Fodder quality is the extent to which fodder has the potential to produce a desired response in cattle. The quality of fodder fed to cattle is primary factor governing cattle health, fertility and milk production.

Factors affecting fodder quality:

• Palatability : Will the cattle eat what you feed him? Cattles select one fodder over another based on smell, feel, and taste. Palatability is influenced by texture, leafiness, fertilization, moisture content, pest infestation, or compounds that cause a fodder to taste sweet, sour, or salty. A quality fodder is generally highly palatable.
• Intake : How much will they eat? Cattle must be fed adequate quantities of fodder to perform well. Typically, the higher the palatability and fodder quality, the higher the intake.
• Digestibility: How much of the fodder will be digested? Digestibility (the extent to which fodder is absorbed as well as assimilated as it passes through the cattle’s digestive tract) varies greatly. Immature, leafy plant tissues may be 80 to 90% digested, while mature, stemmy material is digested less than 50 %. Which means feeding more mature crops is only filling the cattle and more than half of it is wasted as undigested portion.
• Nutrient content: Once digested, the fodder should provide an adequate level of nutrients. Living fodder plants usually contain 70 to 90% water. The microgreens contain more crude protein.
• Anti-quality factors: Various compounds present in fodder lowers animal performance, cause sickness, or even result in death. These are called anti-nutrients and pollutants. Such compounds include tannins, nitrates, alkaloids, cyanoglycosides, oxalates, estrogens, and mycotoxins. The presence or severity of these elements depend on the plant species, stage of crop, time of year, environmental conditions, and cattle sensitivity. High-quality fodder must not contain harmful levels of anti-quality components.
• Cattle performance is the ultimate test of fodder quality, especially when fodder are fed alone and free choice. Fodder quality encompasses “nutritive value” (the potential for supplying nutrients, i.e., digestibility and nutrient content), how much cattle will consume, and any anti-quality factors present. Cattle performance can be influenced by any of several factors associated with either the plants or the animals. Failure to give proper consideration to any of these factors may reduce cattle’s performance level and overall health, which in turn reduces potential income of the farmer.

Shunya’s Hydroponic fodder solution

Shunya’s high quality Hydroponic super fodder can be the solution for all your cattle feed concerns. It addresses critical concerns of sustainability, cattle health, and operational efficiency. It is absolutely chemical free, super nutritious, easily palatable, delicious tender green cattle feed. Scientific feeding of cattle using Shunya’s hydroponic green fodder improves, milk yield, fat and SNF in Milk. It also improves the overall health and fertility of the cattle. The sweetest part of this fodder solution is year round door step delivery on your finger click.

Adopting Shunya’s fodder service solution, dairy farmers are not only enhancing their own livelihoods but also contributing to a more sustainable future for agriculture.

references :Maize as Fodder.pdf (icar.gov.in) , ShunyaShunya’s Green Fodder Revolution