Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar
Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar
Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar
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Table 3. Amount of feed supplements used on dual-purpose cattle farms in<br />
Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua.<br />
Feed supplement<br />
Consumption (kg/cow per year)<br />
Costa Rica Honduras Nicaragua<br />
(n=21) (n=20) (n=37)<br />
Chicken manure 496.7 NA* 410.6<br />
Commercial feed concentrate 508.6 292.0 NA<br />
Rice polishing 137.3 NA NA<br />
Molasses 41.3 87.3 70.5<br />
Salt 38.1 7.8 24.1<br />
Minerals<br />
* NA = Not available.<br />
19.0 20.9 12.4<br />
Analysis of Potential Benefits of New Forage Germplasm<br />
This study aims <strong>to</strong> estimate the potential benefits of new forage<br />
germplasm, <strong>with</strong> different levels of adoption on-farm and at the regional<br />
level in the dry tropical hillside areas where the the Tropileche Consortium<br />
operates. The alternatives analyzed were Brachiaria brizantha, B.<br />
decumbens, and B. dictyoneura, as well as the legumes Cratylia argentea<br />
and Arachis pin<strong>to</strong>i, and sugarcane as energy source.<br />
Table 4 presents the nutritional parameters and biomass production of<br />
all forage alternatives evaluated in this study using the simulation model.<br />
Animal management parameters were taken from farm averages in each<br />
country so that they represented the current conditions of management and<br />
resource use (Tables 1 <strong>to</strong> 3).<br />
The situation prevailing during the study was evaluated for each region<br />
<strong>with</strong>in each country and this, in turn, was compared against three levels of<br />
adoption. Similarly, the following parameters were estimated <strong>to</strong> compare the<br />
different scenarios:<br />
• Additional investment in the new germplasm (per farm and per cow in<br />
the herd)<br />
• Net income (per hectare and per cow) after discounting fixed and<br />
variable costs amd use of family labor valued as minimum wage cost<br />
• Milk productivity/ha<br />
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