What do buffalo eat

The African buffalo has large feet with rounded hooves. Like other cattle, it stands on its two larger, central toes. The two smaller toes on the back of the foot do not touch the ground. Chaffing, grinding and pelleting are ways to improve nutritive quality of straws to some extent by making the nutrients available to the rumen microbes. Chemical treatment with alkali or ammonia is effective ways of improving quality.

Ammonia treated, chaffed straw may even substitute green forage for low milk producing buffaloes to some extent. Ensiling Lucerne reduces vitamin E and carotene content. The term concentrate means that a high amount of nutrients are concentrated in a small amount of dry feed. The most typical concentrates for tropical countries are oilseed cakes of different types.

Oilseed cakes are the common name for products that are derived of the oil for human use and the remainder is pressed together to form a cake. The cakes have relatively high energy content but are mostly used because of their very high protein content. Other types of feed which can be classified as concentrate are molasses and urea. Urea can be used by the microbes as a source of nitrogen. The use of urea also requires an easily fermented energy source for the micro-organisms e.

The micro-organisms must always have a good balance between protein and energy in the rumen to be able to do their qualified job. There are a number of ready made concentrates on the market manufactured by various companies. Care should be taken to ensure that the quality of the concentrate is up to standard.

Barley, wheat, oat, rye, maize and sorghum grains are excellent feed for ruminants, given in balanced amounts. However, since they are used for human consumption their use as animal feed is limited. Voluntary intake. The definition of voluntary intake is the amount of feed an animal can eat per day. It is commonly expressed in kg of dry matter or in percent of live weight. After having considered the nutrient requirements of the animal and the feed stuff to be used the proper feeding regime can be calculated.

However, one must take into consideration how much the animal can eat. A high producing lactating cow can eat more than a low producing. Similarly a growing heifer may eat more than a dry cow. As pointed out before, feed intake decreases with high environmental temperature and humidity.

Individual feeding usually results in higher feed intake due to less competition for feed and a more relaxed atmosphere. A rough estimation of voluntary intake for a buffalo heifer is 2. A too high ratio of straw in the diet reduces voluntary intake. Lactating buffaloes should be given the best feed the farm can offer.

Producing milk is one of the most energy demanding biological processes. Weight loss is common in high producing animals during the first month of lactation because they cannot consume a sufficient amount of energy.

A popular term is that the animals are milking off the fat. It is therefore important that the buffalo is in good health status at partus. In Table 6, examples of various feeding regimes for lactating buffaloes are given. A well balanced ratio of protein, energy, vitamins and minerals in a palatable and tasty feed is the best way of increasing milk production and live weight, as well as improving health and fertility. Traditional feeding patterns for buffaloes all over the world is subjected to forages and crop production of the season which affects the level of milk production.

Forage is insufficient during the dry season and abundant during the rainy season. Shortages are overcome by conserving forages as hay or silage. Formulating feed ratios for the milk producing buffalo. Formulating feed ratios for milk producing buffaloes starts with theoretical calculating of the requirements. It is important to know the buffaloes live weight, this is most accurately done by weighing the animals three times in a week and calculating the average.

However, this requires an animal scale and is further very time consuming. Weighing the animals once is good as guidance.

Once the weight is known, the requirements for maintenance are extracted from Table 1. The milk yield should be known as well as the fat percentage. Recommendations are at least 3 days of milk recording to calculate the average yield and fat percentage. The total requirement is gained by summing requirements for maintenance and for milk production. Table 1. Nutrient requirements for milk producing buffaloes.

The feeding regime of the buffaloes can then be decided. Primarily, crops grown on the farm should be included in the diet. For the optimal economic feeding regimes the feed should be analyzed at a laboratory for dry matter content, energy and crude protein and for calcium and phosphorus.

This is caused by malpractice such as negligence, limited milk feeding, injuries and diseases. Colostrum is the most important and most suitable feed for the newborn calf.

It contains all the nutrients needed see Table 3 along with the vital antibodies. It is crucial for the survival of the calf that it receives colostrums during the first 12 hours of its life, the earlier the better.

The calves should be given colostrums as long as the mother provides it e. Any surplus colostrum can be frozen and then thawed and carefully heated to C. If no freezing facilities are available colostrums can stay fresh for a couple of days if it is cooled in a hygienic container. Colostrum can be fermented with living lactic acid culture. Fermented colostrums can be kept for at least a week and up to two weeks if cooling facilities are available. If the calf is not allowed to suckle its mother it should be provided with colostrums as soon as possible after birth.

If it is not possible to feed the calf directly after milking the buffalo, colostrums should be cooled in order to maintain hygienic quality.

When it is time to feed the calf, the milk should be carefully heated to no more than C. Colostrums must never be boiled. By boiling the milk the antibodies are destroyed and hence, cannot be utilized as such by the calf.

The natural eating behavior of the calf is to suckle its mother often and to consume a small amount of milk at each suckling period. Colostrum should be fed to the calf at least twice daily with equal intervals. The calf should be trained to drink from a bucket.

The easiest way to do this is to dip clean fingers into the milk and then allow the calf to lick and suck the fingers. The hand is then gradually drawn into the milk in the bucket while the calf is still suckling. Once the calf has learnt to drink it is easy to feed. The calf may need assistance for 5 days. It is far more elegant than simply arranging for an animal to stand on green grass. In the Northern Great Plains, all the seasons have their attractions, but there are possibilities for misery too.

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Other Stories You Might Like. Male herds have up to 10 members. African buffalo herds are mostly of mixed gender. They do have a few all-male herds, but these usually consist of old males. An African herd often has more than 1, members. Buffalo are herbivores, and so eat only vegetation. Their favorite foods are grass and herbs, but water buffalo will also eat aquatic plants. Both African and Asian buffalo will eat shrubs and trees when they can't find grass or herbs to eat.

Buffalo, like most mammals, bear live young, which are called calves. Usually, they have one calf at a time, and the female will carry the calf for a gestation period of 9 to 11 months before giving birth. Once the calf is born, a water buffalo will stay with its mother for around three years. Then, male calves will be moved to the all-male herd, while the female calves stay with the female herd. Females become pregnant every other year. Water buffalo tend to live around 25 years, according to the University of Michigan , while African buffalo live around 26 years.