Compound cattle feed is a mixture of various concentrate feed ingredients in suitable proportion. Commonly used ingredients in compound cattle feed include grains, bran, protein meals/cakes, chunnies, agro-industrial by-products, minerals and vitamins. Compound cattle feed is an economical source of concentrate supplements and it could be in the form of mash, pellets, crumbles, cubes, etc. Compound cattle feed is palatable and good source of nutrients for growing, adult, dry, milk producing and pregnant animals.
Through regular use of compound cattle feed in prescribed quantity along with basal diet, cost of milk production from dairy animals can be optimised. Considering the increase in milk yield different varieties of compound cattle feed are produced. It also promotes use of different compound feeds such as, calf starter, calf growth meal, feed for high yielding animals, feed for low yielding animals, buffalo feed, feed for dry pregnant animals, etc.
Cattle feed can be fed directly or by mixing it with chaffed dry/green fodder. Cattle feed need not be cooked or pre-soaked before feeding. If compound feed is uniformly mixed with the forages and fed, results are better. As it contains desirable amount of minerals and vitamins along with other nutrients, its use helps improving reductive efficiency.