Feeding

Follow all these recommendations for improved feeding of ruminants.

· Make water freely accessible to the animals all the time. Or give them as much water as they can drink 3 times a day.

· Give plenty of roughages such as straw and fresh grasses. In addition to grazing, provide small quantities of roughage at regular intervals. Regularly renew the left-over feeds with clean, fresh feed. Cut fodder and carry it to animals that are confined.

· As much as possible, also give quality feeds such as tender, leafy grass, Gliricidia leaves, Leucaena leucocephala leaves, jackfruit leaves and fruits and household or kitchen waste. See the table below of feeds and their nutritive values.

· Gather and store enough rice straw for feeding. Keep it for feeding during the dry season when grass is scarce. Keep the straw in a dry, well-ventilated place to avoid fungus and rodents.

· Give concentrate regularly, especially to dairy animals and mothers suckling their young. To make concentrate, mix 500 g of coconut cake (or other cake) with 500 g of good quality rice bran. Add about 50 g each of crushed limestone and fish meal. Mix all these materials with 1 cup of molasses and add this preparation to the feed. Use half this amount for sheep and goats. (Philippines, Sri Lanka. 1, 2, 3, 5)

· Watch the animals carefully and continuously. Adjust the feed requirements to suit the growth and reproductive stage of the animals. See the table below for good, cheap, and readily available sources of feed. Use these specially for young, pregnant, lactating and working animals.

Feeds rich in protein	Feeds rich in carbohydrates	Feeds rich in minerals
These help the animal grow faster and give more milk. They are also good for working animals and pregnant animals.	These provide energy, especially for work animals.	Minerals are especially important for animals that are pregnant, lactating or growing.
Acacia arabica leaves	Bagasse	Acacia pods
Acacia pods	Broken rice	All lentils and beans
Banyan tree (Ficus bengalensis) leaves	Brown sugar	Bone meal
Cassava leaves (dry)	Cane molasses
Centrosema spp. leaves
Chickpea hulls	Brown sugar	Crop fertilizers(Caution: Use only small amounts.)
Taro leaves	Cassava chips	Crushed shrimp and lobster shells
Copra	Castor leaves	Fish meal
Cottonseed cake	Corn	Limestone
Cowpea beans	Corn straw	Oyster shells
Cynodon dactylon grass	Fresh coconut	Rice bran
Edible oil cakes	Millet straw	Salt
Fish meal	Millets
Fresh, green grass	Groundnut cake
Horsegram	Pigeonpea leaves and pods
Khajri leaves	Pineapple waste
Launaea pinnatifida	Rice leaves
Legume leaves, pods and straw	Rice straw
Lentil hulls	Rice bran
Leptadenia reticulate leaves	Saman pods
Leucaena	Sorghum stalk (dry)
leucocephala
leaves (dry)
Mango leaves	Sorghum
Neem leaves	Sugarcane tops
Palm kernel meal	Sweet sorghum
Groundnut meal	Wild hemp
Groundnut seed cake
Redgram
Rice bean
Rubber seed meal
Sesame seed cake
Soybean
Soybean meal
Sunflower meal
Wheat bran