Rice Bran vs Wheat Bran — Which Bran, When

Ask at any mill in Anantnag and you can buy two brans: wheat bran (chokar) all year, and rice bran after the paddy harvest. Farmers argue about which is better. The honest answer is that they do different jobs, and both are supplements rather than feeds.

Wheat bran

Light, fibrous, moderate in protein, modest in energy. Its great strengths are safety and a mild laxative effect; a cow on wheat bran rarely gets acidosis and dung stays soft. It is the bran to use for a fresh-calved cow, a sick animal coming back onto feed, or a bran mash before and after calving. Its weakness is that it is bulky and not energy-dense: you can fill a cow with it without feeding her much.

Rice bran

Rich in oil, higher in energy, with a decent protein content — if it is genuine. The problem is quality. Much rice bran sold loose is mixed with husk, which is almost pure indigestible fibre, and the oil in true bran turns rancid within a few weeks in warm weather. Rancid bran is unpalatable and bad for the rumen. Buy rice bran fresh, from a known mill, check it is not sharp and husky between the fingers, and use it within a fortnight. Good rice bran is a real energy feed in winter; bad rice bran is sawdust with a smell.

How much

• Wheat bran: 1-2 kg a day for a milking cow, as part of the concentrate, not in addition to the full quantity.
• Rice bran: 1-1.5 kg a day for cattle, less for buffaloes prone to loose dung, and not more than a third of the total concentrate because of the oil.

Why neither replaces compound feed

Bran is one ingredient. A cow giving twelve litres needs energy, protein, minerals and vitamins in a balance that a single by-product cannot give; this is exactly why the farmers switching from a bran-and-maize home mix to a compound feed see the milk can fill. A measured GOKA Star or Challenger 8000 is formulated as the whole balance. Bran can stretch it, soften it or carry a medicine; it cannot stand in for it.