A healthy animal is easily shown from his appetite. The animal will eat and drink without problems. However, due to some internal or external factors like illness and weather changes, their appetite can change. They might stop eating and drinking. If this happens in long period, it will cause their health risk.
I would recommend you to read Things you should know before starting a cattle farm. There are many useful information you can get in it. And when you are advance, please click How to Develop and Manage a Small Cattle Farm. Maybe there are some information you can add into your method in raising your cattle farm.
We will find out how to maintain their healthy appetite or even how to increase appetite in cattle.
1. Be consistent
Being consistent means that you should keep feeding time on track in the morning and evening/night. Be sure that you keep feeding them without any absence and keep the feed volume enough to feed all your cattle without having to compete between your cattle. Be punctual in feeding them. Let’s say you feed them three times a day combined with additional booster. After they finish eating, clean the bunk but don’t throw away the feed. This routine is training the cattle to not eat anything aside from the scheduled plan.
2. Clean water availability
This should be easy to access. And water troughs should be clean to prevent any bacterial growth which can cause health problems to your cattle. Clean it on daily basis. Check that the water should be fresh and no salinity in it. Water is very important to livestock and it is directly related to feed intake. The more they have healthy feed, the more they need water. During winter, you should monitor if the water become frozen.
3. Forage of fiber
As we know that cattle are ruminates, hence, fiber takes an important part in keeping their digestive system healthy. It’s best to give them plenty of fiber in their forage. Don’t limit their forage. Let them eat till their tummy full as it affects directly to their health.
4. Temperature Observation
For cattle brought up in countries with many seasons, this could become a stressful problem to them. Temperature swings can make them comfortable so you should make sure that their bedding is carefully taken care. Don’t let it to be too wide open for the wind. And if the bedding is in a closed space, make sure it has great ventilation as it will be very hot during summer without proper ventilation.
5. Boost
This is not compulsory but it is a very good option to boost your cattle’s health. If they are healthy, they will produce higher in quality and quantity. Don’t you think so? Giving them boost type of intake will make them eat and drink in a healthy way. And surely this behavior will give huge impact on better production.
6. Canola meal
Canola is a great component in meal supplement to give to your cattle. Canola can significantly increase the appetite and milk productivity compared to cattle who only fed with cereal grain and conserved forage. There is a research which stated that the consumption of high amount supplement like canola shows better result compared to cattle fed with normal feed. To cattle who take canola, they show higher appetite especially after they got back from the milking. Â It is because canola provides more balanced supply of amino acids which resulted in more milk production and increased appetite.
7. Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is the largest and most complex among other vitamins. And it is synthesized only by microorganisms. This kind of vitamin is an essential part of enzyme systems that carry out a number of basic metabolic functions. The deficiency of vitamin B12 in your cattle will be resulted in poor appetite and growth.
8. Phosphorus nutrition
Cattle lacks of phosphorus affects the cattle in weight gain, meaning that they eat less. That’s why for farming who grows cattle for the meat, phosphorus is really important. Phosphorus is needed in digestive system to keep them consume the feed healthily
9. Herbal boost
There are some recipes to boost your cattle’s the appetite. 15 pieces of taro leaves boiled with 15 tablespoon of salt for 15 minutes. Then you can feed a cow with that portion. This will increase cattle’s appetite. Another recipe is 2 pieces of cucumber, grate them, mix with salt, tamarind, shrimp paste and a bit of water. You can feed the cattle with it alternately.
And other booster to increase milk productivity is giving fresh jackfruit leaves to the cattle or young papaya leaves boiled for 15 minutes and then give it to the cattle for their feed.
Other than some recommendation above in helping to gain the appetite for your cattle, I would like to recommend you some herbal treatments as well. They are :
- Curcuma aeruginosa rox, curcuma xanthoriza, curcuma domestica, zingiber aromatic, 10 to 15 pieces of morinda cirtifolia linn. All ingredients need to be blended thoroughly and feed to the cattle alongside the feed for once a week.
- 2 bunches of bananas, cooked with coconut milk + brown sugar + salt until it becomes porridge. Feed it to cattle regularly
- Few organic chicken eggs mixed with a bottle of sweet soy sauce. Feed them daily.
- Curcuma aeruginosa rox + 1 handful tamarind + salt. Mix or blend them. Feed once daily.
- Brown sugar, tamarind, and few chicken eggs. Give it to cattle daily until their appetite back to normal.
- Mix the juice of papaya leaves with few chicken eggs. Feed it your cattle regularly
- Bread improver 10 mg mixed with garlic 50gr. Mixed this formula with the feed or water. Give it twice a week.
- Zingiber aromatic and curcuma zanthoriza are blended together + sweet soy sauce + a bit of water. Boil it and feed the cattle twice a week.
- For calves who just weaned, mix 3 pieces of duck eggs, 1 young coconut flesh, 1 glass of young coconut water and 3 tablespoon of sugar. Give them once a week.
- If your cattle have fever, you can treat them with concoction below:
- Euridendron anfructuosum mixed with some chicken eggs. Feed to cattle
- Extract of nephelium lappaceum linn mixed with few eggs, feed to cattle
- Coconut water mixed with few chicken eggs
- A bunch of Jatropha curcas Linn, soaked with salt and keep it in clay container for few months. Feed 1 spoon of the mixture to the cattle. You can add water into the container if needed.
So, I hope with all information above can help to increase the appetite of your cattle so they can grow healthily and produce abundantly.
Interested in having other farm? I would recommend you with How to choose which chicken to breed. And if you like to have a cow as your pet, How to have mini cow as your pet is perfectly fit to read.