Centre for Excellence for Dairy Skills in India (CEDSI) in association with Directorate of Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana organized one day dairy stakeholders workshop on the theme “Opportunities and Challenge in Dairy Animal Nutrition” on 6.12.2023. Around 70 members of All Feed Millers Association (AFMA) participated. S. Inderjeet Singh; Director Dairy Development (Retd.), Government of Punjab stated that CEDSI is an autonomous institution committed to dairy skill development in India and aims to ensure sustainability and profitability in the dairy sector through skilling & capacity building, policy advocacy, knowledge management and research.
S. Jaswant Singh Kalsi, Chief Operating Officer; CEDSI informed that to improve the efficiency in agriculture production, Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) has established 38 centers for excellence in different fields in India and CEDSI is one of them. This institution is committed to increase the capacity building of different stakeholders in dairy sector be it farmers, farm laborers, organizations or industries. He emphasized to improve the efficiency and cost cutting in transportation, distribution, cold chain, electricity and manpower. Dr Harsev Singh; Eminent Dairy Consultant talked about the importance of feed and fodder. He hoped that if balanced ration is provided to the animals, the milk production can be increased by 30 to 50 % in the country. Most of the farmers are either under feeding or over feeding the animals resulting in wastage of resources and productivity.
Giving the key note address Dr RK Sharma; Head Department of Veterinary Extension pointed towards the key features in profitable dairy farming i.e. breeding, management, feeding, health care and marketing. He discussed various field problems being faced by dairy farmers which can be cured by proper nutrition. He talked about prolapse, magnesium tetany and aflatoxins cases which can be prevented by proper nutrition. Dr Udaibir Chahal; Head Department of Animal Nutrition focused on what, when, where and how much to give to an animal. He advised the audience to consider different physiological stages of animals as nutritional needs change. Different seasons have different available ingredients so change the formulation accordingly.
Dr Parminder Singh, Professor Animal Nutrition discussed regulatory compliances in cattle feed industries. He cautioned the feed millers to buy quality raw ingredients and get these analyzed from the laboratory regularly. He informed the house the latest amendments and new proposed parameters of buffalo feed and calcite powder. He discussed various lacunas in existing standards and parameters to be observed in different ingredients. He also talked about the luxury of vitamins in the feed and feed ingredients. He advised to reduce the concentrate protein content in winters due to presence of high protein in leguminous fodders.
Mr Ashok Kumar; President AFMA appreciated the activities of CEDSI. He pointed towards the rise in cost of feed ingredients, particularly maize and rice as these are being diverted towards ethanol production. He worried about the fate of small feed millers in the future. Mr. Sunil Attri; Head-Silage, Corteva pointed towards the scarcity of green fodder, dry fodder and concentrate in India. He stated that cattle population is growing by 13% whereas fodder production is increasing by 4% only. He stressed upon to focus on fodder seed production, fodder banks and proper trainings to farmers to make quality silage and hay.
