HOME-MIXING DAIRY FEEDS - A cost-saving strategy by Lovemore R. Mutetwa; Animal Nutritionist Veterinary Distributors (Pvt) Ltd, Email: nutri@veterinarydistributors.co.zw Cell: +263 774586536

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION INTRODUCTION   FEED INGREDIENTS FOR DAIRY FEEDS QUALITY CONTROL OF DAIRY FEEDS APPROACHES TO HOME-MIXING DAIRY FEEDS CONCLUSION & QUESTIONS / DISCUSSION

INTRODUCTION Feed constitutes 60 – 80 % of the cost of dairy production About 60% of dairy producers rely on bought-in feed from stockfeed companies Nutrition impacts every part of milk production chain Financial losses in a dairy herd (90-dy post calving) due to poor nutrition are: Loss in milk production - 32% Added vet costs - 13% Calf loss - 13% Added breeding costs - 11% Replacement costs - 31% [Source: J. of Dairy Sci. 1993] Target feeding for dairy cattle is 4% of body in DMI; Microbial protein can meet up to 50% of the cow’s protein requirements.

INTRODUCTION Commodity prices of feed ingredients increased much faster than the prices of milk, etc squeezing production margins Due to the shrinkage in profit margins, an increasing number of producers are moving towards compounding their own feed on the farm. The dairy farmer needs basic technical knowledge of the feed ingredients and an understanding of basic feed formulation techniques

Whither or whether TO HOME MIX?.... Existing / future storage capacities Transport of feed ingredients bought Additional labour costs Interest paid on stock held Equipment and machinery Technical skills Cost savings to feed bill of 20 – 30%

FEED INGREDIENTS (1) Maize / Corn Snap corn Barley Oats Small grains Maize bran / germ Hominy chop / DFR Ginned cotton seed Sunflower cake Wheat feed Brewers’ grains - masese Molasses Citrus pulp Acid oil By-products = cheaper Milk production stimulated by: masese, starch grits, Oats reduce MBF due PUFA’s Cereal grains / Energy Processed by-products

FEED INGREDIENTS (2) ROUGHAGE / FIBRE Silage Veld hay OILCAKES / PROTEINS Cotton cake / meal Sunflower cake / meal Soya cake / meal Full-fat FEED ADITIIVES: Limestone flour Monocalcium phosphate Coarse salt Urea Dairy / Dry Cow premix Dairy Macropacks ROUGHAGE / FIBRE Silage Veld hay Wheat / barley straw Maize stover / husklage Corn and Cob Lucerne / alfalfa Grass pastures Bagasse Forage sorghum / Bana Cotton hulls / morts Crop residues (g/nuts . Coffee shells) Green maize chop, etc High NDF high bulk density limits DMI; High ADF limits digestibility; Roughage & Flavomycin for high BF and TS; Roughage ideally fed ad libitum; SBM high RDP vs CSM ; Urea equivalent to 1/6 total protein; Na bicarb incl. at 1% of ration=buffers for more acetate – precursor for milk BF; summer grazing lack effective fibre hence low BF / TS = lactose+ casein+ minerals+ BF; Rice bran – protein is high BV vs maize. Heat stress potassium chloride incl. 0.1 – 0.2% of ration. Roughages

FEED INGREDIENTS (3) Acid oil Poultry manure SPECIAL-PURPOSE INGREDINETS Buffers (anionic salts) Potassium carb/chloride (heat stress) Mycotoxin binder / deactivators Rumen modifiers (ionophores ) Protected fats Yeasts Flavourants / Palatants NON-CONVENTIONAL INGREDIENTS Acid oil Poultry manure Copra Meal (coconut expeller meal) Under-grade wheat grain/ flour Stack-burnt maize / Maize reject Maputi waste Bakery waste Acacia pods Velvet beans, etc

FEED QUALITY CONTROL Reasons for quality testing / checks Parameters for quality assessment of feed : - Anti-nutritional factors (free-gossypol), - Mould, - Drug / pesticide residues, - Salmonella, - Rancidity, - ADF – digestibility and NDF – intake , etc - Milk Urea Nitrogen Free-gossypol max. 0.!% or 1200mg /kg or 500mg / kg in total diet; rancidity 0.1% delta-pH;

APPROACHES TO HOME-MIXING FEEDS Dairy Feed Concentrates Dairy Macro-packs or Maxi-packs Total home-mixing TMR

DAIRY CONCENTRATE FEEDS Simplest level – partial home mixing Concentrates are feeds concentrated in a particular nutrient, mainly protein Conc is diluted with maize, snap corn, roughage or other cereal grains Example: 40% Dairy Feed Concentrate 1part to 3 ½ parts maize crush to get a 20% Dairy Meal

DAIRY MACROPACKS Dairy maxi- pack or macro-pack Contains monocalcium phosphate, limestone flour, salt, amino acids, a mineral-vitamin premix and feed additives. Maxipacks range 25 – 55 kg Targeted farmers with their own maize, cotton seed cake and wheat bran

DAIRY MACROPACKS RECIPES Raw Materials   Dairy 15 Dairy 19 Maize kg 800 700 Cotton cake 145 150 Soya cake 47% 100 Limestone Dairy Macro pack 47 TOTAL 992 997 NUTRIENTS By-Pass Protein g/kg 62 76 ME Ruminant MJ/kg 12 Fibre 38 40 Calcium 10 Mg, Na, S 2

TOTAL HOME MIXING Dairy producer sources all the feed ingredients Feed formulation programme for least- costing. Restricted to medium-scale and large-scale operators High technical skills needed

Total home-mixed recipe Milking ration Cotton O/C - 350 Maize bran - 250 Maputi - 250 Chicken litter (L) - 100 Soyabean meal - 50 LSF - 12 Salt - 9 Urea - 5 MCP - 6 Dairy premix - 4 Nutrient analysis (%) DM - 87 CP - 18.8 Fibre 13 Ca - 1.2 Salt - 0.7

TOTAL MIXED RATIONS (TMR) A TMR is a mixture of maize silage, dairy feed concentrates and roughage   High-roughage or wagon mixers easily available Mixing a ration involves the following stages: Weigh the pre- ground feed ingredients, Put the bulk ingredients portions (roughages) Blend them thoroughly, Put ingredients added in smaller quantities Blend the whole mixture

TMRs – Rye Grass-based Low Milkers (<20L) Silage - 28% 18% Dairy meal – 34% Hominy chop - 5% Rhodes hay - 3% Molasses - 2% Top milkers (>30L) Silage - 33% Rye grass - 33% 16% Dairy Meal - 25% Rhodes hay - 8% Molasses - 1% Feed about 50kg/h/dy Feed about 40kg/h/dy

TMR Masese-based Ingredients kg/MT Cotton cake - 270 Maize bran - 230 Maize crush - 170 Brewers’ grain - 150 Molasses - 150 Macropack - 32 Total mix 1002 Nutrients analysis CP - 18 % Energy met. - 11.5 MJ/kg Fibre - 17%

CONCLUSION Despite challenges that may exist with home mixing; economic pressures of low margins and escalating feed costs make feed ingredient management a priority and home mixing dairy feeds can indeed help in cost saving and restoring viability.

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