FEEDING AND ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SUPPLEMENTAL FAT IN SAHIWAL COWS - A. Iqbal; J. Akbar; M. Abdullah; M. Sarwar (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2012)
his study was conducted to determine the influence of feeding supplemental fat on the milk production and its composition in four primiparious Sahiwal cows. Animals were randomly assigned to receive one of four diets containing 0, 2, 4 and 6 % levels of animal fat (tallow), respectively. All the diets were made isonitrous and isocaloric and fed for four periods each of 21 days duration, including 21 days as adjustment period. The cows were housed individually in a tie stall barn and fed ad libitum the total mixed ration (TMR). Dry matter (DM) intake decreased linearly (P> 0.01) with increasing level of tallow in the diet. Daily intake of organic matter was significantly lower (P> 0.05) in cows fed different levels of tallow as compared to control diet; however there was no significant difference (P>0.05) between cows fed diets containing 2% tallow and control. Production cost per kg of milk from cows fed control diet was lower than the other diets. Costs were similar between the 2 and 4 % tallow supplemented groups while production cost per cow was higher (P>0.01) for cows fed diet containing 6% tallow. The income from milk produced increased quadratally (P<0.01) with increasing level of tallow. The study inferred that tallow is an economical source of energy for supplementation up to 4 % level of the diet dry matter in Sahiwal cows.
Keywords: journal article; Dairying; Fat feeding; Economics; Sahiwal cows; Pakistan