adminSamuel Kadungure Senior Farming Reporter
LIVESTOCK production can be a key to communal agricultural activity and a sustainable source of rural livelihood if smallholder farmers focus on improving the health and management of their animals.
The most prominent constraint in small-scale livestock farming includes disease and pest control and the quantity and quality of feed offered to the animals. Smallholder farmers often experience problems of shortage of feed, water and livestock diseases during the dry winter season.
With little or no savings, these communal farmers are often confronted by shortage of drugs and lack of transport among other resources that paralyses extension support delivery.
In a nutshell, cattle management systems and production among smallholder farmers are casual and needs strengthening.
Communal cattle fulfil multiple roles that include milk, manure, draught power, serve as an indication of one’s wealth status and provision of meat and hides as terminal products.
A survey by The Manica Post in Manicaland shows that rural farmers were doing nothing to improve the health and management of their livestock this winter.
Most communal farmers in Manicaland have indigenous breeds. They prefer them because of their superior genetic traits that include high fertility, high tolerance to diseases, heat and low feed requirement.
These animals are reared through herding during the day before penning at night.
This winter, following crop harvesting, these animals are let loose to feed on crop residues.
This method contrasts sharply with the commercial production system where livestock are kept in paddocks where grazing is controlled and improved forage species are sometimes introduced.
The dry crop residues (mashanga) are bereft of nutrients and their intake by animals is low which often limit production.
Smallholder farmers argue that they lack money for supplementary commercial feeds or improved legume fodder. This results in low intake of poor quality feed, which resultantly limits livestock productivity.
Since feeding is restricted, the cattle, donkeys, goats and sheep have little choice of feed, resulting in poor body condition, low weight gains and a higher predisposition to endoparasites during the dry season.
The crop residue or stovers have low nutritional value — six percent protein — if fed as they are.
Sine these farmers lack money, they can still improve of the quality and digestibility of the stovers through a three-week fermentation period using a urea-water solution.
The crude protein content of stovers and straws increases when treated with urea. There is also increased dry matter intake, live weight gain and milk production from urea-treated stovers compared to untreated material that our small-scale farmers are accustomed to.
The stover enrichment process involves a dug trench which is inserted with a plastic lining. The stovers are cut into small equal pieces.
The farmer mixes a kilogramme of urea, which contains 46 percent nitrogen, with 10 litres of water. The solution is sprinkled uniformly to treat 16 to 20kg of straw.
Then the straw is put into the trench and covered with plastic, and the edges sealed with soil for 25 days under the temperature of 20-30ºC.
The farmer can open the trench from one end and take out the amount of feed required, and put it out until the next day before putting it in the feeding rake.
The cattle like it and will consume more treated stover than they will regularly untreated straw.
Livestock specialist, Mr John Mwandifura, said closely related food shortage is the unavailability of water in communal areas.
“In some areas, water may be available but is of insufficient quality to support healthy growth and performance as animals have to walk distances per day to access it,” said Mr Mwandifura.
“This can be addressed by sinking more boreholes. Animals should not travel for long distances either to access water or dip tanks as it adversely affects the quality of livestock as they burn energy travelling,” said Mr Mwandifura
In some cases water points are limited, compelling large numbers of animals to stampede them and therefore, leading to high chances of spreading diseases. Many young animals die of disease before they can lactate, reach slaughter weight or reproduce.
Mismanagement and poor welfare render animals susceptible to parasites and diseases.
Diseases account for high animal mortality and management must improve to contain transmissible diseases.
Makoni District veterinary officer, Dr Edwin Kupahwana, said animal husbandry can be improved through dosing and multivitamin supplements.
Dr Kupahwana said dosing is done to reduce the worm burden and poor feed utilisation. Farmers can use medicines like Albex, Closavet and Runox.
Multivitamins reverse vitamins deficiency and improve feed conversion. They remedy poor feed utilisation and poor body condition. Medicines include Vitol and Multivite.
“Farmers need to adhere to the usual dipping every two weeks until November and then from November to March it will be weekly. Farmers need to guard against tick-borne diseases, blackleg, fowl coryza, mange and eye infections in the winter,” said Dr Kupahwana.
For tick-borne diseases, gallsickess and heartwater, farmers can use Oxytetracylines e.g Terramycin, Fivox.
On redwater, diminazene can be used.
Dr Kupahwana said blackleg was easy to prevent than to cure.
Penicillin or oxyteracycline antibiotics often fail to cure it.
Enroflox, bremamed or ESB3 can be used on Fowl coryza, while weekly dipping with amitraz dips such as tickbuster or injection invermectin e.g brenanectin can be used on Mange.
Eye infections can be treated using eye and wound powder or eye drops or antibiotic injection.
This injection should be administered by competent person.
Online Reporter