Feeding of animals

Organic farmers aim to grow and produce most animal feed on their farms. They ensure that there is enough land for the animals to graze and enough space to grow extra feed, including feed for the dry season. Storing feed for the dry season reduces the cost of buying feed from other sources and ensures appropriate feeding during low seasons.

Different livestock species have different feeding requirements. The higher the expected productivity of the animals is, the higher the feeding requirements are. Commercial high yielding dairy animals for example require more high quality feed than non-dairy or low producing animals. Farmers should, therefore, select the species and breeds of animals that will do well in their farm without major purchase of feed.

In case of organic certification, purchased feed must be obtained from organic or proven natural sources. Growth promoters and hormones are not allowed as feeding supplements for organic animals.

Discussion on feeding of animals

Ask the farmers what animals they keep and how they feed them. Discuss difficulties in feeding the animals and exchange ideas for improvement.

Field visit to identify good pasture plants

Let the farmers go out to the field in groups and collect samples of local and valuable pasture plants. Then select the ones that are most preferred by the farmers, giving reasons for their choices. At the end of this exercise, a pasture album should be prepared with the different pasture plants (grasses and legumes) and their characteristics.

Feeding requirements for animals

Like human beings, animals depend on different types of foods to grow and produce well. Different animal species need different feeds. The daily ration for any farm animal should contain an average composition of 7 parts carbohydrates, 2 and half parts proteins and half a part of vitamins, minerals and oils.

Carbohydrates provide animals with energy for their exercises, production, grazing and doing work for human beings. For example, a donkey needs energy to carry goods. Roughage feeders, like cattle, goats, sheep, camels and donkeys are able to obtain their basic carbohydrate requirements from pastures. Non-roughage feeders such as pigs and poultry obtain their carbohydrates mainly from cereal grains such as maize, sorghum, and their industrial by-products like maize bran. Tubers such as cassava and sweet potatoes are also used as a source of energy for those animals. Feeding of grains and tubers in ruminants should be restricted to high producing animals (for example, at the beginning of lactation) and to an average of 1 to 2 kg per day for big animals like cows and 100 to 200 grams for small ruminants like sheep and goats, to avoid excessive production of acids in their rumens during digestion. Such animals naturally do not depend on such feed. Grains should be reserved for human consumption as much as possible.
Protein is needed in the animal’s body for growth and repair of tissues. Lack of protein in the diet leads to poor growth rates, reduced yield of animal products, loss of weight and late maturity for growing animals. Leguminous fodder is a good source of protein for most animals. Free-range chickens are able to obtain their proteins by picking ticks, insects and worms from the environment. Earthworms for feeding chickens can be multiplied by mixing a small amount of the soil containing earthworms with fresh cow dung and dry leaves in half a drum, which is kept moist by covering with a sisal sack. The worms multiply quickly and after about two to three weeks they can be harvested and fed to the chickens. Pigs can be fed with human leftovers, which may contain protein from human diets.
Vitamins are only needed in small amounts in animals, mainly for boosting their immunity. They are plentiful in young green pasture or fodder, kales, young amaranth that have not yet seeded, and in fruit peels from the kitchen.
Minerals are essential in the animal body for different functions. For example calcium and phosphorus are necessary for eggshell formation, bone formation, muscle contractions, synthesis of hormones and enzymes. Their deficiency results in reduced growth, soft brittle bones that fracture easily, difficult births, low egg and milk production, retained afterbirth, etc. When animals lack some of these minerals, they develop the ‘Pica’ habit, which leads to eating strange things such as cloths, rags, bones, soap and metal sheets. Minerals are available from some plants like amaranth (pigweed), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), black night shade (Solanum nigrum) and pumpkin leaves (Curcubitae spp.). Mixing equal parts of dry leaves from these plants and grinding them to a smooth powder will provide for most minerals in animals when placed in a mineral box and fed as often as possible. Salt (NaCl) should also be given to ruminants.
Fats and oils provide a layer of insulation below the skin for protection against the cold. They also facilitate the absorption of vitamins in the body. Sunflower seeds provide a good source of fat for (cattle), pigs, poultry and rabbits. Cottonseed, sunflower, sesame or peanut cakes, after extraction of oil, are also good sources of fat. Ruminants can build fat from roughage.
While water may not be treated as a true nutrient, it is essential for providing a medium through which other nutrients are absorbed and assimilated in the body. It is also responsible for giving shape and turgidity to most tissues of the body. Clean water, which is free from contamination with chemicals and disease causing agents, should be provided to the animals all the time. Salty water with a lot of natural minerals is not suitable for livestock as it limits water intake.

Large animal feeding systems

a. Stall feeding

This is also sometimes called the ‘cut and carry’ system where animals are provided with feed either throughout their entire growing period, stage of growth or season of the year.

However, since animal welfare is given a high priority in organic agriculture, combined systems or free range systems are preferred so that the animals have the opportunity to move around and to socially interact. Animals should be provided with a wide variety of easily accessible feed—for ruminants, pasture is preferred—and water to encourage intake and to meet their nutrient needs. Supplementary feeding with feed rich in minerals, for example mineral leaks, and vitamins is often necessary to protect the animals from diseases and also to ensure proper functioning of bodily functions. But the intake of concentrates for ruminants should be limited to a very small amount, otherwise they can develop metabolic disorders like acidosis or maw displacement.

Discussion on stall feeding of animals

Invite a volunteer farmer, who practises stall feeding of cattle or smaller ruminants, either in a zero grazing or combined system and discuss with him advantages and challenges of stall feeding of the animals under local conditions.

Integrating fodder production within the cropping system

Fodder production involves growing different types of grasses, trees and shrubs and cutting them when they attain a certain maturity to feed the animals. Fodder crops can be grown alone or intercropped or rotated with other crops. Fodder can be produced from planted or sown grass or from leguminous plants that are grown as cover crops within perennial crops or on soil erosion control bands, from planted hedges of suitable shrubs, shade and support trees along crop garden boundaries (fodder hedges). Crop residues are an additional source of fodder.

The best plants for fodder hedges are leguminous trees or shrubs such as calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus), leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), sesbania (Sesbania sesban) or gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium). Hedges can be left to grow during the rainy season, without cutting them, to have maximum amount of leaves for feeding the animals during times of need such as the dry season. Grass plants can also be planted as fodder hedges. For example guinea grass (Panicum maximum), Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), elephant (napier) grass (Pennisetum purpureum), Sudan grass (Sorghum verticilliflorum), Weeping Lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula), Congo signal grass (Brachiaria rusiziensis), Guatemala grass (Tripsacum fasciculatum), Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) and African brittle grass (Setaria anceps), maize and sorghum.

b. Pasture grazing

In pasture grazing, animals are allowed to graze directly on the growing pasture in a fenced paddock or communal grazing lands. Grazing of animals is especially recommended in the following situations:

Steep land that is very susceptible to erosion, thus unsuitable for annual soil cultivation, but can be maintained as permanent pasture.
Land that is covered with many stones.
Land that is seeded with pasture and used as grazing land within a crop rotation for a season or more. Growing pasture crops in a rotation, furthermore, interrupts the life cycles of annual weeds and crop pests.
Animals can also be brought into a crop field to graze on the crop residues and remains from the previous crop.

However, grazing must be controlled if the pasture is expected to regrow. Controlled and rotational grazing ensures that diverse, dense and useful pastures are maintained, which will also extend the grazing season. For some farm animals, such as cattle, proper pasture management also helps to reduce pressure with pasture-borne internal parasites.

In order to ensure controlled grazing, pastures are usually subdivided into paddocks. Animals are allowed to graze in one paddock for a short period of time. When the plants are grazed, they are transferred to another paddock with grown grass. The animals do not return to a paddock until the plants have recovered and regrown to a desired height for grazing. As a result, the plants have time to recover and the animals always have high quality pasture. Overgrazing as well as under-grazing can lead to reduced pasture growth, reduced quality and quantity. Typically, grazing animals are moved quickly through paddocks during periods of rapid plant growth (rainy season) and moved slowly during the dry season. But even in the dry season, quite a rapid movement with a high density of grazing animals can make sense. Rapid movement also helps to prevent parasite invasions and illnesses. If managed well, controlled grazing produces enough pasture and the animals always have access to tender, high-quality plants over an extended period of time. The most efficient and ecological way to use dry pastures is to let different animal species graze together. Grass grazing species (like cattle) and species feeding on shrubs and bushes in addition to grass (like goats and sheep) use the pastures on different levels and complement each other in terms of their feeding behaviour.

Recommendations to farmers regarding good grazing practises:

The pasture should not be grazed before it has reached appropriate maturity (i.e. shortly before flowering).
An appropriate number of animals should be allowed to graze in a given area, also called stocking rate, to avoid destroying the environment through overgrazing. Overgrazing weakens the pasture plants and will result in poor regrowth and sparse plant cover. This will result in soil erosion risks and growth of unwanted shrubs and weeds.
The pasture should not be undergrazed either, since the fodder gets too old, leading to quality losses and bad growth of new grass shoots.
The recovering/regeneration time given to pasture plants to regrow should not be too short or too long, such that the plants are always in the right stage to be fed. The regeneration time is also important concerning the control of parasites. Decisions about when to move animals from one paddock to another should be based on the seasonal availability of pasture, the number and size of paddocks in relation to the number and type of grazing animals. Pasture regeneration through burning should be avoided because it results in the loss of a wide variety of protein rich and medicinal plants that animals require. It also destroys a lot of necessary organisms on and in the ground.
Good pasture plants that animals like should be encouraged in order to achieve better utilization of pasture. Sometimes replanting or resowing is necessary to maintain pasture quality.
Young animals should graze ahead of older animals in order to benefit from the fresh pastures and to minimise transfer of parasites from older to younger animals.
Rapid movement of big herds including different species is recommended.

How to improve grazing pastures

If grazing land no longer produces good pasture, it can either be replanted or improved by replacing old pasture plants. Replanting a new pasture offers the opportunity to use a diverse mixture of plants with differing maturities, which provide high-quality pasture and a longer grazing season. However, there is a high cost involved in terms of land preparation, planting/sowing and weed control, and normally, the farmer must keep the animals off the newly planted pasture land until the new plants have developed well. Therefore, improving an existing pasture is usually a preferable and more suitable option for small-scale farmers. This can be done by resowing and changing grazing management. Grass seeds should be sown when the animals are on the paddock, as they can then press the seeds into the ground using their hoofs.

Whether planting a new pasture or improving existing pastures, selection of appropriate plant species that are adapted to local climate and soil conditions is essential. Integrating legume plants in a pasture improves the overall pasture quality. It increases protein intake by the grazing animals and helps to extend the grazing season. Seeds should be broadcast out in the rainy season during the last few days of grazing on a paddock, so the animals will step on them and press them to the ground. Only open or sparsely covered spots should be resown.

Examples of grass plants (see section 5.2 above) and leguminous pasture plants include desmodium (Desmodium spp.), centro (Centrosema pubescens), siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum), Clover (Trifolium spp.), lucerne (Medicago sativa), and Stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis).

Discussion grazing of animals

Inquire among the farmers how grazing of animals is done locally. Together, identify ways how it can be improved to get more and higher quality pastures. If possible, visit a farm with good pasture management and learn how the farmer manages his pastures.

Field visit to identify good pasture plants

c. Preservation of fodder

The dry season can be very tough on all kinds of animals, but especially on the larger ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats. Animals may lose weight and have reduced growth rates because they do not get enough balanced feed. This implies that they will take much longer to attain fertility or market size, hence the farmer loses both time and money. With better planning and adoption of the following measures, these problems can be minimised.

Harvesting and storing excess fodder available during periods of surplus ensures that animals have sufficient fodder throughout the year. Preserved fodder with high fibre content like crop residues and by-products are only suitable for feeding to ruminants, and limited amounts for pigs, though not to poultry. Leguminous fodder plants should be harvested at the flowering stage or when flower buds start to grow, while grasses should be harvested before flowering when the plants have maximum nutrients and green matter. The rate of digestion of the preserved fibrous fodder can be increased by supplying a protein supplement. Locally available protein sources, include legume residues, pods, green fodder and oilseed residues (e.g. from oil extraction).

Discussion on preservation of fodder

Inquire among the farmers about preservation of fodder by asking the following questions:

Do you normally experience pasture shortages for feeding your animals? During which times of the year and for how long?
How do you feed the animals during this time? Do you preserve fodder for the animals, and how do you preserve it?

How to produce hay?

Fodder preserved by drying in the sun is called hay. It is leafy dry fodder and greenish in colour. Hay making is the oldest and most important way of preserving fodder. It is, however, not a common practise among animal keepers in the tropics, probably because of the very poor quality of mature tropical grass.

Hay can be made manually or with simple equipment and from different plants, especially those with thin stems and more leaves are better suited because they dry fast. More leaves than stems are cut and laid out well in the field in thin layers and turned regularly for quick drying. The fodder should be harvested when it is less moist during sunny days to prevent development of moulds, which are extremely harmful to animals, as well as to human beings. The grass should not be over-dried, but rather cured. For example, it should not be left to turn brown in colour. If labour is available, then the dried grass should be chopped and then tied up tightly in bundles.

Storage of hay can be done using a simple granary-like structure built with four supporting poles. The floor is raised above the ground and made of slatted frames to provide air circulation and prevents the hay from becoming wet from below. The cured hay bundles are then stacked inside this structure. The outer surface is then ’thatched’ or covered with a plastic sheet to keep the rain off.

Box-baling is another method that can be used especially for small amounts. The hay is hand chopped, put in wooden boxes for better compressing and then tied up in bales, which are fitted in wooden boxes.

Suitable plants for making hay

Crops and grasses which are appropriate for hay include guinea grass, Rhodes grass, elephant (Napier) grass, sorghum, maize and leguminous fodder crops such as cowpea and lablab. Crop residues and fallen leaves can be included in the hay to increase the quantity and quality of hay feed available.

A tuber crop like cassava can also be grown easily to produce foliage, even in slightly drier seasons, producing enough forage after about three months. Cassava crops can be harvested about 6 inches above the ground and sun-dried for 3 to 5 days before being collected in bundles or made into bales prior to feeding or storage. A drying period of 4 to 6 days is necessary for drying the stem and branches, which have a higher moisture content. The drying process is not only to reduce moisture, but also to decrease hydrocyanic acid to a safe level for ruminants.

Legume leaf meal (hay), which consists of dried leaves from a range of tree legumes, can also be used. The leaf material is harvested, dried in the shade and tightly packed in bags for later use. This material can also be fed to laying hens for yellow-coloured egg yolks.

How to make silage?

Silage is the product of controlled green fodder fermentation retaining a high moisture content. The fresh fodder material is harvested, chopped and filled in pits (silos) under anaerobic conditions while still fresh. The anaerobic environment is created by lining the pit with a plastic sheet on the sides and bottom. After filling and trampling over the material to press out most of the air, the top is then also lined with plastic and covered with soil. The material is again trampled over to make sure the covering is soil, air and water proof. The material will remain preserved as long as it remains air-tight. The quality of the ensiled product will depend on the quality of the material ensiled and on the fermentation process.