The 23rd Meeting of Dairy Club (Joint Venture of Alltech and UVAS) was held on Tuesday 14th May, 2013 at Syndicate Room UVAS.

Following was the agenda of meeting:

About 26 participants attended this meeting.

Dr. Jadoon opened the house and gave warm welcome to the participants. He explained the agenda.

Hafiz Muhammad Wasi presented his lecture in which he shared his experience. Bullet points of his presentation are as follows:

At start he explained Current Status Livestock n Fodder availability
He threw light on how trends are always based on needs

Basis of Dairy Farming in Pakistan:

1. Ambition
2. Landless
3. Prestige
4. Financial security
5. Subsistence land holders
6. Business

ISSUES/Needs of the Livestock farmers:

1. Investment and cash flow required is increasing while revenue from milk is on decline
2. Permanent quality Fodder is not available throughout the year due to seasonal fluctuations
3. Winter fodders have higher CP but less energy while Summer fodders have less CP but more energy

Way forward:

1. The only hope for the livestock farmer is to be in business is to ensure availability of quality fodder throughout the year at his door step as FODDER is the only source of cheap nutrition which may help ensure his dairy business SUSTAINABLE and ECONONMICALLY VIABLE

What is Good Fodder?

(PALATABLE, NUTRITIOUS, DIGESTIBLE & PRESERVABLE)

Fodder according to the animal’s liking, that it consumes happily.

1. There should be a reasonable amount of dry matter in the fodder.
2. There must be an appropriate amount of raw proteins to meet the requirements of the body.
3. There should be enough digestible energy in the fodder so that the animals’ digestive system remains healthy.
4. The fodder should be completely digestible.
5. It must have the quality to be preserved so that the farmer knows how much of the nutritional requirements of his animals are being fulfilled

Modern Trends In Fodder Production:

1. Selection of fodder with higher yield/acre
2. Selection of verities with higher nutritional value
3. Preference of multi cuts and perennial fodders
4. Preference of fodders which can be preserved easily ensuring food security for livestock
5. Fast Growing fodder Production Techniques
6. Intercropping with friendly fodder crops increasing nutritional value of the harvested material
7. Farm Mechanization helping to speed up fodder harvesting and preservations

Trends towards fodder selection:

HAY & SILAGE:

The feed formulation systems can help you

1. Crops suitable for hay & silage
2. All thin stem crops    for hay
3. All thick stem crops for silage
4. All think and thin stems crops having same mode of maturing ate also good for silage

Note: PowerPoint presentation of the lecture is available on Dairy Club website. (http://uvas.edu.pk/society-club/dairy_club/useful-links.htm).

At the end Dr. Shahzad Naveed Jadoon and Muhammad Zafar Ullah Khan paid thanks to the participants.