Dairy cattle feeding on fodder in the parlour (Amon Aine)
High quality fodder for livestock is made by mixing chaff of elephant grass (Pennisteum purpureum) and calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus) with maize bran, cotton seed cake and molasses. These fodder pastures are grown on a 10 acre piece of land and harvested twice a week for chopping into chaff. For calliandra (a leguminous tree), leaves are harvested while elephant grass is cut at ground level. This vegetation is transported to the electric chaff cutter by tractor. At its best, the chaff is evenly cut, free of dust, of good colour and has a fresh aroma. The chaff is chopped into small pieces which allows for easy mixing with supplements. Chaff in Uganda can be produced on farm or purchased from commercial chaff cutting mills, which grow pastures and process them for sell to farmers during pasture scarcity in the long dry spells.
The farmer in Bushenyi District learnt the technology at a trade show. Today, he processes fodder for his 50 dairy cattle under an intensive system. His grazing/paddock land is about 20 hectares in total and is divided into 8 paddocks which are used in rotation. The cows graze for 8 hours daily. Every evening their diet is supplemented with the processed fodder in the milking parlour. The fields are allowed to mature at intervals to produce a continuous supply of grass for fodder throughout the growing season. The fodder processing procedure includes:
i) Cutting mature pasture grass at ground level and collecting the grass from the fields;
ii) Transportation of elephant grass and calliandrafrom the fields to the fodder shed;
iii) Offloading and sorting of pasture grass/ fodder into different classes of similar diameter and lengths for easy handling during chaff cutting;
iv) Chopping of pastures/ fodder into small pieces using the electric chaff cutter;
v) Mixing the chaffed fodder, cotton seed cake, molasses and maize bran to improve the palatability and nutrient quality of the chaffed fodder.
vi). Putting the processed fodder into troughs for cattle to feed on during milking.
Processing enough pasture grass into chaff for cattle feeding is described by the farmer to be a relatively expensive and a labour intensive process. The key expenses in establishing the system include costs of buying fodder (if not readily available on the farm), purchasing a chaff cutter and buying supplements. The farmer requires 0.5 tonnes of chaffed fodder mixed with supplements to feed 50 dairy cows on a daily basis. The main costs are labour, fodder supplements, the electric chaff cutter, tractor hire and daily operation costs.
The fodder cut into small pieces mixes easily with supplements to make a well nutrient balanced ration. This is palatable and encourages cattle to eat non-selectively and without spilling,hence minimizing wastage. The processed fodder is easy to store in bags and can be kept on wooden pallets raised off ground in a cool store. The farmer notes that the chaffed fodder can further be processed into hay or silage for storage to be fed to cattle during the seasons of pasture scarcity, especially the long dry spells of early June to late August and early December to late February. The system enables the farmer to keep more productive animals on his land than he could using other feeding regimes: in other words this is an intensive system that maximizes production per unit area.
Байршил: Bushenyi District, Kyamuhunga sub county, Uganda, Western Region, Уганда
Дүн шинжилгээнд хамрагдсан технологи нэвтрүүлсэн газрын тоо: нэг байршилд
Технологийн тархалт: газар дээр жигд тархсан (approx. 0.1-1 км2)
Тусгай хамгаалалттай газар нутагт?:
Хэрэгжилтийн огноо: 2016; <10 жилийн өмнө (саяхны)
Нутагшууллын төрөл
| Төрөл зүйл | Тоо хэмжээ |
| үхрийн аж ахуй - цагаан идээ | 50 |
| Зардлын нэр, төрөл | Хэмжих нэгж | Тоо хэмжээ | Нэгжийн үнэ (Uganda shillings) | Зардал бүрийн нийт өртөг (Uganda shillings) | Нийт дүнгээс газар ашиглагчийн төлсөн % |
| Хөдөлмөр эрхлэлт | |||||
| Labor | man/day | 12.0 | 10000.0 | 120000.0 | |
| Тоног төхөөрөмж | |||||
| Hoe | Pieces | 2.0 | 15000.0 | 30000.0 | |
| Panga | Pieces | 1.0 | 5000.0 | 5000.0 | |
| Hammer | pieces | 1.0 | 5000.0 | 5000.0 | |
| wheel burrow | Pieces | 1.0 | 5000.0 | 5000.0 | |
| Tractor hire | Hours | 10.0 | 50000.0 | 500000.0 | |
| chaff cutter | unit | 1.0 | 1500000.0 | 1500000.0 | |
| Барилгын материал | |||||
| Metal rods | Pieces | 4.0 | 20000.0 | 80000.0 | |
| Cement | 50kg bags | 20.0 | 29000.0 | 580000.0 | |
| Sand | Tonnes | 2.5 | 70000.0 | 175000.0 | |
| Bricks | Pieces | 10000.0 | 150.0 | 1500000.0 | |
| Timber | Pieces | 20.0 | 5000.0 | 100000.0 | |
| Iron sheets | Sheets | 24.0 | 42000.0 | 1008000.0 | |
| Gravel | Trips | 1.0 | 75000.0 | 75000.0 | |
| Технологи бий болгох нийт үнэ өртөг | 5'683'000.0 | ||||
| Технологи бий болгох нийт үнэ өртөг, ам.доллар | 1'562.12 | ||||
| Зардлын нэр, төрөл | Хэмжих нэгж | Тоо хэмжээ | Нэгжийн үнэ (Uganda shillings) | Зардал бүрийн нийт өртөг (Uganda shillings) | Нийт дүнгээс газар ашиглагчийн төлсөн % |
| Хөдөлмөр эрхлэлт | |||||
| Labor | Men/month | 4.0 | 10000.0 | 40000.0 | 100.0 |
| Тоног төхөөрөмж | |||||
| Panga | |||||
| Бусад | |||||
| Elephant grass (Pennisteum purpureum) and calliandra (Calliandracalothyrsus) | tonnes | 0.5 | 100000.0 | 50000.0 | 100.0 |
| Maize bran | tonnes | 0.0625 | 88000.0 | 5500.0 | 100.0 |
| Molasses | tonnes | 0.13 | 173000.0 | 22490.0 | 100.0 |
| Cotton seed cake | tonnes | 0.0625 | 88000.0 | 5500.0 | 100.0 |
| Технологийн арчилгаа/урсгал үйл ажиллагаанд шаардагдах нийт үнэ өртөг | 123'490.0 | ||||
| Технологи арчилах ба урсгал ажлын нийт үнэ өртөг, ам.доллар | 33.94 | ||||
Supplements are added to chaffed fodder
The grazing cows are supplemented with fodder at milking in the evining
Better quality and quantity pastures available for feeding livestock
Increased milk production per cow
Need to grow pasture grass and process them into chaffed supplemented fodder
Cut and carry systems can drain the fields of nutrients if not replenished with fertilizer
Calliandra and elephant grass
It is possible to store and supplement livestock feed in the dry season if processed into hay
Pastures grown are carbon sinks
The pastures act as cover crops to regulate run off
Cattle have enough feed and therefore don’t need to trespass onto neighbors’ fields
