Dr. R Gnana Sekar, Technical and Marketing Manager - Dairy

Eli Lilly Asia Inc

India is targeting to double its milk production by 2020. This requires three important supports i.e feed, breed, and management. While we focus on improving breed with good quality semen (imported semen is being used in some states), feeding and management are often neglected particularly for the young animals. This leads to lesser utilization of improved genetics. A proper feeding program provides young animals to grow faster and become replacement animals on the dairy farm. This article focuses on the need for proper nutritional support to get the required growth rate in the young animals and the opportunity available for the calf and heifer feed.

The challenges faced by dairy producers – for replacement cows or buffaloes

1. Increased cost of dairy animals – need to raise their own calf with improved genetics
2. Calves are not growing properly – need good nutrition to meet the growth demand
3. Poor knowledge of calf rearing – education is needed on the nutrition and management of young animals

Need for calf feed