Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

Mean farm size ranged from 25 ha in Rioja and Soritor to 33 ha in
Nuevo Cajamarca. Farm size ranged from 4 to 90 ha, with herd sizes
proportional to farm size. All farmers had some land in pasture. Assuming
an average area in pasture of 16-18 ha among the four communities, the
mean proportions of pasture area in relation to the whole farm varied from
56% to 64% (Table 2). Stocking rates ranged from a mean 1.3 head/ha in
Habana to 1.8 head/ha in Nuevo Cajamarca.
Table 2. Land use at study sites in Alto Mayo, Peru.
Land use
Farm size
Pasture
B. decumbens
B. brizantha
Cut & carry
King grass
Elephant grass
Coffee
Lowland rice
Forest/fallow
Stocking rate
Chopper
Nuevo Cajamarca Soritor Habana
Rioja
n=18
n=22
n=11
n=11
Area % Area % Area % Area %
(ha)
(ha)
(ha)
(ha)
33
18
13
1
3
1
2
5
2
2
1.8
-
100
100
89
33
100
66
78
55
28
55
-
22
110
25
16
16
2
0.4
0
0
2.4
3
6
1.6
-
100
100
100
42
40
72
0
55
21
75
-
50
32
18
14
3
0.6
0.5
0.14
2
0.6
11
1.3
-
100
100
82
27
64
55
18
73
36
100
In Habana, 82% of the farmers had B. decumbens in their pastures,
while 100% of the farmers in Rioja and Soritor had pastures sown to this
grass, accounting for 72%-93% of total pasture area. In Rioja, 18% of the
farmers had also sown B. brizantha and in Soritor, 42% (Table 2).
-
45
25
16
15
0.5
0
0
0
1
2
3
Many farmers had also established cut-and-carry forages: 27% of
farmers interviewed in Rioja and 100% of the farmers in Nuevo Cajamarca.
Areas sown ranged from small plots in Rioja, Soritor, and Habana (0.5 ha on
average) to 3 ha in Nuevo Cajamarca (Table 2). Varieties sown for cut-andcarry
feeding were mainly king grass and elephant grass. None of the
farmers in Rioja and half of those in Soritor had mechanized forage cutters.
Other main land uses were coffee, irrigated rice, annual crops, and
forest or forest fallow. Between 50% and 66% of farmers in each community
grew coffee on plots averaging 1 ha (in Rioja) to 5 ha (Nuevo Cajamarca).
1.7
-
100
100
100
18
27
27
0
73
73
73
-
0