The Central Luzon State University is promoting mature feed products and feeding schemes towards enterprise, particularly in goats.
Goat raising needs a year-round supply of feeds. In the Philippines, feeds are abundant during the wet season but scarce during the dry season. Hence, processing feeds through pelleting is important. A pellet is a small, solid or densely packed mass of feeds.
Pellet feeds for goats are complete feeds formulated by pelleting feed ingredients needed to supply the animals’ nutritional needs for growth and lactation.
Some of the ingredients that can be pelletized are Ipil-ipil, kakawate, and rensonii; concentrates; and mineral supplements.
Ipil-ipil, kakawate, and rensonii can be processed into leaf meal as the protein source in the goat’s diet. Concentrates provide most of the energy as well as true protein needed by the animals. Mineral supplements, on the other hand, are important source of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and chloride.
The palletized feed provides certain advantages. It makes feeding more efficient; enables animal raisers to obtain better quality of feeds, reduces labor, increases productivity because of faster growth rate of goats and more milk yield from lactating goats; requires lesser space during storage and can be stored at room temperature.
Cost of producing the pellets for growing goats is P9.64 per kilogram and P10.01 per kilogram for lactating goats. Cost could vary depending on the raw materials used and their prevailing prices. The feeds can be sold at P11.00 per kilogram for growing goats and P11.50 per kilogram for lactating goats. Gross return is estimated at P110,000 and P115,000 per 10,000 kg for growing and lactating goats, respectively.
