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60 ••• DEVELOPING AGRICULTURE Take care of your grazing; take care of your livestock IT IS OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE FOR THE LIVESTOCK PRODUCER TO KNOW THE GRAZING CAPACITY OF THE FARM FOR A SUSTAINABLE LIVESTOCK EN- TERPRISE. > TEXT: CASTUFF SEKGALA The general saying goes: a person needs to be a grass producer before he/she becomes a livestock producer. GRAZING CAPACITY DEFINED The productivity of the grazable portion of the veld is expressed as an area of the land required to main- JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC Figure 1: Illustration of an annual roughage availability. > tain livestock over an extended number of years without deterioration to vegetation or soil. Thus, the grazing capacity dictates the stocking rate. Grazing capacity consists of numerous factors which are interrelated and these are: roughage availability, effective rainfall, fodder flow plan as well as veld management practices (rotational grazing). ROUGHAGE AVAILABILITY The availability and quality of natural grass depends mainly on rainfall patterns. In summer, the availability and quality of grass is high and this tends to decline and become relatively low in the winter months (as illustrated in Figure 1). On average a cow eats about one third of its body weight per day, of which 90% should be roughage. Natural veld is the cheapest source of roughage. 10% of the daily feed intake should ideally be supplements, i.e. phosphate in summer, protein in early winter and protein and energy in late winter. ROTATIONAL GRAZING It is advisable to maintain a high level of roughage throughout the year and this can only be achieved through rotational grazing. Rotational grazing is practiced on a “take half, leave half”-principle – implying that animals graze up to 50% of grass height and leave the remaining 50% for regrowth and conservation of palatable grass species for the next season or year. Thus, without a rest, there will be a gradual decline of quality of the natural veld. This will force the producer to reduce livestock numbers, resulting in financial losses. www.senwes.co.za • Junie 2012
Lick cost/ cow It is advisable to maintain a high level of roughage throughout the year and this can only be achieved through rotational grazing. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF GRAZING MANAGEMENT Consider the following example to illustrate the economic importance of grazing management. According to Senwes production norms (when no additional roughage is purchased), feed costs per cow and sheep and margin above feed cost are calculated in the table below: CATTLE SHEEP Margin above lick cost Feed cost/ ewe Junie 2012 • www.senwes.co.za Margin above feed cost R454 R3 400 R245 R642 >> DEVELOPING AGRICULTURE ••• STOCKING RATE Stocking rate is the area of the land that the e producer has allotted to a LSU in the grazing system, stem, expressed in length of the grazable period of f the year (Ha/LSU). It is the management factor with a the natural veld in winter, presumably by 10%). large influence on: On average hay costs R1 000/ton. For cattle • Biological yield of animal products; this implies a hay cost of R1/cow/day for six winter • Economic yield of the producer; and months plus 20% wastage = R216 per cow. Feed • Long term condition of the grazing camps. cost per cow will therefore increase to R670 per cow. As a result, Margin above Feed cost will be FODDER FLOW PLAN reduced by R216 per cow (i.e. R21 600 for a 100 This is one of the most important plans the livestock cow herd). producer should have for his/her unique farming For small stock this may imply a hay cost of situation. A fodder flow plan considers the combina- R0,25 per small stock per day for six winter months tion of both annual roughage availability and live- plus wastage = R54 per small stock and the feed stock requirements as dictated by the stocking rate. cost will therefore increase to R299 per ewe. As a result, margin above feed cost will be reduced by R54 per small stock (i.e. R5 400 for 100 small stock units). Therefore the economic situation will be worse if a natural veld is supplemented by more hay bales, e.g. at least 20%. Let us assume: The Margin above feed costs (whereby hay bales are purchased to supplement Concluding remark: It is advisable for livestock producers to farm in harmony with nature and supplement with necessary licks to meet the livestock requirements. S • Read more about grazing on page 34 Castuff Sekgala is a livestock specialist at Senwes Agricultural Services. Contact him at (018) 464-7480 or send an email to castuff.sekgala@senwes.co.za for more information. > 61
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2012 SENWES scenarioJunie BINNE SÓ
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