Short answer: a milking buffalo of about 500 kg needs roughly 12.5 to 15 kg of dry matter a day. In real feed that is about 60 to 70 kg of green fodder, plus about 1.5 kg of concentrate for maintenance and 1 kg more for every 2 to 2.5 litres of milk, plus clean water all day. The exact amount moves with body weight and milk yield, so the table below does the sum for you.
Dry matter is the feed left after the water is taken out. It is the fair way to compare green fodder, straw and concentrate, because fresh berseem is mostly water and a kilo of it feeds the animal far less than a kilo of dry feed.
How much does a buffalo eat per day by body weight?
Pashudhan Praharee gives a thumb rule of 2.5 to 3 kg of dry matter per 100 kg of body weight a day for lactating crossbred cows and buffaloes. For a 500 kg buffalo that is 12.5 to 15 kg of dry matter. The FAO guide to feeding dairy cattle and buffalo gives a second method that counts the milk: 6 kg, plus 1 percent of body weight, plus 20 percent of the milk yield, which is 12.6 kg for a 500 kg animal giving 8 litres. The two methods are close.
What does a 500 kg buffalo need at different milk yields?
This table is our own arithmetic from the two sources above, not a measured farm result. Concentrate is 1.5 kg for maintenance (Pashudhan Praharee) plus 1 kg per 2.5 litres at the low end and 1 kg per 2 litres at the high end of FAO's range. Dry matter uses FAO's formula, and water is 4 to 6 litres per kg of dry matter.
| Milk per day | Dry matter (kg) | Concentrate (kg) | Water (litres) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 litres | 11.8 | 3.1 – 3.5 | 47 – 71 |
| 6 litres | 12.2 | 3.9 – 4.5 | 49 – 73 |
| 8 litres | 12.6 | 4.7 – 5.5 | 50 – 76 |
| 10 litres | 13.0 | 5.5 – 6.5 | 52 – 78 |
| 12 litres | 13.4 | 6.3 – 7.5 | 54 – 80 |
Find your buffalo's daily milk, then adjust for her real weight: a 600 kg buffalo needs roughly a fifth more than these 500 kg figures, a 400 kg buffalo roughly a fifth less. FAO notes that good buffaloes give 12 to 15 litres a day and the average is 5 to 10 litres, so most herds sit in the middle rows.
How much green fodder and dry fodder does a buffalo need?
FAO gives one clear figure: 60 to 70 kg of succulent fodder such as berseem a day for a 500 kg buffalo. That is about 12 to 14 percent of her body weight in fresh feed (our arithmetic from FAO's figure). If you feed less green fodder, make up the dry matter with hay, silage or straw. Pashudhan Praharee suggests about two thirds of dry matter from dry fodder and one third from green fodder, so the two sources describe different feeding styles; follow the one that matches the fodder you actually grow.
Straw is cheap but thin. FAO warns that feeding a large quantity of wheat or rice straw can cause calcium and phosphorus deficiency. Pashudhan Praharee recommends 25 to 50 g each of mineral mixture and common salt a day. Ask your vet which mineral mixture suits your area.
How much concentrate (vanda) should a buffalo get?
- Maintenance: 1.5 kg a day for a crossbred cow or buffalo (Pashudhan Praharee). This keeps the body going before any milk is made.
- Milk: add 1 kg for every 2 to 2.5 litres of milk (FAO). Weigh the milk at both milkings and add them up.
- Late pregnancy: FAO advises 1 to 1.5 kg a day in the last part of pregnancy.
- Check her body: if a buffalo is losing weight on this plan, do not just add feed. Call your vet or a dairy adviser.
Change feed slowly over several days, and keep bags dry and off the floor — see how to store animal feed on the farm. A balanced concentrate such as dairy vanda carries the minerals that fodder and straw lack.
How much water does a buffalo need per day?
FAO says lactating animals need 4 to 6 litres of water for every kg of dry matter they eat, and more in hot tropical conditions. At 12.6 kg of dry matter that gives 50 to 76 litres, as in the table. FAO's own example is 11 kg of dry matter at 6 litres per kg, or 66 litres a day. Offer water at least twice a day if it is not always in front of her. Our guide to increasing buffalo milk yield shows how water and heat change milk.
What does this mean for a Pakistani dairy farm?
Weigh the milk and write it down, then set concentrate from the table rather than from habit. When green fodder gets short in December and January, the dry matter must come from somewhere else; our buffalo winter feeding plan covers that gap. These figures are starting points from published guides, not a promise for every animal. Breed, age and stage of lactation all matter, and a sick or thin buffalo needs a vet, not a bigger scoop.
Written by the Vital Feeds editorial team.
How this guide was made: dry matter, maintenance concentrate and mineral figures are from Pashudhan Praharee; green fodder, per-litre concentrate, late-pregnancy, milk-yield and water figures are from FAO, all read in full; the table is our own arithmetic from those figures; the draft was AI-assisted and fact-checked against the sources on 27 October 2026.
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