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rations is not easy. However, it is important or you to understandhow to measure their quality. The most common measures are oprotein and energy. Protein is measured in crude protein units,an estimate o the total protein content o the eed. A commonmeasure o energy is metabolizable energy units, which measurethe amount o useul energy the eed contains. The amount ocalcium in the ration or milking animals is also an importantmeasure o quality. Farmers who would like to use these measuresshould get inormation rom more technical literature or seekadvice rom a livestock services provider.

How can I make concentrates at home?

Have a list o all available eed ingredients (see table 1). Group the ingredients according to availability o themacronutrients (energy, protein, minerals). The general rulewhere a weighing scale is not available is to mix the energy(the cereals) and the protein eeds (the oilseed cakes + leameals) at the proportion o 3 to 2. Use minerals and premixessuch as lysine in small amounts as shown in table 2. Formineral sources not listed in the table, seek inormation romadvisory services.

Identiy a good, clean mixing area. Farmers with a herd o 5or more milking cows can acquire eed mixers with outputs aslittle as 500 kg per hour rom manuacturers o machines orsmall industries.

I you are mixing manually, start mixing the ingredients beingused in small proportionor example, mix the salt + mineralthen add the yeast. Mix thoroughly, using a clean shovel.

Continue mixing with the shovel to ensure that all ingredientsare distributed well throughout.

Store your mixed eed well. Gunny bags are c ommonly used.

How do I feed concentrates to my animals?

The best way to eed concentrates to dairy animals is tobase the eeding on milk production. Feed concentrateseither by giving the same rate throughout lactation or bychallenge eeding. In challenge eeding, give the cow a lowlevel o concentrate at calving and increase it gradually untilurther increase does not result in increased milk. Targetedconcentrate eeding in the latter method has been shown toincrease net returns or some smallholder dairy armers inKenya. Findings rom the Kenya smallholder dairy projecthave shown that most armers eed 2 kg o concentrate percow per day and get 57 litres o milk. When this amountwas raised to 8 kg o concentrate per day or a targetedperiod the total milk yield increased by 24%.

How much concentrate to feed?

The amount o concentrate to eed depends mainly on twoactors: quality o the orage and milk production level othe cow. Other actors can include weight o the cow andavailability o either orages or the concentrate. A generalrule on eeding concentrate suggests 1 kg o concentrateor each 23 litres o milk. Table 3 gives a rough guide onexpected milk yields or poor-, medium- and high-qualityorage and amount o concentrate to eed a mature cowweighing 350500 kg.

Table 3. Expected milk yields at dierent concentrate

eeding levels with poor- to high-quality orageQuality o orage Concentrate (kg/

day)Milk yields (kg/

day)

Poor quality (crop residues) 0 0

3 25

6 610

10 1020

Medium quality (mature hay+ legume orage)

0 < 5

3 510

6 1018

10 1825

High quality (good hay/Napier grass + legumeorage)

0 812

2 1220

6 2030

10 > 30

Practical experience from UgandaTable 4 gives ingredients and chemical composition o asimple dairy meal o about 16% crude protein, used in aKampala peri-urban area in Uganda.*

You can save over 30% o the total cost by mixing your ownconcentrate.

Advantages o homemade rations You can increase animal production in remote areas where

commercial rations are not available. You can increase arm eciency by using on-arm by-products. You can reduce the cost o production where homemade

rations are cheaper than commercial rations. Your eed is ed resh and is o good quality.

Table 4. Proportions (kg/100 kg DM) and price perkilogram o components in a homemade concentrate

I ng redi ent DM(%)

CP (%DM)

Proportionin mixture

(kg)

CP con-tribution

(%)

Av. price(UGS/

kg)

Totalcost

(UGS)

Maizebran

83.8 10.7 82.0 8.8 150 12,300

Cottonseed cake

93.6 45.2 17.0 7.7 300 5,100

Maclickmineralpowder

1.0 1,700 1,700

Total 100.0 16.5 19,100

The mineral powder, obtained rom market, contained the ollowingminerals with the percentage contribution o each given in brackets: Ca(18.51), Co (0.02), Cu (0.10), Fe (0.5), Mg (3), Mn (0.4), Mo (0.002), NaCl(27), P (11), S (0.4), Zn (0.5); Ca : P ratio o 1.68 : 1.

DM dry matter; CP crude protein; UGS Uganda shilling, valued atUGS 1920 to USD 1 at the time the table was compiled.

Disadvantages o homemade rations It is not easy to maintain quality control and balance the ration

because some ingredients may not be available. Due to variability in quality it is dicult to determine eeding rates. It is dicult to mix homogenously, especially the ingredients

used in small amounts, because mixing is done manually,

It is dicult to observe recommended limitations or someingredients, which can be toxic or have negative eects.

For more inormationTo mix quality homemade dairy concentrate you need good inormation

on eed quality and animal nutritional requirements. Seek inormationrom livestock service providers. Here are sources o more inormation inKenya, Rwanda and Uganda:

EADD Kenya Country OceElgon ViewPO Box 5201 30100, Eldoret, KenyaTel: +254 (0)53 203 1273/8Mobile: +254 (0)715 783 045Email: ino@eadairy.org

EADD Uganda Country OcePlot 14, Lourdel Road, NakaseroPO Box 28491, Kampala, UgandaTel: +256 (0)414 233 481Fax: +256 (0)414 236 939Email: eadd.ino@eadairyuganda.org

EADD Rwanda Country OcePO Box 115, Nyagatare, RwandaTel: +250 (0)252 565 432Email: ino@eadairyrwanda.org

Written by Aichi Kitalyi, Ben Lukuyu,

Josephine Kirui and Joy Kabirizi

EADD leafet no. 6

8/2/2019 Mixing Dairy Concentrates

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This leafet tells you how to mix a dairy concentrate at home andhow to use such a concentrate. It emphasizes how importantthese concentrates are.

What are concentrates?

Concentrates are mixtures o commercial eeds, such as dairymeal, cubes and pellets, and individual ingredients, such as themilling by-product wheateed, maize germ meal and cottonseedcake. Concentrates are mainly sources o energy and protein,but they usually also contain minerals and other importantnutritional requirements that cannot be met rom orage alone.

Concentrates are rich in nutrientsenergy or protein or both.They provide ar more nutrients than an equivalent weight oorage. They are low in bre and their dry matter c ontent isusually high. In dairy production, concentrate mix is always usedto supplement a basal diet, which is normally orage.

Why feed concentrates?

Present-day high-producing cows are the result o years ogenetic improvement programmes. Now, however, poor eed,inadequate in both quality and quantity, is a major constraintin eorts to improve the productivity o livestock in manysmallholder production systems in East Arica, whether mixedarming, pastoral or agropastoral. The principal sources o eedor ruminants in mixed croplivestock systems are crop residuescomplemented with orage collected rom communal land,orests, roadsides or allow land, or by grazing animals on thoselands. This eeding regime oten does not meet the nutritionalrequirements or maintaining high milk production o dairy

cows. Adding a supplement o concentrates helps meet the highdemand or nutrients needed to a ssure top milk production.

Dairy animals require nutrients or maintenance, growth, oetusdevelopment and milk production. Just what each animal needsdepends on its physiological state. Forages, the basic diet oruminants, do not contain sucient nutrients and minerals tomeet the eed requirements or dairy animals, especially orhigh milk production. Concentrates, rich in the nutrients that aredecient in orages, balance the diet.

Concentrates also improve intake o orages especially when theorage is o low quality, which is usually the case in smallholderproduction systems o East Arica. But too high a proportion oconcentrates in the diet intereres with r umen ermentation anddecreases digestion eciency

What is in a dairy concentrate?

Concentrates contain high-energy eedstus that are added to aration primarily to increase its energy density. They are mostlycereals or cereal by-products, roots and tubers, liquid eedslike molasses, ats and oils. However, these energy sources alsocontain small quantities o other nutrientsproteins, mineralsand vitamins. The energy is in the orm o starch, with a crudeprotein content o 812%, high in phosphorus but low in bothcrude bre and calcium.

Concentrates also contain protein supplements, dened aseedstus that contain more than 20% crude protein on the basiso dry matter. All the energy sources named here also supplyprotein but usually not in quantity enough to meet the animalsrequirements. Plant protein sources are mainly oilseed meal or

leguminous orages; animal protein sources are mainly shmealand meat or bone meal. However, the outbreak o mad cowdisease or bovine spongiorm encephalopathy (BSE) led to a banon using animal protein other than shmeal as livestock eed.

Minerals make up a small portion o the diet but make a majorunctional contribution. Generally, because their content in themain diet is inadequate or high-producing dairy cows, mineralsupplementation is necessary. The amount o supplementationdepends on the mineral content o the main diet. The minerallevel in plant eed in turn depends on the mineral content othe soil. As much as possible, the main diet should meet basicmineral requirements. Individual requirements depend on the ageo the dairy cow and her level o production.

Table 1 shows potential ingredients or ormulating a concentratein East Arican smallholder dairy systems and quality o thenutrient.

Table 1. Common eed ingredients or homemade dairyconcentrates in East Arica

Ingredient Energy Protein (CP %)a Ash(mineral)

Commercial dairy meal high high high

Broken whole grain maize high moderate low

Maize bran moderate moderate low

Maize gluten eed high high low

Wheateed high moderate low

Wheat bran moderate moderate low

Cassava meal high low low

Cassava pulp, waste moderate low low

Sweetpotato tubers high high high

Molasses high low low

Coee hull, pulp moderate moderate moderate

Brewers grain waste high moderate low

Cottonseed cake moderate high (2335%) moderat e

Sunfower seed cake moderate high moderate

Simsim seed cake moderate high moderate

Copra cake (coconut) moderate high moderate

Groundnut cake moderate high moderate

Crushed legume grains moderate high moderate

Kapok cake moderate high moderate

Lime high

Fodder shrub lea meal low high low

Herbaceous legume leameal

low high low

Blood meal low high lowFishmeal moderate high high

Bone meal high (85%) higha CP crude protein: low < 9%, moderate 918%, high > 18%

Concentrate feeding in smallholder dairy

production systems

Concentrates are expensive and where there is no enorcedregulation on animal eed standards, returns to commercialconcentrate eeding could be negative. However, in a smallholderproduction system, homemade dairy concentrates are a goodway to reduce the costs o concentrate eeding. Homemadeconcentrates can make use o available arm produce. Mosto the ingredients listed in table 1 are available to smallholder

Feeding dairy concentrate optimize the genetic potential of a gooddairy cow.