Pak Dairy Info
Pakistan's 1st Online Dairy Farming Guide

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Contents

Introduction

Breeds

Selection of Animals

Farm Building

Management

Record Keeping

Sanitation & Hygiene

Nutrition

Reproduction

Breeding

Health

Body Condition Scoring

Milk Quality

Feasibility

Terminologies

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Treatment of Straw

Straw and other agricultural residues have been used to livestock feed with varying degrees of success. While some of these fibrous materials may fulfill the maintenance requirements of adult animals but they cannot supply adequate nutrients for the production of milk, meat or wool. This is partly because they are low in protein, minerals and digestible energy and intake is low. Despite the limiting features straw has immense potential and can be used as energy feed if its feeding value is improved through chemical or biological procedures. There are different methods to improve the quality of straw but most common method is urea treatment.

There has been a considerable amount of work done on the urea treatment of straw. The recommended treatment rate is 40 g urea/kg straw with the urea usually being added as a solution in water (40 g urea/1 litre water) which is then sprinkled on the straw. The straw may then either be fed straight away, or


 

ensiled for 10-15 days to enable the urea to degrade the fibre to some extent. However, although there is considerable evidence of the beneficial effects of treating straw with urea, the uptake of this technology in all areas has been extremely low. A number of reasons have been given for this, which include:

  • The cost and availability of the urea

  • Lack of knowledge of the technology

  • Lack of benefit observed in farm situation

  • Difficulty of practicing technology

It is important that if straw is treated with urea, the urea solution is dispersed throughout the straw, and no ‘hot spots’ of high urea concentration are produced.

 

 

 

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