Animal Nutrition & Veterinary Physiology

Under standard feeding standards, daily dry matter intake (DMI) for non-lactating indigenous cattle is 2.0–2.5 kg per 100 kg body weight (2.0–2.5% of body weight), and for crossbred/milch cows it is around 2.5–3.0%. Hence, 2.5% is the standard benchmark.

Haymaking aims to reduce the moisture content of green forage down to 12–14% to prevent mold growth and heating during storage, which corresponds to a dry matter (DM) content of 86–88%.

Silage quality classification based on pH, lactic acid, and butyric acid:
Very Good Silage: pH $3.5 - 4.2$, high lactic acid (3-13% of DM), ammoniacal nitrogen $\lt 10\%$, no butyric acid.
Good Silage: pH $4.2 - 4.5$, moderate lactic acid, trace butyric acid.
Fair Silage: pH $4.5 - 4.8$, low lactic acid, moderate butyric acid.
Poor Silage: pH $\gt 4.8$, high butyric acid, high ammoniacal nitrogen, moldy and slimy.

Option breakdown:

• $6.5 - 7.2$ represents completely spoiled or putrefied forage.
• $3.5 - 4.2$ represents very good quality silage preserved by rapid lactic acid fermentation.
• $4.8 - 6.0$ represents poor quality silage with secondary clostridial fermentation.
• $4.2 - 4.5$ represents good quality silage.

In adult cattle, the daily dry matter intake (DMI) requirement is typically calculated at $2.0\text{ to }2.5\text{ kg}$ per $100\text{ kg}$ of body weight (or $2.5\%$ of body weight for crossbred/milch cows):

Option breakdown:

• $10\text{ kg}$ corresponds exactly to $2.5\%$ of $400\text{ kg}$ body weight.
• $5\text{ kg}$ ($1.25\%$ of BW) is severely deficient and below maintenance requirement.
• $15\text{ kg}$ ($3.75\%$ of BW) is far beyond typical rumen capacity for a non-lactating $400\text{ kg}$ cow.
• $20\text{ kg}$ ($5\%$ of BW) exceeds biological physical intake limit.