Man depends on animals, largely for food and work. Animals provide milk, meat and eggs as food. They also do lot of heavier work for man. In order to get better outputs, the domestic animals have to be looked after properly and better high yielding breeds of the animals have to be developed. All this is possible only through proper study of animal husbandry. Thus, the study of animal husbandry is important because of the following reasons:
- To increase the production of milk
- To increase the production of eggs
- To increase the production of meat
- To increase the production of fish
- To utilize the animal wastes properly.
Effect of feed on milk yield
In order to get better yields of milk, the milch cattle must be supplied quantities of the right kind of feed. The poor quality of feed is an important reason for the low yield of milk in our country. Although cattle population of our country constitutes one-fourth of total cattle population of the world, yet we produce only about 5 per cent milk of the total production of the world. In our country, the average yield of milk for cow is only about half a litre per day and for a buffalo is about 1.5 litres per day. In contrast a cow in some of the advanced countries yields 8 to 11 litres of milk per day. The main reasons for the low milk yield of animals in our country are as discussed under:
1. The milk yield of an animal is largely dependent upon the kind of feed given to it. In our country the feed available to the animals is of poor quality. In many cases the feed is not even available in sufficient quantities. The poor quality and the insufficient quantity of the feed is an important reason for the low yield of milk in our country.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
2. The milk yield of an animal also depends upon its breed. In our most of the indigenous breeds of cows and buffaloes are bit high yielding breeds. This factor is also responsible for the low milk yield in our country.
Thus, if we want to increase the milk yield, the cattle must be given right kind of feed. Secondly, we must develop high milk yielding breeds.