Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

The production cost/kg milk was lowest in Honduras (US$0.16),
intermediate in Nicaragua (US$0.18) and highest in Costa Rica (US$0.21).
Differences in production costs obeyed labor cost, which was more
expensive in Costa Rica (US$9.30/work day) and less expensive in
Nicaragua (US$2.30/work day), but also the herd size and/or stocking rate,
which was 1.44 AU/ha in Honduras and 0.75 AU/ha in Costa Rica.
Level 1. This level of adoption aimed to establish minimal areas of
improved germplasm to replace the use of purchased feeds for the herd,
especially during the dry season. The forage option that achieved this goal
most economically was the establishment of Cratylia argentea as protein
source together with sugarcane as energy source.
In the case of Costa Rica, the establishment of 0.7 ha of sugarcane with
1.6 ha of Cratylia represented an investment of US$872 for a herd of 23
cows. This area produced enough nutrients and biomass to completely
eliminate the need to purchase 491 kg of chicken manure and 270 kg of feed
concentrate usually required per cow each year. This investment was
equivalent to US$38/cow, and generated savings in cash flow of US$71/cow
per year, allowing an increase in annual net income/cow of US$55 (from
US$34 to US$89) and a reduction in production cost/kg milk of US$0.03
(from US$0.21 to US$0.18).
The potential benefit of the new technology was even greater in
Honduras than in Costa Rica because the annual cost of purchased feeds in
Honduras was the highest of the three countries. Therefore, with a small
investment of US$850/farm to establish 3.4 ha of sugarcane and 3 ha of
Cratylia, the purchase of 88 kg of molasses and 418 kg of feed concentrate/
cow per year could be eliminated (Table 6). In addition, this level of
adoption reduced production cost/kg milk by US$0.04 (from US$0.16 to
US$0.12) and increased the net income/cow per year by US$94 (from
US$167 to US$261).
The economic impact of this level of technology in Nicaragua was
similar to that observed in Honduras. In this case, small areas (0.6 ha of
sugarcane + 1.7 ha of Cratylia) were needed to replace the use of purchased
feeds that amounted to 410 kg of chicken manure and 70 kg of molasses per
cow/year, with a very modest investment of US$695/farm (Table 7). The
investment to achieve this level of adoption reduced production cost/kg milk
by US$0.02 (from US$0.18 to US$0.16), which increased net income/cow
per year by US$31 (from US$38 to US$69).
Level 2. This level of adoption aimed not only to substitute purchased
feeds by establishing new forage options, but also to release areas currently
allocated to livestock production for other alternative uses. To meet this
objective, the simulation model incorporated not only the forage alternatives
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