26
Food Requirements of Milch and other Cattle in India.
giving the equivalent of 90 million tons of green grass. Assuming the grass to have the value of 6.2
per cent S. E. containing 1.33 D. P., it will provide 5.6 million tons of S. E. with 1.2 million tons of
D. P. This still leaves a deficiency of 6.34 million tons of S. E. and 3.68 million tons of D. P. That
can be met from concentrated protein food of animal origin of which fish meal should supply a large
proportion.
It is recognised that while the ultimate objective must be the provision of food which will allow
the cattle of this country to maintain health and to produce on the most paying basis, it is necessary
in practice to concentrate on intermediate goals which can be progressively raised as agricultural
conditions improve. These intermediate goals must differ from region to region according to markets,
agricultural practices, prejudices, etc.; the exact goals are, therefore, a matter of individual adminis-
trations to determine.
It is improbable that administrative units can become self-sufficient; inter-adjustment in the
supply of protein concentrates must continue. That class of foodstuffs being relatively non-bulky
is transportable and thus the difficulty is not insoluble. Table IV illustrates the present position in
regard to them.
TABLE IV
Present position in regard to foodstuffs
Province
Punjab . . . . . . . . . .
Sind
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Bengal . . . . . . . . . .
Assam . . . . . . . . . .
Present food available expressed as
S.E.
6,206,579
623,817
2,933,233
626,548
D.P.
673,703
49,877
87,165
17,789
Ratio of
D.P. to S.E.
1:9.21
1:12.5
1:33.66
1:35.22
The foregoing estimates give what is considered to be an all-India picture of the stock fee
position and needs. As a first stage towards the ultimate aim, attention should be given to the produc-
tion of what is now recognised to be the primary human food requirement from cattle as expressed by
the Nutrition Advisory Committee of the Indian Research Fund Association (1944) and the Agricul-
tural Policy Committee No. 5 (Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), that is, the production of more
milk and the work entailed in cultivating the land.
As far as the latter need is concerned, it must be admitted that what bullocks there are do in fact
cultivate the present acreage although on their low nutrient level they do not do so in an economical
manner but, for the immediate present, the standard as it is must be accepted.
Such, however, need not be the case in regard to increased milk production for it has been abun-
dantly proved that immediate returns are to be had from better feeding. If these returns are to be
maintained and increased, attention must be paid to the development of the rising and future genera-
tions of cows. As an immediate object then, the requirements may be expressed as the produc-
tion of food for 8.1 million tons of milk per annum, i.e., 50 per cent more than the present supply
and for the growth of heifers. The food required is extra to that now grown and it must be produced
largely from concentrates because (1) the maintenance requirements of the cows and buffaloes and the
present supply of milk is mainly derived from the bulky uncultivated food; (2) a milk production
ration necessitates a high proportion of proteins; and (3) the milk is required for heavily populated
areas and if it is to be delivered there in the fluid state, it must be produced in or near these areas;
such areas have few grazing facilities and so, for the most part, the milch animals and special young
stock must be stall fed. A certain amount of green fodder must be provided because there is a lack
of it in the present ration. The requirements, as far as milk is concerned, may, therefore, be stated as
2.56 million tons of S. E. and 0.47 million tons of D. P. with a nutritive ratio of 1:6.