Housing and feeding
Cattle and poultry housing; principles of feeding and balanced rations.
Housing of cattle and poultry
Good housing protects animals from heat, cold, rain and predators, makes feeding and cleaning easy and reduces disease. The site should be high, well drained, with good water supply and access.
- Conventional (stanchion) barn: animals tied in rows. In a double-row barn, animals may stand tail to tail (common central passage for cleaning and milking, easier checking of udder and reproductive organs, less spread of respiratory infection between faces) or head to head (easier feeding).
- Loose housing: animals move freely in an open paddock with a covered area; cheap and good for exercise.
- Floors should be hard, non-slippery and sloped towards a drain.
Poultry housing:
- Deep litter system: birds on a 15–20 cm layer of litter such as paddy husk, sawdust or chopped straw on the floor. The litter absorbs moisture and becomes compost-like.
- Cage system: layers in wire cages; cleaner eggs, more birds per area, easier culling.
- Free-range or backyard systems are used by small farmers.
Principles of feeding
Feeds are of two types:
- Roughages: bulky, high in fibre (more than about 18% crude fibre), low in digestible nutrients: dry fodder (straw, hay, stover) and green fodder (berseem, maize, sorghum). Hay is green fodder dried for storage; silage is green fodder preserved by fermentation in an airtight pit (maize, sorghum).
- Concentrates: low fibre, high energy or protein: grains, oilcakes, brans, chunis.
A balanced ration is the feed that supplies all nutrients (energy, protein, minerals, vitamins, water) in correct amounts and proportions for 24 hours. Cattle are ruminants with a four-chambered stomach: rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum (the true stomach). Rumen microbes digest cellulose.
Thumb rule for dairy animals: besides maintenance feed, give about 1 kg concentrate for every 2.5 kg of cow milk and 1 kg for every 2 kg of buffalo milk. Example: a cow giving 10 kg milk needs 10 ÷ 2.5 = 4 kg concentrate for milk production. Clean water and mineral mixture must always be available.
Key points
- Tail-to-tail barn: easier cleaning and milking.
- Deep litter: litter of husk/sawdust; cages for layers.
- Roughage: high fibre; concentrate: low fibre, high nutrients.
- Balanced ration: all nutrients for 24 hours.
- Abomasum = true stomach.
Exam tips
Expect definition questions (balanced ration, silage, hay) and small calculations with the thumb rule.
Common mistakes
- Calling silage dried fodder; it is fermented green fodder.
- Calling the rumen the true stomach.