Feed is most of the cost of keeping a dairy animal, and wanda prices have moved enough in the last two years to change whether the whole thing is worth doing.
The balance people are trying to strike:
- Green fodder -- berseem, maize, sorghum -- which is cheaper if you have land and expensive if you do not
- Wanda for the protein and energy the fodder cannot supply
- Silage, which more small farmers are trying and getting mixed results with
- Wheat straw as filler, which fills the animal without feeding it
- Mineral mixture, which is the first thing people cut and one of the last they should
What we would like to see in this thread: your city or district, number of animals, what you feed daily, the cost per animal per day, and the milk you get for it. Comparing across districts is the only way to know whether you are being overcharged for wanda.