University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Talat Naseer Pasha has said the university is developing a feed formulation software to facilitate farmers in scientifically catering to the nutritional needs of their livestock.
The Vice-Chancellor said this while chairing a meeting of the Punjab Livestock Advisory Forum in which livestock, dairy and nutrition experts from the UVAS, the Livestock and Dairy Development (L&DD) Department Punjab and private sectors discussed feed, fodder and nutrition availability for livestock in the Punjab province. Professor Pasha said the feed formulation software could be used by farmers for nutritional analysis of feed, its ingredients, palatability to animals, digestibility and to check the presence of anti-nutritional factors.
He said the majority of livestock feeding was improper and imbalanced which was causing huge losses to farmers. He said that 42 percent of feed came from crop residues because farmers were always interested in growing cash/grain crops at their farms, adding that the trend of growing cash crops needed to be replaced with sowing/raising of forage and fodder crops. The VC called for devising a comprehensive strategy for development of livestock sector with focus on all types of farmers, including those having small herd holdings.
