's Ration:

    • A complete ration with 9-10% DCP and 62-65% TDN from good quality roughage meets grower's requirements.
    • Feed containing less protein and energy should be balanced with concentrate mixture.

Feeding Growing Kids

  • A mixture of indigenous feeders with a 1:1 ratio of cereal grain and wheat/rice bran is suitable for providing nutrients to growing kids.

Finisher Rations

  • During the finishing period, where about one-third of body weight gain is expected, regularized feeding is necessary to meet market demands.
  • For fatty carcasses, energy-rich cereal-based feed is required, with roughage making up about 20-25% of dry matter. Lean carcass production may require 30-40% roughage.
  • A complete ration with 6-8% DCP and 60-45% TDN is satisfactory for finishing.

Feeding Replacement Stock

  • Female kids and some males are raised for breeding purposes, adjusting feeding to achieve sexual maturity and appropriate body size by one year of age.
  • After weaning at 8-10 kg, no supplementary feeding is needed under good pasture and browsing conditions. However, during lean periods, a quarter to half kg of concentrate mixture may be required.

Feeding Dry Goats

  • Dry goats browse on pastures, requiring no supplemental feeding. 6-8 hours of browsing suffice, supplemented with salt and a universal mixture.

Feeding Dry Pregnant Goats

  • The last one-third of gestation is crucial for fetal development, requiring about 70-80% gain in fetal mass.
  • Inadequate feeding can deplete body reserves, leading to deficiency diseases. Increased protein, calcium, and phosphorus are essential.
  • A balanced ration with 5.6% DCP and 55-60% TDN, along with a mineral mixture, meets requirements. About 200g of concentrate mixture on good pasture/browsing is beneficial.
  • Higher concentrate levels (30% of dry matter) sustain better milk yield in mila breeds.

Feeding Pregnant and Lactating Goats

During Pregnancy:

  • Until the last third of gestation, the nutrient requirements remain steady.
  • After rebreeding, it's crucial to maintain steady health and ensure positive weight gain.
  • A diet with 5-4% DCP and 55-60% TDN is satisfactory.

During Lactation:

  • Daily feed requirements range from 4-4.5% of live weight in the first half and 3-4% in the latter half.
  • Provide a ration with 5-8% DCP and 55-50% TDN, along with sufficient minerals and vitamins.

Feeding Bucks:

  • Breeding bucks should be fed at 3-3.5% of their live weight.
  • Rations with 4-6% DCP and 50-60% TDN, plus enough minerals and vitamins, maintain their health and fertility.

Common Feeds and Fodder for Goats:

  1. Tree leaves, shrubs, herbs, and creepers like pakar, galar, pipal, neem, gokhru, etc.
  2. Grasses like Dub, Matha, Zeera, Angan, etc.
  3. Vegetable waste such as tops of carrot, turnip, radish; leaves of cauliflower, cabbage, mustard, and empty pea pods.
  4. Cultivated fodders like legumes, lubia, berseem, and hare.
  5. Pods and berries of babul, gulmohar, sherbet, pakar, ber, etc.

Feeding Pigs

  1. Digestive System:

    • Pigs have simple digestive systems and struggle with low-quality feed like straw.
    • They can handle up to 36 kg of fresh green feed per day.

  2. Feed Composition:

    • Avoid fine grain mixes; use rounded grains like maize, oats, and barley, limited to 25-30% of the meal.
    • Cottonseed meals are not recommended, but groundnut cake is excellent for pigs.
    • Fish and meat meals are good protein supplements.
    • Molasses in feed increases meal consumption.
    • Essential fatty acids like linoleic and arachidonic acid are necessary, along with minerals.
    • Maize is a key feed for pigs but lacks iron and copper, so these need to be supplemented.
    • Avoid fats that cause soft pork.

  3. Rations for Different Stages:

    • Creep rations during suckling, starter, grower, and finisher rations for various weight ranges.

  4. Feeding Weaning Pigs:

    • Wean pigs around 6 weeks or by weight.
    • Start with pre-starter feeds fortified with protein, minerals, vitamins, and antibiotics.
    • Follow with a starter feed, low in fiber and high in palatability.
    • Piglets may need copper and iron injections to prevent anemia.
    • Creep meal should be available from around 10 days old until weaning at 56 days.

  5. Grower's Ration:

    • Start grower ration when pigs weigh 10-12 kg.
    • Simple rations are sufficient once pigs reach 20 kg.

  6. Non-Cereal Ration:

    • Due to cereal shortage, by-products of grains are used.

  7. Finisher Rations:

    • Feed finisher ration when pigs reach 50 kg until market weight (80-100 kg).

  8. Feeding Pregnant and Lactating Sows:

    • Pregnant sows may need 2-2.5 kg of meals; excessive feed can cause embryonic mortality.
    • Lactating sows may need 5 kg of meals plus 0.2 kg per piglet.

  9. Dry-Lot Feeding:

    • Dry-lot feeding is not economical; a combination of scavenging and supplementation is preferred.

  10. Feeding Value of Silage:

    • Silage feeding can reduce farrowing costs and prevent sows from getting too fat.
    • Proper supplementation is essential for balanced nutrition.

Feeding Rabbits

Raising rabbits successfully depends heavily on providing them with the right diet. Unlike animals that can forage for themselves, rabbits rely entirely on what their keeper provides. Therefore, understanding their nutritional needs and feeding them properly is essential for their health and productivity.

  1. Understanding Rabbit Needs: Rabbits are versatile animals that can thrive on a wide range of foods, including various grains, greens, and fruits. They have different nutritional requirements depending on their age, reproductive status, and activity level.
  2. Improving Feed Quality: Higher-quality feed leads to better growth rates and productivity in rabbits. This improvement can come from increasing the energy or protein content of the feed. While increasing the quantity of food may help, it's essential to ensure that the food provided is of high quality.
  3. Different Rabbit Keepers, Different Feeding Approaches: The feeding methods employed by rabbit keepers can vary based on their goals. Backyard rabbit keepers typically aim for self-sufficiency, providing food from their own resources. On the other hand, commercial breeders prioritize profit and may use more specialized feeding strategies.
  4. Tailoring Diet for Different Stages:
    1. Lactating does and growing rabbits have higher energy and protein requirements to support milk production and rapid growth, respectively. They need feed with a higher fiber content, typically around 12-14%.
    2. Adult, breeding rabbits require slightly lower fiber content, around 25%, in their diet to maintain health and reproductive function.
  5. Feeding Amount: An adult rabbit weighing 4-5 kg can consume up to 1 kg of food daily. It's essential to balance fresh greens with dry feed to prevent digestive issues like diarrhea.
  6. Feeding Schedule: Rabbits prefer fresh, bulky food and should ideally be fed 2-3 times daily. Evening feeding aligns with their natural activity patterns, as they are most active during this time.
  7. Types of Bulky Feeds:
    1. Dry bulky feed includes hay made from grasses or legumes, which provides essential fiber.
    2. Fresh bulky feed includes various greens, vegetables, and fruits, offering additional nutrients and hydration.
  8. Importance of Safety: Rabbit keepers must be aware of which plants are poisonous to rabbits, as they may inadvertently consume harmful substances. Rabbits have a preference for clean and uncontaminated food and may refuse to eat dirty or spoiled feed.
  9. Role of Concentrates: Concentrates are feed formulations with higher energy and protein content. They are essential for meeting the increased nutritional demands of pregnant, lactating, and young rabbits. Common ingredients in concentrates include maize, soybean meal, and other protein-rich sources.
  10. Water Requirement: Water is crucial for proper digestion, nutrient absorption, and overall health in rabbits. Their water intake can vary depending on factors such as climate, size, activity level, and diet composition.
  11. Minerals and Vitamins: Calcium, phosphorus, and sodium chloride (salt) are essential minerals for rabbits' bone health, muscle function, and overall well-being. Additionally, vitamins obtained from fresh greens are vital for maintaining their immune system and overall health.
  12. Coprophagy: Rabbits engage in coprophagy, the consumption of soft fecal pellets produced during the night. These pellets contain essential nutrients, including protein, energy, and vitamins, which are re-ingested to maximize nutrient absorption.
  13. Gradual Diet Changes: Any changes to a rabbit's diet should be introduced gradually to prevent digestive upset. Gradual transitions allow rabbits to adapt to new feed formulations without experiencing stress or health issues.
  14. Ration Choices: Rabbit keepers have various options when it comes to feeding rations, including diets composed entirely of bulky feeds, concentrates, or a combination of both. Each approach has its advantages and is suited to different production systems and management practices.
  15. Feeding Pellets: Pelleted feeds offer a convenient and well-balanced option for rabbit nutrition. They are carefully formulated to provide all necessary nutrients in the correct proportions. While pellets may be more expensive than bulk feeds, they offer several advantages, including consistent quality and palatability.
  16. Feeding Times: Establishing regular feeding times helps rabbits anticipate meals and maintain healthy eating habits. Evening feeding aligns with their natural activity patterns and ensures that fresh food is available when they are most active.
  17. Freshness and Cleanliness: All feeds should be fresh, clean, and stored properly to maintain their nutritional value and prevent contamination. Feeders should be cleaned regularly to remove any accumulated debris or mold that could affect rabbits' health.
The document Development of Practical and Economic Ration | Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Optional for UPSC is a part of the UPSC Course Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Optional for UPSC.
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FAQs on Development of Practical and Economic Ration - Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Optional for UPSC

1. What are practical and economic rations for sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, and poultry?
Ans. Practical and economic rations for livestock such as sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, and poultry refer to balanced diets that provide the necessary nutrients for their growth and development while being cost-effective. These rations are designed to meet the specific nutritional requirements of each animal species, considering factors such as age, weight, and production goals.
2. How are practical and economic rations developed for livestock?
Ans. Practical and economic rations for livestock are developed through a combination of scientific research, nutritional analysis, and practical experience. Experts consider the specific nutritional needs of each animal species, including the required amounts of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. They also take into account the availability and cost of feed ingredients to formulate rations that provide optimal nutrition at an affordable price.
3. What is the importance of green fodder feeding regimens for young and mature stock?
Ans. Green fodder feeding regimens are important for both young and mature stock due to their numerous benefits. Green fodder, such as fresh grass or legume crops, is rich in essential nutrients and provides a natural source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. It helps improve digestion, enhance overall health, and boost the immune system of livestock. Additionally, green fodder feeding regimens can reduce the dependency on costly concentrate feeds, making it a cost-effective and sustainable feeding option.
4. How can farmers ensure practical and economic rations for their livestock?
Ans. Farmers can ensure practical and economic rations for their livestock by following a few key steps. Firstly, they should consult with animal nutrition experts who can provide guidance on formulating balanced rations based on the specific needs of their livestock. Secondly, farmers should conduct regular nutritional assessments and adjust feed quantities and compositions accordingly. Thirdly, they should explore locally available feed ingredients and evaluate their cost-effectiveness. Lastly, farmers should continuously monitor the performance and health of their livestock to ensure the effectiveness of the rations provided.
5. What are the potential cost-saving strategies for livestock farmers when it comes to feed rations?
Ans. Livestock farmers can employ several cost-saving strategies when it comes to feed rations. These include utilizing locally available and affordable feed ingredients, such as agricultural by-products, crop residues, or forage crops. Farmers can also adopt feed management techniques that minimize wastage and spillage, ensuring that animals consume the intended amount of feed. Additionally, implementing efficient feeding systems, such as controlled grazing or timed feeding, can optimize feed utilization and reduce overall feed costs. Regular monitoring and adjustment of rations based on the specific needs and performance of the animals can also help in avoiding unnecessary expenses.
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Dec 22, 2024 Last updated
Document Description: Development of Practical and Economic Ration for UPSC 2024 is part of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Optional for UPSC preparation. The notes and questions for Development of Practical and Economic Ration have been prepared according to the UPSC exam syllabus. Information about Development of Practical and Economic Ration covers topics like Development of Practical and Economic Rations for Sheep, Goats, Pigs, Rabbits and Poultry. Supply of Green Fodde Feeding Regimens for Young and Mature Stock and Development of Practical and Economic Ration Example, for UPSC 2024 Exam. Find important definitions, questions, notes, meanings, examples, exercises and tests below for Development of Practical and Economic Ration.
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