Agriculture and Animal Husbandry sectors become complimentary to each other

CO4 Cultivation for SEVAI-OFI Cow project

“Agriculture and animal husbandry sectors become complimentary to each other and are interdependent” said Karikalan of Nangavaram who visited SEVAI-OFI Cow farm and the CO4 plantation in Sirugamani. Karikalan opined,” Many people solve their unemployment issues through Agriculture and allied farming sector. They get into agriculture operations and Animal Husbandry Projects. Livestock farming will give more profit than Agriculture. But without agriculture, it will never give gain. it is important  to go about the inter cropping of agriculture and livestock farming. Whatever the livestock one prefers to rear, he should primarily bother about feeding them by producing the feeding materials on his own. Concentrates and roughages are the two major components of livestock feeds. Roughages require in bulk quantity than the concentrates. That is a successful farmer cultivates fodder grass. There are a number of fodder plants cultivated profitably as the Hybrid Napier (CO-4) is one of the best fodder grass.The Major ore-requirements for Hybrid Napier cultivation are water available land. Immediately after planting, the farmer has to give life irrigation on the third day and thereafter once in 10 days. Sewage or waste water can also be used for irrigation. Hand weeding is done whenever necessary. First harvest is to be done on 75 to 80 days after planting and subsequent harvests at intervals of 45 days. The grass species Napier, and to certain extent Guinea, are mostly used for cutting while the rest are meant for grazing. Care is required with aggressive grasses with prostrate rhizomes which form a thick mat on the ground surface which may impede the legume. Selection of shrubby legumes for this system could be probably the best way out.It is important to note that for most grasses and legumes, forage yield increases as cutting frequency decreases while forage quality declines. The digestibility of both grasses and legumes decreases with maturity, implying that forage should be fed at a younger stage for maximum energy digestibility”. -Govin