Believe it or not, about five lakh high-yielding milch animals were facing green fodder shortage, which was stated to be very crucial for keeping the reproduction system in good health.
According to sources there are about 25 lakh milch animals in Telangana out of which five lakh animals are murrah buffalo, Jersey cow and Holstein Friesian (HF). As these animals are high milk-yielding varieties they need more green fodder consisting of minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins which are important for milk synthesis. The green fodder also play key role in protecting the reproductive tract of these animals.
While each animal need to be supplied about 30 kilograms of green fodder every day to continue high milk-yielding the farmers were able to supply 15 kilograms only as there was sufficient fodder not available. The officials admitted that only one crore kilograms of green fodder was available for farmers while 1.5 crore kilograms of green fodder was needed every day to meet the requirement of five lakh animals.
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The situation may further fall during the summer season if proper steps were not put in place. So far, the Animal Husbandry Department has supplied 357 metric tonnes of fodder seed on subsidy to farmers suggesting them to get ready for the peak summer.
“The animals need to be given good fodder, mineral and vitamin mixture and trace minerals for good milk-yielding. We have to increase the supply of fodder seed on subsidy, in addition to taking up community-based dairy fodder plots and linking up fodder production with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Programme (MNREGS),” said an officer in the Animal Husbandry Department.