| Important Role
of Improved Pastures in the Development of
Chaisang Phaikaew1 Somsak
Poathong2 and Ganda Nakamanee3 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Dairying by small farmers is widespread in Thailand. The population of dairy cows in the Central, North-Eastern, Southern and Northern regions were 186,210, 67,536, 4,287 and 24,622 head, respectively (Planning Division, 1999). Total milking cows were 115,394 head and raw milk production is 1,100 tons per day (Planning Division, 1999). About 99% are small farms (less than 40 cattle/farm), mostly with only 1 to 10 head. A high proportion of these dairy farms their cows. Cattle are mostly 75% Holstein-Friesian with an average milk yield of 10.5 kg/head/day (Planning Division, 1999). Dairy farmers use sown pasture and native grass as the main feed of animals during wet season. By-products that have accumulated over the years are also used as feed. Many dairy farmers are still practicing the traditional and conservative way of production. The imbalance of protein, energy and minerals in the diet, either overfeeding or underfeeding the animals, resulted in poor milk yields and high production costs. Available productive and adapted forage species Many varieties of grasses and legumes have been studied and screened, which has included the testing and cultivation of forages and studying their adaptability to various conditions, nutritive value and productivity. Four grass species, namely: Brachiaria ruziziensis (Ruzi grass), Panicum maximum TD58 (Purple guinea), Paspalum atratum (Atratum grass), Pennisetum purpureum (Napier grass) and five legume species including; Stylosanthes hamata cv. Verano, Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184, Leucaena leucocephala, Desmanthus virgatus and Centrosema pascuorum cv. Cavalcade, are recommended and widely used by small dairy farmers (Bunyanuwat et al. 1995; Jiumjetjaroon and Angthong 1998). These species have their own individual weak points. For example, Para (Brachiaria mutica) and Ruzi grasses showed poor persistence under extended dry conditions while Guinea and Napier are more tolerant under drought. Paspalum atratum has better performance under wet and dry conditions than Para grass or Ruzi (Hare et al. 1999). Many farmers are not aware of this situation. Furthermore, farmers have limited land for growing pasture. Hence, it can result to feed shortages. Feeding an adequate level of roughage improves dairy cow health and prolongs life compared to dairy cows, which are fed, with high concentrate levels. Feeding of roughages lessens the feed cost of dairy cows. Feed cost accounted for 54% of the raw milk production cost in 1998 (Office of Agricultural Economics, 1999). Nakamanee et al. (1999) reported that feeding of forage gave lower costs per unit of total digestible nutrient (TDN) than crop residues. The cost per kg of TDN of a forage crop is 1.5 baht/kg, whereas the equivalent cost for rice straw is 3.4 baht and baby corn husk and corn stover is 2.7to 2.8 baht. For concentrate, cost per kg of TDN is 6.6 baht. Thailand imports costly raw material such as maize and soybean for concentrate feed. This has resulted in a high price for concentrates. There is a need to decrease the use of concentrate feed by using high quality forage. Lekchom et al. (1989) reported that dairy cows which grazed either grass-legume pasture or fed on good quality grass with low concentrate supplement (1 kg concentrate: 3 kg milk production) gave a higher economic benefit than cows fed on grass with a high concentrate rate (1 kg concentrate: 1 kg milk production). New alternatives for commercial forage production There are various forms of production including pasture seed, hay and fresh grass for sale. 1. Commercial hay making 2. Commercial fresh grass production 3. Commercial seed production. While the role of the Thai government in buying seed from the farmers is decreasing from earlier years, DLD has increased the range of forage species produced on station and by farmer (Table 1). Due to high demand for new grass species such as Paspalum atratum, and new legumes, such as Stylo 184 and Cavalcade Centurion, they have been produced in large quantity since 1997 and 1998. However, the major species were still Ruzi, Verano stylo, Purple guinea and Plicatulum calculated as 0.95 and 1.09 respectively (Duangpatra et al. 1999). Net annual profit from dairy farming is US$ 868 per hectare (US$ 1=36 baht) whereas the net profit from rice and cassava are US$ 69 to 122 and US$ 42 to 194 per hectare, respectively (Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, 1996). Table 1. Amount of forage seed (tons) produced by DLD in year 2000.
Other grasses include: Setaria, Sorghum, Green panic, Signal, and B.
brizantha Availability of seed/planting material Vegetative planting materials, such as stem cutting of Dwarf Napier, Common Napier, King grass and Purple guinea are also made available for farmers at nine Animal Nutrition Research centers and 25 Animal Nutrition stations, all over the country. In 2000, many stem cuttings of Pangola grass are also being made available for farmers who produce commercial hay in Sukothai, Pitsanulok, Pichit and Lumpang provinces. Availability of advice from extension offices/farm
groups Intensive pasture management in some area of Thailand a) Intensive cultivation of Napier grass Napier is grown under irrigation and cut at 50-day intervals; it is planted in rows with spacing of 1 x 1 meter. Irrigation used vinyl pipes laid along plants at an interval of 5 m. Small plastic sprinklers are connected to small tributary irrigation vinyl pipes which are attached to the main vinyl pipes at 6 m intervals. They are tied at the top end of wooden standing bars (2 m above ground level). The rotary motion of plastic sprinklers is generated by water movement inside the pipe. With irrigation in the dry season, 15 ha of Napier pastures supply all the roughage requirements of 50 dairy cattle (including 16 milking cows) throughout the year. Milk yield per head is about 15 kg/day. However, Napier grass grows slowly during the dry season, since the air temperature is low. Therefore, rice straw and Leucaena leaves are fed from November to January. The amount of concentrate is 10 kg per head throughout the year. b) Intensive cultivation of Purple guinea for
Petchaburi Animal Nutrition Research Center advised the dairy farmers to establish improved pasture in order to increase dry matter production per unit land area and to reduce the cost of feed. Purple guinea is grown under irrigation and cut at 30-day intervals. It is planted with a spacing of 50 x 50 cm. Compound fertilizer (15-15-15) is applied before planting at the rate of 300 kg per ha as well as 18 tons of manure per ha. Vinyl irrigation pipes are laid at intervals of 12 m. The diameter of the main vinyl pipe is 2 inches and 1.5 inches [metric] for the small tributary irrigation vinyl pipes. Small sprinklers are attached to the small tributary irrigation vinyl/pipes at every 12 m. interval and are tied at the top end of wooden standing bars (1.5 m. above ground level). The rotary motion of sprinklers is generated by the water pump and a main water pipe delivers water to the pastures, the total expense for main vinyl pipes, small tributary irrigation vinyl pipes, and small sprinklers was 6,500-7,000 baht/Rai. Monthly diesel expenditure was about 560 baht. Purple guinea grass is cut every 30 days throughout the year by using a hand mower to cut at a height of 10 to 15 cm. above ground level. Urea (46-0-0) is applied at the rate of 150 kg per ha after every cut. Harvested fresh grass is about 8.9 tons per ha. at first cutting (70 days after planting) and about 2.6 to 7.1 tons per ha. (cut at 30 days interval) (Table 2) With irrigation in the dry season, 0.3 ha of Purple guinea pasture can supply all roughage to 14 head of dairy cattle including 8 milking cows throughout the year. The average amount of purple guinea is 40 kg/ cow/day in the wet season (August-October) and 20 kg /cow/day in the dry season (November-April). The production of purple guinea is insufficient during the dry season. Pineapple wastes are fed during November to April. Milk yield per head is about 15 liters. Farmers fed concentrate at a ratio of 1 kg: 3 kg of milk produced. Prior to the establishment of irrigated pastures, farmers used only pineapple waste as feed throughout the year. The total expenditure for pineapple was about 6,000 baht per month. After purple guinea was planted under the irrigated system, it reduced the feed cost of roughage to about 3,000 baht per month. Table 1. Dry matter yield of Purple Guinea Grass harvested at 30 days interval.
CONCLUSION The number of smallholder dairy cattle is rapidly increasing in Thailand. Farmers are facing difficulties in providing enough feed for the animals especially during the dry season. Dairy cattle depend on locally available natural grass and by-products from agriculture and industry, which are low in quality that resulted to low milk yield and high cost of production. To establish an improved pasture is one way of solving this constraint. Available seed, planting materials, and provision of technological knowledge on forage management by extension workers helped in establishing an improved pasture for dairy farmers. REFERENCES
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