Milk Down by a Fifth in Ten Weeks
A women's dairy group in Tanahun keeps 14 milking animals - nine Murrah buffaloes and five crossbred cows. Monthly collection has fallen from 96 L/day to 74 L/day over ten weeks, although feed intake and body condition look unchanged to the members. Two buffaloes scored 2 and 3 on the California Mastitis Test at the last screening; the group has no sick pen. Milking is done by hand with the animals standing on the floor; hands are not washed between animals, teats are not dipped, and one cloth is used for all. The ration is rice straw ad libitum plus 3.5 kg of a home-mixed concentrate per milking animal (maize 50%, rice bran 30%, mustard cake 20%), with no mineral mixture and no salt. Green fodder is scarce in March. The secretary says: 'We added more rice bran, so feed cannot be the problem.'
1. Prioritise the likely causes of the fall in milk yield and set out the diagnostic steps you would take before changing anything.
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Prioritisation
- Subclinical mastitis - the highest priority. Two CMT-positive animals with the milking hygiene described will spread infection; subclinical mastitis typically costs 10–25% of milk in affected quarters, and the whole-group routine (no hand-washing, one cloth, no teat dip) is a transmission pathway.
- Feed quality and balance - 3.5 kg of a 50:30:20 mix is bulky and low in good-quality protein, with no minerals or salt. Rice bran at 30% adds fibre and poorly available phosphorus, and balances badly against the calcium in the ration.
- Heat and water in March–May - rising temperature and humidity depress intake and yield; check water availability and shade.
- Milking routine and let-down - rough handling, no fore-stripping, inconsistent timing.
- Parasites, lameness and reproductive status - check individually; a buffalo that has conceived may drop yield normally.
Diagnostics before action
- Compare individual animal records with the group average: is the drop in all animals (management/feed/environment) or in a few (disease)?
- Strip-cup each quarter at every milking; CMT all 14 animals, then milk sample from positive quarters for culture and sensitivity.
- Weigh feed and refusal for three days, including straw, and test the concentrate and roughage for dry matter and crude protein if possible.
- Record water intake, shade, and temperature/humidity.
- Do a faecal examination and body condition score on every animal.
- Observe one full milking and time each step.
2. Design a practical mastitis control programme the group can actually follow, and show why it is worth the cost.
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The five-point plan adapted to a hand-milking, floor-level parlour
- Hygiene at milking: wash hands with soap before each animal; use running water and a clean cloth or paper towel per animal; fore-strip three squirts onto a strip cup and examine before attaching anything to the udder.
- Post-milking teat dip: dip or spray all quarters immediately after milking with an approved iodine or chlorhexidine preparation; keep animals standing for 30–45 minutes so the teat canal closes before they lie down.
- Clinical case handling: treat clinical cases promptly with a culture-guided intramammary preparation, record them, and milk the affected animal last.
- Dry-cow therapy: treat all quarters at drying-off, which is the highest-return single intervention in a herd with subclinical infection.
- Culling and records: cull animals with chronic, repeat infections in the same quarter; keep a monthly CMT and somatic cell count chart per animal. Also: clip udder hair, clean bedding, control flies, and provide a separate sick pen.
Why it pays The fall is 22 L/day out of 96, about 23%. If subclinical mastitis explains even half of that (11 L/day) and the plan recovers half of it (5.5 L/day) at NPR 80/L, that is about NPR 440/day, over NPR 130,000 a year for a 14-animal group. Teat dip, paper towels and dry-cow tubes cost a fraction of that. The cost per litre of dip is a few paisa, while a chronically infected quarter can lose a quarter of an animal's output permanently.
3. Critically evaluate the ration and state the minimum changes needed. Explain why 'we added more rice bran' does not answer the feed question.
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What is wrong
- Rice bran is not a protein feed. At 30% of the mix it adds fibre, fat and a poorly available phosphorus load, but very little quality protein. Increasing it dilutes protein and minerals further. That is why the secretary's reasoning is backwards.
- Crude protein is likely below requirement. Rice straw at roughly 3–4% CP plus 3.5 kg of concentrate supplies well under what a 8–10 L buffalo needs from good-quality protein; high yielders need both quantity and a bypass fraction (about a quarter of the protein escaping rumen degradation).
- No mineral mixture and no salt. Calcium, phosphorus, trace minerals and sodium are all missing; a phosphorus-heavy bran mix worsens the Ca:P ratio, and no salt reduces intake and rumen function.
- No green fodder in March means no carotene and low vitamins, and straw alone gives a slow, low-energy ration.
Minimum changes
- Reformulate the concentrate to roughly maize 40–45%, rice bran 15–20%, mustard cake 25%, plus a legume protein source where available, with 2% mineral mixture and 1% common salt. Target about 20% crude protein.
- Feed according to production, not uniformly: about 1 kg concentrate per 2.5 L of milk above maintenance, split across milkings.
- Add 50–100 g mineral mixture and 30–50 g salt per animal per day.
- Use the scarce green fodder for the high yielders first; consider urea-treated straw or silage to lift straw quality.
- Keep mustard cake within safe limits and check for off-smell or rancidity in rice bran before feeding.
- Weigh and record intake for one month so the group can see the response in the milk sheet.