Feeding Practices of Lactating Buffaloes in Mohindergarh District of Haryana

A survey was conducted to find out the place of nutrition followed by the farmers within the available resource in the Mohindergarh District and to verify with the feeding requirements of the animals. Three villages were selected from 5 blocks. Three families from 3 categories of land holding; small (SLH; <5 acres), medium (MLH; 6–10 acres) and medium-large (MLLH; >10 acres) from each village and interviewed in the beginning of Rabi season. All buffaloes received 5–20 per cent excess of TDN depending on high to low milk yield, respectively. Contrary was true for DCP intake of lactating buffaloes. Trend analysis with respect to land holding of farmers was also similar. Dry matter intake (DM!) of buffaloes reared by SLH farmers was significantly (P<0.05) lesser than others. Though DMI of buffaloes reared by the MLH and MLLH farmers was similar, deficiency of DCP on former category was times higher than the latter where it was only 1.8 per cent. The study indicated that the protein supply to lactating buffaloes is needed to enhance by 8 per cent during lean period.