In Southern Thailand, almost 44,000 ha of land is devoted to coconut plantation which has the potential to be utilized for cattle raising. At To-hem village, Takbai District, Narathiwat Province, there are 60 small farmers who earned twice as much of what a regular farmer earns from 4 to10 beef fattening cattle. Roughage which has been fed to animal came from improved pasture under coconut plantation such as Humidicola (Brachiaria humidicola), Purple guinea (Panicum maximum TD58), Ruzi (Brachiaria ruziziensis), Verano stylo (Stylosanthes hamata cv. Verano), Stylo 184 (Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184) and Desmanthus (Desmanthus virgatus). Farmers earned a total of 24,800 to 62,000 baht/farm/year from beef fattening. The high cost of concentrate and lack of calves for fattening are limiting factors to expand beef fattening at To-hem village.

INTRODUCTION

To-hem village, Takbai District, Narathiwat Province is located south of Thailand. The total area of the village is about 750 ha and it is estimated that 270 ha or 36 % of the total area is  planted to coconut. About 100 farmers are raising livestock that consist of beef cattle, buffalo, pig and poultry. Coconut plantations cover almost 44,000 ha while para rubber plantations covers 1,650,000 ha which could be used for pasture production (Office of Agricultural Economics 1997). Farming practices are still of a monoculture type with pure stands of para rubber and coconut. Large areas under plantation are not well utilized and remain idle. In the face of increasing demand for food idle or barren lands must be put into use. One appropriate approach is to plant improved pastures, and raise cattle along with rubber and coconut production (Reynolds 1995). From this type of crop livestock integration, the plantation owner would earn additional income from sales of livestock. There are indirect advantages from crop-livestock system, in the form of soil fertility improvement in the plantation by adding manure from cattle grazing on the area.  (Narathiwat Animal Nutrition Research Center 2000) Government research center has started beef fattening program since 1997. Sixty farmers joined this program with 277 beef fattening in 2001.

Forage species used and utilization
Feed resources in most beef fattening enterprise under coconut plantation are weeds and native grasses growing in the area. The most common native pastures species growing under coconut plantation in Thailand are Paspalum conjugatum (Sour grass), Axonopus compressus (Carpet grass), Imperata cylindrica (Cogon), Ottochloa nodosa (Slender panic), Microtegium cilratum, Desmodium ovalifolium, Chrysopogon orientalis and Eremochloa ciliaris (Manidool 1983) All of these species produce very low yields. Government research center has contacted local farmers in coconut area to established improved pastures for beef fattening. Humidicola and Ruzi grasses are the most common species grown under coconut in Ban Toeham village. But Purple guinea grass is becoming popular particularly in this village where they were observed to produce more dry matter yields (23 ton/ha) than Humidicola or Ruzi grasses (Narathiwat ANRC 2000). Verano stylo are widely used in mixture with Ruzi grass. However, Stylo 184 and Desmanthus are initially used in order to increase quality of forage.

Government research center has contacted local farmers in coconut area at To-hem village to established improved pasture consist of Brachiaria humidicola, mixed pasture (Ruzi grass + Verano stylo), Panicum maximum TD58, Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184 and Desmanthus virgatus (Table 1).

During dry season, silage and urea-treated rice straw are widely used for beef fattening. Most silage is made from Humidicola, Purple guinea and Ruzi grasses prepared during the wet season. Manure and inorganic fertilizer were used after cutting in order to increase the yield of improved pastures. Purple guinea grass has been grown under irrigation system by 5 farmers in coconut plantation, while Desmanthus and Stylo 184 has been grown by 5 farmers aimed at increasing the quality of forage in order to decrease the utilization of concentrate feed.

Table 1. Utilization of improved pasture under coconuts in To-hem Village, 2000
No	Species	area	Utilization
		(ha)	Cut and carry	Grazing	Silage
1	Brachiaria humidicola	9.1	X	X	X
2	Panicum maximum TD58	0.8	X	-	X
3	Mixed pasture( ruzi and hamata stylo)	3.5	X	X	X
4	Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184	0.6	X	-	-
5	Desmanthus virgatus	0.2	X	-	-

Source: Narathiwat ANRC, 2000
 Fresh grasses from approximately 3,200.

Cattle fattening in coconut plantation
Sixty farmers raised 4 to 10 heads of cattle for fattening at To-hem village. The Thai crossbred of Charolais and Brahman beef cattle were used with an average initial live weight of 250 kg which costs 12,000 baht/head. Cattle is fattened under coconut using roughages from improved pasture, silage and urea-treated rice straw, with concentrate supplement at 1% of body weight. After 150 days of fattening period, cattle are sold at the price of 20,000 baht/head. The farmers earned an income of 24,800 to 62,000 baht/farm/year from the sales of fattened cattle (Table 2).

Table 2. Economic returns from cattle fattening in coconut plantation
Number of animal	4 to 10 heads/farm
Fattening period	150 days
Initial weight	250 kg
Final weight	400 kg
Purchased price of cattle	12,000     baht/head
Sale price of cattle	20,000     baht/head
Concentrate supplement	1,800       baht/head
Profit	6,200       baht/head

Source: Narathiwat ANRC, 2000
Profit: Excludes cost of roughage and labor

CONCLUSION

Planting forages for cattle fattening under coconut plantation at To-hem village has shown that farmers obtained better income from coconut and cattle than from coconut alone. Suitable shade tolerant pasture species should be grown under coconuts. More studies on cost/ benefit ratio should be done.

REFERENCES

Manidool, C.1983. Pasture under coconut in Thailand. Misc. paper in Seminar on Recent Advances in Pasture Research and Development in Asian Countries. Aug. 1983 Khon Kaen Univ. Thailand.

Narathiwat Animal Nutrition Research Center 2000. Annual Report Year 2000. Animal Nutrition Division. Department of Livestock Development. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.

Office of Agricultural Economics. 1997. Agriculture Statistics of Thailand Crop Year 1996/1997.  Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Reynolds, S.G. 1995. Pastures- Cattle- coconut Systems. FAO. Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAPA) Bangkok, Thailand. 668 pp.