EFFECT OF INDIVIDUAL FEEDING ON REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF FRIESWAL HEIFERS

In this study 14 adult Frieswal heifers with mean age 287.57±15.77 days having initial mean body weight 129.77±2.84 kg were taken. These animals were fed individually as per Military Farm feeding scale consisting of dry roughage (3.0 to 5.0 kg), green fodder (8-12 kg) and concentrate (2.5-3.5 kg) per day as per the stage of growing heifers. The weighed quantity of dry and concentrate was offered in the morning and green was offered in evening hours. The leftover of dry and green was weighted every day before offering fresh feed. After 12 months of feeding the mean body weight of animal was 287.9 kg & they exhibited their first estrus at 641.3 days. All 14 heifers exhibited estrus and later calved. The average age at calving was 881.2 days. The heifers grew on an average rate of 446.8 g/d from induction in the experiments to the time of estrus. These results indicate that if heifers are fed individually they show better reproductive performance.