On-farm Feed Advisor

Instructions for a mobile based tool for nutrient balancing in animal diets
 ‘On-farm Feed Advisor’
is a mobile based tool that can help to advise
farmers to balance major nutrients in animal diets

The tool has been

developed by

© 2019 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

 How to use this tool?
First click ‘General Database’
(If you represent an ILRI project, enter the district code
provided to you. You will get this code when you send your feed database in the
template to [Link]@[Link])
Edit feed database
Then, review the feed database, edit price or nutritional
information, add new feeds or block, if necessary.
Update and exit
 Then click “ADD ANIMAL”
Enter farmer name, village name and animal details such as animal type,
stage of pregnancy (in months), animal girth (in inches) or weight (kg),
milk quantity (in kg), fat content (in %) and price (per kg) and
“SUBMIT”

*
 After that “ADD FEED”
Enter the feeds farmer offer to the animal in a day
First select feeds from the drop-down menu by typing the first few letters
(all forage names start with ‘green’ and other feeds with the crop name)
Then enter ‘quantity’ (in kg) and indicate whether ‘own’ or ‘purchased’
Then “SUBMIT”

3
When the screen with the entered feeds appear, click
“CALCULATE GAP”.
See the GAP and click “BALANCE THE FEED”
 It will give you a solution on what feeds to be used,
indicating the quantity
It will also give additional information such as cost of purchased feed
before & after balancing, total feed cost including own feeds, additional
milk & income after balancing, ME density, CP density, NDF% etc.
Then click “ADVICE MEMO”
 When ‘Advice memo’ is clicked,
the memo with the solution along with other advise to
improve the overall quality of feeds, reduce feeding cost and
increase productivity will be presented
ADVICE MEMO ADVICE MEMO

The advice memo (pdf) can be shared through WhatsApp, Email or print, if connected to a printer
 ILRI Projects - Customization

If you represent an ILRI project to customize the App to your context, please send your local feed details in the following

template to [Link]@[Link] which will help us to generate a district code for you

Site/Province Name:

Category
Market
Price/ DM NDF ME(MJ/ CP g/ (1 = Roughages ,
Feed name availability
KgFM (%) (%) KgDM) KgDM 2 = Concentrates,
(Yes/No)
4 = TMR)
 The On-farm Feed Advisor is a feeding support tool
that can be used by extension workers (and farmers)
to balance animal diets

Fore more information:

[Link]
 Acknowledgements

• Padmakumar V

• Manikandan V

• Adithiyan A

• Ravi Devulapalli

• Nithinkumar D M

• Michael Blummel

• Alan Duncan

© 2019 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

 FAQ

• Estimation of actual quantity of feed offered by the farmer is difficult

• No problem, even if the quantity estimated is inaccurate. Because the App’s
advice is based on the actual requirement of the animal. Estimation of feed
quantity is just to know the gap.

• The animal will not consume whatever is offered

• While entering the ‘feeds given’ in the template, the OFA advisor may enter the
‘refusal adjusted quantity’ by observing or asking the farmers. The refusal after
feeding the ‘advised quantity’ will be negligible as the suggestion is to chop
roughage, mix with concentrates and offer to the animals as TMR (see Advise Memo)

• In the ‘feed advice’ only purchased feed is changed, not own feed
• Own feed will also be changed. After entering ‘feeds given’, the OFA Advisor can
ask the farmer whether s/he can increase any own feed, preferably green &
concentrate. Accordingly, adjust the feed quantity.

• It will be good, if all feeds in the entire state is given in the feed database
• No problem to include all feeds. But if the feed advised is not locally available it
will not serve the purpose
 FAQ

• Can farmers balance with the present feeds (no new feeds, please)
• Yes, by trial and error increase the qty of some own feeds till no purchased feed
appears in the advice.

• Everyday measurement of the feed quantity is difficult

• No need to measure everyday. On the first day itself make some general
yardsticks (one bundle is equal to x kg, one mug is equal to x g etc.) and use the
same yardstick in subsequent days

• Some farmers are reluctant to change the feed

• The change proposed is to minimize feeding cost and increase productivity. It is
always advised to introduce new feeds only gradually over a period of 5 days (see
Advise Memo)

• Some farmers want to to use feed supplied by their coop

• Farmers are free to use their favorite brand but sometimes it will be a costlier
option. The tool doesn’t have any affinity towards a particular brand. It looks at
nutrient costs and select the cheapest. One can use ‘next option’

• In some cases there is ME /CP gap in the current feeding practice but
still the animal produces milk. Why the animal is not adjusting
production to match with availability?
. Milk is produced for the calf. If there is shortage of ME /CP in the feeds given, the
animal mobilizes the same from its body reserve. It is an evolutionary adaptation
mechanism
 FAQ

• In some cases the feeding cost after balancing is more than the cost of
current feeding. In such cases farmers may not show interest to follow
the feed advice.
. The animal might have been suffering from nutrient shortage. Therefore, when it
was corrected the feed cost became higher. If they continue without balancing the
feed, there could be health and reproductive problems after some time.

• It is time consuming to collect and analyze feed samples for nutrients

• At the start, one can use reference /book values. Later, it can be gradually
validated with the analytical results

• Late stage of lactation can be confused with pregnancy

• Pregnancy below 6 months is considered as no pregnancy. No nutrients are
added if the animal is not pregnant or pregnant but below 6 months

• Impact in milk yield can be confused with impact of lactation stage

• To avoid this error, one can use another animal (control) in the same stage of
lactation and compare the results to know the impact of feed advise.

• The App may not improve the knowledge of farmers on feeds & feeding
• After giving the feed advice, the OFA Advisors are instructed to provide an
orientation to farmers on feeds and feeding using the extension material given to
them
THANK YOU