A balanced ration provides all essential nutrients to an animal in the correct proportions over 24 hours. Desirable characteristics of a ration include being liberal yet not excessive, tailored to individual animals, properly balanced, palatable, varied, containing sufficient minerals, bulky, including green fodder, avoiding sudden changes, feeding regularly, properly prepared, not too bulky, and economical in labor and cost. Proper preparation includes grinding grains, chaffing green fodder, and soaking cakes.

1. BALANCED RATION AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS
• Ration: A ration is a feed allowed for a given animal for a period of
24 hours. The feed may be given at a time or in portions at intervals.
• Balanced ration: A balanced ration is a ration, which provides all
the essential nutrients to the animal in the correct proportion and
amounts that are required for the proper nourishment of the animal
for 24 hours.

2. DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF A RATION
• Liberal feeding - necessary for full milk production and maintenance of the body
- Overfeeding is doubly wasteful
• Individual feeding - cows must be fed individually according to their individual
production to obtain maximum profits
• The Ration should be properly balanced - purposeful and beneficial
• In improperly balanced ration, much of the feed is wasted. What is eaten by the cow is
not important but what is digested is important. Because the feed digested alone
goes for milk production and maintenance of the body.
• Palatable - Bad-smelling, mouldy, musty, spoiled and inferior feeds are unpalatable
and
must not be given to the animals
• Variety of feeds - The variety of feeds in the ration makes it more palatable
• The Ration should contain enough mineral matter - Every litre of milk yielded by a cow
contains a little more than 0.7% of mineral matter.

3. • If the amount of mineral matter in the ration is not sufficient to meet the demand
in the milk yield, the cow must draw upon body supplies or milk yield will
decrease. At the end of lactation, the cow will be left as an extremely weak
animal and milk yield in subsequent lactation will go down considerably.
• Laxative - Constipation
• Bulky - stomach of cattle is very capacious and they do not feel satisfied
• If the bulk of the ration supplied is small, however rich it might be in its
nourishing constituents, cattle may fall a victim to the depraved habits of eating
earth, rags, dirty refuse, etc., for filling up stomachs.
• Sufficient Green fodder - They aid in the appetite and keep the animal in good
condition. Green fodders are bulky, easily digestible, laxative and contain enough
necessary vitamins
• Avoid sudden changes in the ration - Sudden changes are often the cause of many
digestive troubles, the more notable being “Tympanitis”, Impaction”, etc
- gradual and slow
• Maintain regularity in Feeding - The time of feeding should be evenly distributed
• . As the feeding hour approaches, their glandular secretions become active in
anticipation of the meal. Irregularity in milking and feeding tells very badly about

5. • The Feed must be properly prepared – Some feeds require
special preparations before administration to render them more
digestible and palatable.
• Hard cereals/grains should be grounded before feeding for
better mastication, green fodders should be chaffed, and
soaking of cakes will make them soft and palatable
• Not too Bulky - the animal will fail to get all its nutrient
requirements
• The Economy in Labour and Cost - rearing animals is to make
profits, feeds and the labour in feeding should be minimised

6. Grinding of hard grains
Chaffing of Green fodders
Soaking of cakes
PREPARATION OF PROPER FEEDS