Fodder Production for Peri-urban Dairies in Pakistan - continued

ANNEXES

Annex I. Case Studies
The study, carried out in December 2001 -January 2002, generated a mass of information which is in the FAO AGPC archive, it has been compressed and summarized below.

Peshawar
There were about 300 urban dairies in and around Peshawar with an average of 30 buffaloes per farm. Buffaloes predominated in all dairies visited except for a farmer who kept 25 cows with his buffaloes. Depending on family size, 5-6 kg of milk was used domestically ; the rest was sold to households at Rs 20 and hotels at Rs. 18 per kg. Local milk production does not meet the needs of the city so thousands of kilos are brought from Charsada, Mardan and other towns 40-50 km away. Land is mostly irrigated by canal or tubewell, but there were two rainfed farms.

The holdings visited were between 20 and 50 kanals plus an exceptional one of over 1,000 kanals. No landless dairies were surveyed.

Milk yields were over a wider range (7.9-11.8 litres) than in many places (see table 23).

The major winter forages were a mixture of berseem and oats intercropped with small quantities of maize; the crops were mix-sown at the end of August and beginning of September. Forage was ready for first harvest at the end of November to early December. The other usual winter livestock feed is tops of sugarcane and sugar beet and sugar beet pulp, mixed mainly with wheat straw and sometimes chopped dry sorghum-maize stalks. Wheat straw, if readily available, forms the bulk of winter feed. In summer, almost all farmers offered 30-40 kg of green forage with 5-6 kg of wheat straw and only 2 kilos of concentrates (cotton seed cake) to milking animals daily (see table 24).

Due to high prices in winter only about a quarter of the required forage was offered to the animals with extra dry roughage. Limited quantities of whole sugarcane, cane tops from farmers and sugar beet pulp from the sugar factories were also available at 150-200 rupees per maund. Total 5-6 kg of berseem + oats or chopped cane tops or sugar beet pulp are mixed with 10-12 kg of dry roughage and fed to milking animals. Dry animals were maintained on 12 kilos of dry roughage and infrequently offered only 2-3 kg of forage mixed with it.

During the visit in mid December, green maize without cobs was available in the market at Rs. 50 per maund while very small quantities of mixed shaftal/berseem + oat forage sold in the Peshawar forage market at Rs. 80-100 per maund. A total of 10-15 cart loads with 15 maunds per cart load was transported daily from the urban and peri-urban areas to Peshawar. The major summer forage crops are maize and sorghum. Most dairymen produce their own forage in sufficient quantities in summer, still there are landless farmers who keep 3-5 buffaloes and buy it from the market.

Almost half of the peri-urban area of Peshawar was cultivated with forage during the visit; they were ready for harvesting in the first week of December. Farmers were well aware of the importance and cost of maximum quantities of fodder. Farmers get two summer maize forage crops from a piece of land. In spring and summer, forage is abundant with prices going down to Rs 30-35 per maund; maximum forage is available and is offered to the animals; as a result the daily milk production per animal is almost doubled. In winter production and supply of forage is less than demand and prices rise.

About 50 lorry loads, each of 8-10 tons of wheat straw, were brought to Peshawar daily from Kohat, Karak, D. I. Khan and Bannu districts. Around 20 lorry loads are sold daily and the rest bought by stockists for sale in scarcity periods. The price of wheat straw varied from Rs. 80 per maund in normal seasons to Rs. 100 - 200 per maund in winter. The price of dry chopped sorghum-maize was Rs. 60 per maund. Plenty of summer forage is available in Peshawar except in May-June and the farmers usually feed pure chopped green maize or sorghum to their animals.

Nowshera

The dominant animals were buffaloes at all but two farms with 3 and 12 cows. About 80-90 percent of the animals were in milk. Daily milk yields of buffaloes and cows were 8-10 kg and 12-15 kg per animal respectively (Table 25).

In winter, forage availability, and feeding are poor. The berseem + oats + maize mix sown in late August was available at the end of November or early December. Growth was slow and yields very low compared to summer forages. Prices were very high and varied from Rs. 90-100 per maund. Most farmers fed green forage to milking animals very economically to last until spring i.e. 3-4 kg of forage usually mixed with 8-10 kg of dry roughage. In the lean season, dry roughage, sugarcane tops and 2-3 kg of cotton seed cake form the bulk of the daily feed of milking animals; milk production decreases sharply. Dry animals get no concentrates, only minimum quantities of forage mixed with dry roughages which are far below maintenance requirements.

In summer, of course, farmers obtain 2-3 forage maize crops from the same piece of land from March to August, with intensive application of manure and fertilizer. Almost every farmer has forage in abundance; the surplus is sold to the market, or standing crops are sold based on area. Traditionally, in summer, 20-30 kg of chopped green forage and 2 kg of cotton seed cake are fed to milking animals. Often the bulk of the feed is sorghum and maize forage without dry roughage and is offered ad libitum. Due to the high price of cotton seed cake, the amount fed was about 2 kg per milking animal daily; normally 3-4 kg should be offered (see table 26).

Charsada
All farms kept only buffaloes (10-25). Milk yields ranged from 6.7 - 8.5 kg per animal daily (see table 27) with 5-6 kg for home consumption and the rest sold either to households at Rs. 20 per kg or to hotels and tea shops at Rs. 18 per kg; payment was monthly. Some milk was bought by itinerant milkmen at Rs. 16-18 per kg for sale in Peshawar at Rs. 20 per kg. Holding size in Charsada is the biggest in all the NWFP.

In summer excessive quantities of green forage are available and 30-40 kg of chopped green forage and 2 kg cotton seed cake were given daily to each milking animal. The health and milk yields of animals improve and most animals become very productive. Surplus forage is made into poor hay usually harvested at late maturity. In winter sufficient forage is not available for livestock; usually a quarter of the total required forage (3-4 kg) was mixed with 12-15 kg of wheat straw or dry sorghum - maize stalks and was being to milking animals with only 2-3 kg of concentrates (see table 28). In February- March surplus berseem + oats forage is available and animals are offered as much forage as they can consume. There is hardly any grazing.

Mirpur
Seven dairies were visited in and around Mirpur. Four farmers owned 40-300 kanals of arable land (both irrigated and rainfed). Three were landless. The area under forage ranged from 17-55 kanals. The major winter forage crops were berseem and oats while millet and sorghum were the dominant summer ones. Since most of the area is rainfed a lot of fallow land is available and animals are usually sustained partly on stall feeding and partly through grazing.

Buffaloes were the dominant animals in all but two farms (see table 29) that also had cows with 80-90 percent of the animals in milk. The milk yields of cows, 10-15 kg daily, were higher than the buffaloes (7-8 Kg). Only 5-7 kg of milk was consumed domestically and the rest sold at Rs. 18 per kg.

The landless dairymen in Mirpur find it uneconomical to feed dry animals through pregnancy and calving i.e. over a year, so, they sell them, usually to the butcher, at almost less than half of the original price and purchase new milking buffaloes to maintain production. Farmers with land holdings did not sell their dry animals.

The dairies grow oats and berseem in winter but growth is slow and sufficient forage is not available. Even the farmers who grew forage used it very economically; only 3-4 kilos were mixed with 10-12 kg of wheat or rice straw or dry maize-millet stalks and 2 kg of concentrate fed to milking animals (see table 30) so that it lasts through the winter shortage period. In February growth of berseem and oats speeds up and surplus forage is available in almost all irrigated areas. Animals usually get maximum forage in spring, their health improves and productivity is maximum.

About half of the landless dairies visited in mid December fed no green forage due to its very high price. Very small quantities of a mixture of berseem and oat forage were available at Rs. 120 per maund. Only 12-15 kg of wheat straw mixed with 2 kg of cotton seed cake with old bread constituted the bulk of ration. Almost all farmers considered it uneconomical to feed very expensive forage and would continue the feeding pattern till the end of February when cheap wheat forage is available in abundance. In summer there are regular rains in the monsoon, even rainfed forage is available in excess. Forage prices fall to Rs. 25 per maund. Animals receive 30-40 kg green forage with 2-3 kg concentrates daily and the health and milk production per animal improves a lot. Surplus forage usually gets over-mature and is made into poor quality hay. There is no tradition of treating wheat and rice straw with urea to improve its quality.

Rawalpindi - Islamabad
As all of Rawalpindi division is rainfed, it faces acute forage shortages throughout the year, especially in winter. In Rawalpindi (see table 31), all dairies are on the banks of a sewerage nullah and are very congested without any space for storage of feed and straw. All dairy farmers have contracts with forage and feed dealers-agents who buy forage and straw from wholesale markets and deliver to dairies by donkey-bullock-camel carts. All dairies have choppers and chopped forage is mixed with fodder and fed to milking animals with 2-3 kg of concentrates mixed with old bread and a little rapeseed cake. The local shortage of forage is compensated by imports of green forage from the irrigated tracts, especially Kasur, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Gujrat (300-400 km). Due to transport costs, prices of green forage are usually high compared to those in big cities near irrigated areas. In winter dairymen put their animals on a half forage ration and use more straw and dry stalks. Also because of very high prices, the amount of concentrates remains constant and is never increased to balance the ration. Dairy farmers only calculate the daily expenses on feeding and the net return from the sale of the milk and increase or decrease the daily rations accordingly.

The forage situation improves in spring and with seasonal rainfall. From February onwards, the growth of irrigated forages accelerates and production is in surplus. This is when locally produced oat and berseem forage is dumped on the Rawalpindi market. Surplus forage from the irrigated tracts is also transported to Rawalpindi and prices fall. Dairymen feed maximum quantities of forage in February to April; milk yields improve and the dairies earn maximum profit from the sale of milk. Forage availability improves a lot during the monsoon. Almost all Rawalpindi’s summer forage requirements are met from its hinterland. Surplus summer forage is produced if the rains are good. As the forage comes from the nearby areas, and sometimes from surrounding districts (Fatehjang, Gujar Khan, Jhelum, and Chakwal), transport costs are low and forage always exceeds demand, prices are low. All dairies feed 25-30 kg of forage with 2 kg cotton seed cake daily (see table 32). Maximum quantities of forage are fed to milking animals to obtain high production.

Unlike Islamabad, almost all the dry buffaloes were sold to the butchers in Rawalpindi as it is uneconomical to sustain them on purchased feed.

Sheikhupura
All the dairies visited had 175-400 kanals of irrigated land (see table 33) with forage being cultivated on 32-100 kanals. The major winter forage crops were mixed berseem and oats while maize and sorghum were the dominant summer ones. Forage scarcity periods were May-June and December-January. All the animals are stall fed.

Only buffaloes were reared at three farms, but the other four had mixed herds. Zafar (1985) reported that the average estimated daily milk yields of cows and buffaloes in rural areas for a 308 day lactation is 4.46 litres, and 6.09 litres, respectively. The buffaloes and cows produced 9-10 kg and 12-15 kg of milk per animal per day. The family consumed 10-12 kg of milk and the rest was sold at Rs. 18 per kg. Milk is also sent for sale in Lahore. The Nestlé milk factory with the brand name MilkPak has established buying centres in rural and urban areas of Sheikhupura; most farmers sell surplus milk to them The price of milk is determined on the basis of fat percentage. Milk is chilled and transported to Lahore for further processing and packing. Sheikhupura is one of the most important irrigated districts of central Punjab and very famous for the production of rice, sugar cane, wheat, and forages. Milk yields per head at between 8.5 and 10.6 litres was notable higher than elsewhere, as was domestic consumption at seven litres.

When forage is plentiful all animals in and around Sheikhupura were well fed with 30-40 kg of green forage (see table 34) and 2 kg of concentrate (mainly cotton seed cake). Milk yields in all the dairy farms were higher than those of farms visited in other parts of the country. Unfortunately, at all farms visited, the animals were not fed according to milk yields and scientific feeding requirements. Hence, the maximum milk yield potential of animals was not exploited. To exploit the maximum milk potential of different stock, the productive animals must obtain feed according to their production potential to meet the feed requirements that have been ignored on almost all the farms visited in the country.

Almost all the dry buffaloes were kept on the farms and not sold for slaughter, unlike in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Mirpur. Sheikhupura is famous for excellent breeds of buffaloes and cows and supplies milking animals almost throughout the country at very reasonable prices. There are also big breeding farms of different cross bred and Sahiwal breeds of cows. Farmers earn large sums of money through selling improved animals.

Annex II. Bibliography

Click here to view Annex IV. Photographs

[Note: the paper was prepared in 2002 by the author and edited and amended by J.M. Suttie and S.G. Reynolds in February 2003]