MANUAL ON IMPROVED FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE BY ... - Gart

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PREFACE The annual consumption of milk in Zambia is about 25 litres per capita. This is well below the level of 200 litres recommended by the WHO and FAO. For this reason the Government of Zambia recently put dairy high on the national development agenda. It is estimated that half of the domestic annual consumption of milk in Zambia is produced by smallholder farmers. According to Parmalat, the largest dairy processor in Zambia, the company’s milk intake from smallholder farmers increased from below 10 % five years ago to ± 20 % at present. GART’s core science and technology competencies are in smallholder livestock systems, conservation farming and seed systems development. Under the smallholder livestock systems programme its Smallholder Dairy Development Progamme (SDDP) is the largest activity. Through Batoka Livestock Development Centre GART distributes ± 200 in-calf dairy crossbred heifers to smallholder farmers on a yearly basis. This has triggered the success of the programme greatly. GART started the SDDP in 1994 in Southern Province and expanded its activities in 2006 into Lesotho as well. Since 2006 GART is receiving support from the UN Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) to strengthen its smallholder dairy programme in Zambia and in Lesotho. GART is increasingly being considered a centre of excellence and lead knowledge centre in smallholder dairy development in many parts in Zambia as well as in the whole SADC region. Typical services offered by GART to smallholder dairy producers are: training and extension in profitable smallscale dairy farming, attachment of dairy extension workers to producer groups, helping farmers to establish and manage milk collection centres and linking up with milk processing companies. Co-operative producer groups are the backbone of the SDDP. The well functioning of these groups is of crucial importance for the successful operation of the emergent farmer, as they are often the only channel to reach the smallholder farmer. Through these cooperatives farmers continuously request for additional training and coaching in the various aspects of managing their dairy animals. There exists hunger for knowledge in the sector. The major constraint experienced in small holder dairy farming in Africa is the quantity and quality of the feed supplied to the animals. This manual addresses this problem and in particular tries to come up with solutions to overcome the feed shortage experienced during the dry season. The manual is meant to provide extension officers with practical background material, what they can use to design and conduct training programmes on improved feeding for small holder farmers. I expect that this manual will serve that purpose. I like to thank CFC who provided the funds to GART to publish and disseminate this manual. Finally, it is my wish that this manual goes a long way to support the smallholder dairy sector in the whole of Southern Africa. Stephen W. Muliokela, PhD Director GART
C<strong>ON</strong>TENTS 1. Introduction 7 2. Purpose of the manual 8 3. Benefits of small scale dairy farming 8 3.1 Conditions that favour dairy farming 9 3.2 Essentials of successful dairy farming 10 4. Sources of different nutrients and 10 Their functions 4.1 Protein 11 4.2 Carbohydrates 12 4.3 Fats and oils 13 4.4 Minerals / salts 13 4.5 Vitamins 14 4.6 Water 14 5. Principles of feeding dairy cows 16 5.1 Digestibility of feeds and feed evaluation 16 5.2 Dry matter intake 16 6. Roughage (fodder) and concentrates 17 7. Common animal feeds available and 18 their feeding value 8. Ration formulation for dairy cows 20 8.1 Feed requirements 20 8.2 Daily fodder rations 21 8.3 Qualities of an ideal dairy cow ration 23 8.4 Some principles of rationing / feeding dairy animals 23 9. Nutritional diseases of dairy animals 24 9.1 Acidosis 24 9.2 Ketosis 24 9.3 Milk fever 24 9.4 Rickets/osteomalacia/night blindness 25 9.5 Bloat/tympanitis 25 9.6 Constipation 25 9.7 Urea poisoning 25 10. Agronomy of pasture and fodder crops 26 10.1 Grasses 27 10.2 Legumes 29 5 Manual on improved feeding of Dairy Cattle by Smallholder Farmers
Page 1 and 2: GOLDEN VALLEY AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
Page 3: MANUAL ON IMPROVED FEEDING OF For D
Page 7 and 8: 1. INTRODUCTION It has been observe
Page 9 and 10: - The sold milk provides the farmer
Page 11 and 12: 4.1 Protein FIGURE 3: Chemical brea
Page 13 and 14: Presence in feeds Soluble carbohydr
Page 15 and 16: animals. Without water life is impo
Page 17 and 18: When estimating the dm intake of an
Page 19 and 20: FEED Dry Matter dm (%) TDN dcp Fodd
Page 21 and 22: Obviously the maintenance requireme
Page 23 and 24: FIGURE 11: Good quality pasture can
Page 25 and 26: 9.4 Rickets/osteomalacia/night blin
Page 27 and 28: 10.1 Grasses l Rhodes Grass Rhodes
Page 29 and 30: FIGURE 14: Napier grass ready for c
Page 31 and 32: FIGURE 16: Cowpea Establishment: Co
Page 33 and 34: Fertilizer: The crop will benefit f
Page 35 and 36: FIGURE 20: Filling a small silage t
Page 37 and 38: FIGURE 23: Good quality hay of luce
Page 39 and 40: 12.3 How to plant fodder trees? - M
Page 41 and 42: - Add the cement and mix it till th
Page 43 and 44: In the year 2004 the average milk p
Page 45 and 46: 16. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SOME FE
Page 47 and 48: 17. REQUIRED CONCENTRATES (kg) AT D
Page 49 and 50: 1. Milk production Is the milk prod
Page 51: 51 Manual on improved feeding of Da

MANUAL ON IMPROVED FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE BY ... - Gart

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