by
Lovemore R. Mutetwa; Animal Nutritionist
Veterinary Distributors (Pvt) Ltd, Email:
nutri@veterinarydistributors.co.zw
Cell: +263 774586536

INTRODUCTION
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FEED INGREDIENTS FOR DAIRY FEEDS

QUALITY CONTROL OF DAIRY FEEDS
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APPROACHES TO HOME-MIXING DAIRY FEEDS
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CONCLUSION
& QUESTIONS / DISCUSSION
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Feed constitutes 60 – 80 % of the cost of dairy production
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About 60% of dairy producers rely on bought-in feed from
stockfeed companies
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Nutrition impacts every part of milk production chain
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Financial losses in a dairy herd (90-dy post calving) due to
poor nutrition are:
◦
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Loss in milk production
Added vet costs
Calf loss
Added breeding costs
Replacement costs
-
32%
13%
13%
11%
31%
[Source: J. of Dairy Sci. 1993]
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
Commodity prices of feed ingredients increased
much faster than the prices of milk, etc
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

Existing / future storage capacities
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Transport of feed ingredients bought
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Additional labour costs

Interest paid on stock held
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Equipment and machinery

Technical skills
Cost savings to feed bill of 20 – 30%
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Maize / Corn
Snap corn
Barley
Oats
Small grains
Cereal grains / Energy
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Maize bran / germ
Hominy chop / DFR
Ginned cotton seed
Sunflower cake
Wheat feed
Brewers’ grains - masese
Molasses
Citrus pulp
Acid oil
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By-products = cheaper
Processed by-products
OILCAKES / PROTEINS
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Cotton cake / meal
Sunflower cake / meal
Soya cake / meal Full-fat
ROUGHAGE / FIBRE
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FEED ADITIIVES:
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Limestone flour
Monocalcium phosphate
Coarse salt
Urea
Dairy / Dry Cow premix
Dairy Macropacks
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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
Roughages
SPECIAL-PURPOSE
INGREDINETS
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Buffers (anionic salts)
Potassium carb/chloride
(heat stress)
Mycotoxin binder /
deactivators
Rumen modifiers
(ionophores )
Protected fats
Yeasts
Flavourants / Palatants
NON-CONVENTIONAL
INGREDIENTS
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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

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
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Dairy Feed Concentrates
Dairy Macro-packs or Maxi-packs
Total home-mixing
TMR
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Simplest level – partial home mixing
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Concentrates are feeds concentrated in a
particular nutrient, mainly protein
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Conc is diluted with maize, snap corn,
roughage or other cereal grains
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Example: 40% Dairy Feed Concentrate 1part to
3 ½ parts maize crush to get a 20% Dairy Meal
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Dairy maxi- pack or macro-pack
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Contains monocalcium phosphate, limestone
flour, salt, amino acids, a mineral-vitamin
premix and feed additives.
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Maxipacks range 25 – 55 kg

Targeted farmers with their own maize, cotton
seed cake and wheat bran
Raw Materials
Maize
Cotton cake
Soya cake 47%
Limestone
Dairy Macro pack
TOTAL
Dairy 15
kg
kg
kg
kg
kg
kg
Dairy 19
800
145
700
150
100
47
992
47
997
62
12
38
10
2
76
12
40
10
2
NUTRIENTS
By-Pass Protein
ME Ruminant
Fibre
Calcium
Mg, Na, S
g/kg
MJ/kg
g/kg
g/kg
g/kg
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Dairy producer sources all the feed
ingredients
Feed formulation programme for leastcosting.
Restricted to medium-scale and large-scale
operators
High technical skills needed
Milking ration
 Cotton O/C
 Maize bran
 Maputi
 Chicken litter (L)
 Soyabean meal
 LSF
 Salt
 Urea
 MCP
 Dairy premix
- 350
- 250
- 250
- 100
- 50
- 12
- 9
- 5
- 6
- 4
Nutrient analysis (%)
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DM CP Fibre
Ca Salt -
87
18.8
13
1.2
0.7
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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
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Low Milkers (<20L)
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Silage
Rye grass 18% Dairy meal
Hominy chop
Rhodes hay
Molasses
28%
28%
– 34%
- 5%
- 3%
- 2%
Feed about 50kg/h/dy
Top milkers (>30L)
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Silage
33%
Rye grass 33%
16% Dairy Meal - 25%
Rhodes hay
- 8%
Molasses
- 1%
Feed about 40kg/h/dy
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Ingredients
kg/MT
Cotton cake
Maize bran
Maize crush
Brewers’ grain
Molasses
Macropack
Total mix
- 270
- 230
- 170
- 150
- 150
- 32
1002
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Nutrients analysis
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CP
- 18 %
Energy met. - 11.5 MJ/kg
Fibre
- 17%

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.
THANK YOU!!!!
QUESTIONS &
DISCUSSION