Using banana trunks for animal feed

[bannork]

I have a small banana plantation of 250 trees and next month I'll be harvesting. This means I'll be left with a lot of banana trunks. We have fish and cows on the farm but I read the trunks can contain tannins which can cause problems for digestion with cows. Does anyone have experience using banana trunks for animal feed?

[Gulfsailor]

17 minutes ago, bannork said:

I have a small banana plantation of 250 trees and next month I'll be harvesting. This means I'll be left with a lot of banana trunks. We have fish and cows on the farm but I read the trunks can contain tannins which can cause problems for digestion with cows. Does anyone have experience using banana trunks for animal feed?

I think elephants like it because it contains a lot of water. Check with a nearby elephant sanctuary. I’m pretty sure most are struggling right now due to lack of visitors. 

[OneMoreFarang]

According to my Thai gf it's used as part of feed for pigs.

Edited February 14, 2021 by OneMoreFarang

[kickstart]

You can feed banana plants to cattle ,looking at the net no mention of tannin.

Banana Plant .

Dry Matter  6.9.

Crude Protein  3.5.

ME 16.9.

Feeding you can feed about 15-20% of the total DMI of the diet 

The above in English, Banana plants are a very wet feed DM of 6.9 means the plant is 93% water 6.9% feed 

Protein is not good 3.5 is on par with sugar cane stems and Molasses .

But,ME is good ,that is the energy value of a feed ,the part that makes the animal grow .

DMI ,Dry Matter Intake ,the amount of a food stuff minus the water that an animal can eat in a day ,15-20 % that  means you can feed about 5-6kg /day per head of stock ,that would be for a beef cow ,for growing cattle reduce that to 3-4 kg/day,

So, it can be feed but some form of concentrate must be feed to get any weight gain,  and some form of mineral supplement ,the plant being such a wet feed ,the internet says a mix of molasses and urea ,as in the fertilizer urea, mixed with banana plants ,will give you a fair cattle diet ,Google molasses urea feeding for cattle .

One website says you can feed banana leaves and stems in a ratio of 5 :1.

 

[douglasspade]

We make silage if we have too many banana tree's dying during the change of seasons. I started experimenting a year ago with Banana, Corn, Millet and Napier grass fodder processed to silage. All make good silage that can last a long time and although it is an xtra step and cost in the feed production chain it really helps out during the winter when natural feed (ruzi, napier, natural grasses) becomes less abundant and/or I can not rotate fields lots (corn, millet) fast enough.

 

The feed banana hand chopped, chipped fodder, or silage to the cows by mixing it with rice hay or other natural cut grasses. We double the feed ratio when we feed bull calves about 2 to 3 months before they sell off.

Pigs also eat it rough hand chopped, chipped to fodder, and silage mixed with rice bran and rice skins. But we stop feeding silage by 30kg weight else they put on too much fat instead of muscle and we get a lower price from our clients.  I am only on my third rotation of fattening pigs so I am learning as I go.

 

There is a guy around Satuek that has goats and he feeds them Banana daily as well as my ducks eat the dried fodder wet, or the fresh fodder blended finer mixed with rice bran.