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Where drinking milk equated with consuming beer
Are you consuming milk and milk products daily? It would mean you are consuming beer because farmers are feeding their cattle with the husk used to make beer on account of shortage of the cattle feed. The husk may be of wheat, rice, barley and others.
Hyderabad: Are you consuming milk and milk products daily? It would mean you are consuming beer because farmers are feeding their cattle with the husk used to make beer on account of shortage of the cattle feed. The husk may be of wheat, rice, barley and others.
Green fodder became a scarcity with monsoons playing truant. Shortage of fodder and exorbitant prices of cattle feed forced the dairy farmers to look for alternative–the husk used in preparing beer. They are feeding their cattle on the husk as it is priced low and available in huge quantities.
A tractor load of hay costing Rs 15,000 is not lasting for even a month for the cattle to feed, whereas a drum of the husk is sold at Rs 1,200. The cattle, fed on the husk, is giving higher milk yield. Besides, the animal mood seems to be very calm and the farmer is facing no problems while milking the animals.
Veterinary doctors recommend feeding the cattle with husk besides green fodder, however, with a rider. The dairy farmers switched over to swill, a byproduct of distilleries, because of the exorbitant prices of vegetables and other food stuffs used to feed cattle. Gluten, a byproduct in making corn flour, is also being used freely as cattle feed.
However, experts sound a word of caution stating that gluten is harmful. Deputy Director (Nutrition) Dr Ramesh cautioned farmers that the husk should be used for less than four days a week as it has a tendency to acquire fungus upon storing it.
Cattle fed on the fungus-affected husk would result in dehydration. An analysis of the husk reveals that it contains crude protein up to 25 per cent. Moreover, husk is a rich source of minerals and vitamins. Farmers in and around Maheswaram in Ranga Reddy district are using husk. The experts advocate that the proportion of the husk should not exceed 20-25 per cent of the total feed.
If the buffaloes are fed on husk 100 per cent, it would adversely affect their health and longevity. It accounts for the cattle to develop acidity and seriously affecting their reproductive capacity. Nutritionist Sujata noted the husk if given in excessive does affect health of cattle, especially their fertility.
Children who consume the milk of such cattle are at risk of acquiring mental and digestion-related problems. Therefore, she advocated caution while administering this kind of cattle feed. Excessive dependence on the husk as cattle feed, leads to milk acquiring foul smell and changes occurring in the rumination process among cattle resulting in decrease in milk yield.
Over dependence on husk will lead to health complications to both cattle and also to humans consuming such milk.Appealing to farmers to exercise caution in the application of husk as cattle feed, veterinary doctor Narasimha Rao of Maheswaram reminded that over 8,000 children below the age of six months died in New York because of drinking swill milk (milk obtained from cattle fed on swill).
Consequently, the government of USA banned byproducts of beer. Therefore, he advised the dairy farmers to ensure that the proportion of husk under no circumstances should exceed 25 per cent of the total cattle feed.
