An on-farm evaluation of urea-molasses-mineral brick feeding for the milk production of cattle and buffaloes

An on-farm trial was conducted in Berthin, Dharoti, Kandiyana and Ghumarwin villages of Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. The feed (DM) intake of feed and milk yield of cattle and buffaloes (eight each) fed on straw/local grass hay and home made concentrate consisting locally available ingredients were recorded for four months. Thereafter, the diet of these animals was supplemented with urea-molasses-mineral-brick (UMMB) following gradual reduction of concentrate mixture for a period of 30d. The average consumption of urea-molasses-mineral brick (UMMB) in cows and buffaloes were 233.9±18.64 and 288.2±28.0 g/day, respectively. The dry matter intake improved (P<0.05) both in cows (14.13%) and buffaloes (22.76%) as a result of UMMB supplementation, which was reflected in improved (P<0.05) milk yield in cows (31.58%) and buffaloes (35.18%). However, no significant changes in body weight were recorded in either of the species. It was concluded that UMMB supplementation to cattle and buffaloes in hill area was beneficial for economical milk production.