Cow Diet:

Surprisingly a cow’s diet is complex although at first it may appear that all that a cow needs is grass. Some of the key ingredients in cow nutrition include fresh green grass, whole grains, fiber and clean water. It is important that dairy cows or milking cows are fed a balanced and nutritionally wholesome diet throughout the year in order to ensure superior milk production. Typically a diet for cows includes a blend of organic whole grains such as corn meal, flaxseeds, soya, rice or wheat bran, silage (Coarse food for livestock composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop which is gleaned while green and kept juicy by incomplete fermentation as in a silo) and the hay of alfalfa or lucerne.

In order to ensure that silage retains its superior nutritious value over time, it is important to cut the fodder consumed by the cattle while they are still green and naturally ferment it in order to prevent spoilage. Most of the times, feeding the cows grass alone is not quite possible throughout the year as grass is not grown all year round, especially during monsoons which makes feeding difficult for cattle when the fields are wet and marshy. Research indicates that cows that are fed natural healthy diets produce milk that is far more superior to cows who are fed a diet supplemented with artificial supplements or vitamins; which is an indication that dairy caretakers need to improve their understanding of bovine nutrition and accordinglybuild the positioning of their products.

One particular study revealed that cows who are encouraged to graze and feed on green local grazing land such as perennial seed of the cereal grass and dutch clover or shamrock bore milk with greater densities and properties of polyunsaturated fatty acids as compared to cows that were fed less grass. Another method of ensuring cow nutrition is the general practice of providing straw to the cows in order to improve their intake of fiber and enhance the density of fats in their milk.

Cattle researchers believe that fresh green grass fed to cattle helps maintain a competitive advantage in the given region by producing milk with good health characteristics. The best diet for cows would be to improve natural produce and fodder without adding any artificial or external supplements to their food, which in turn helps to produce better milk, instead of fortifying the final product, that is milk with added nutrients.