Performance of beef cattle fattened on crop residues and crop byproducts in Malawi

L. P. Nkhonjera
Senior Animal Husbandry Officer, Malawi

Introduction
Objective of the scheme
Operation of the scheme
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country. It lies between 9° and 17° latitude and 33° and 36° longitude. It is approximately 900 km long and 200 km across at its widest point. Total area is about 118,000 km. The country shares common boundaries with Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia and has a population estimated at 6.12 million in 1981. The annual population growth rate is approximately 2.6%.

More than 90% of the population live in rural areas and depend on small-scale agricultural production. Size of holdings varies from region to region (1.72, 1.81 and 1.96 ha in the south, central and north respectively). The population is concentrated in the southern (50%) and central (36%) regions where pressure on land is becoming increasingly severe. This has prompted the intensification of both crop and livestock production.

The beef industry in the country is partly constrained by the small size of the national herd which is estimated at 930,000 head of cattle. This is owned by about 10% of the population which means there is a heavy, localised concentration of cattle which has resulted in the rapid degradation of grazing areas. This situation, in addition to traditional systems of management, makes improvements very costly and not readily acceptable to the cattle owners.

Objective of the scheme

A stall-feeding scheme started in one of the districts in southern Malawi in 1957. Until 1963 it remained fairly static. The prime objective in those days was the production, not of high grade beef, but of farmyard manure in order to increase crop yields on the very small holdings in the highly populated areas. In 1963, however, Malawi had to start importing beef which meant a drain on foreign exchange. It was therefore decided to expand the scheme throughout the highlands of the southern part of Malawi and then to the central part where more crop residues were available.

Other objectives included:

* Intensification of rural animal production through the utilization of crop residues and byproducts;

* Promotion of the integration of crop and livestock production;

* Reduction of land pressure by finishing steers in pens.

Operation of the scheme

Briefly, the scheme is run as follows. A livestock marketing officer, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, buys cattle at the local markets organised by the Department of Animal Health and Industry. Under normal conditions, steers qualifying for stall-feeding are those which have attained minimum liveweights of 227 and 300 kg for Malawi zebu and exotics respectively, and have two to four permanent teeth. The steers are taken to government holding stations where they are checked for diseases and dosed for internal parasites.

The Department of Animal Health and Industry maintains livestock breeding units and also supplies steers to the stall-feeding scheme. Lists of available steers are sent to the animal husbandry officers who allocate them to farmers. At all times the steers belong to the Ministry of Agriculture. The animal husbandry staff advise on proper feeding. Farmers each receive a pair of steers to fatten for a minimum period of 150180 days, before selling them to the cold storage company.

Feeding standards

During the early years of the scheme, Bvumbwe Agricultural Experimental Station recommended the following ration (%):

Maize bran	59
Maize meal	20
Pigeon pea	17
Meat and bone meal	3
Salt	1

Use of this ration did not spread far and was very soon discontinued because of the escalating prices of the ingredients and competition with human food requirements. In the later years of the scheme, work concentrated on determining the nutritive values of crop residues and testing these on stall-fed steers to assess their performance and to evaluate the economic feasibility of feeding crop residues and crop byproducts. These have remained the main feeds until now. Table 1 indicates the approximate percentages of crude protein and crude fibre in the common feeds in the stall-feeding scheme.

Table 1. Crude protein and crude fibre percentages for the feeds used in fattening steers.

Feed	Crude protein %	Crude fibre %
Maize bran	10.7	5.5
Maize stover	3.2	30.6
Groundnuts haulms	11.2	39.9

Source: Empel, van G and Frank P J (1979) FAO working paper no. 25, UNDP: Government of Malawi (unpublished).

The crop residues and byproducts are fad ad libitum. In the southern part, green forages (e.g., a local species of Napier grass) are fed in addition. In principle, each steer should receive 4 kg of maize bran daily up to finishing time. This feed is at present in short supply, especially since a smallholder dairy programme also uses maize bran as a major feed ingredient.

Data on stall-feeding in Malawi are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4 (Agyemang et al, 1984).

Table 2. Mean values and standard deviations (SD) for various parameters of animal performance.

Measure	Blantyre area		Lilongwe area
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
No. of steers	2498		2985
Initial weight (kg)	298	20.2	271	22.5
Final weight (kg)	401	48.2	370	44.2
Carcass weight (kg)	210	27.6	194	23.3
Dressing percentage	52.3	2.2	52.3	1.4
Daily weight gain (kg)	0.59	0.48	0.50	0.22
Total days on feed	188	52.8	213	54.4

Table 3. Least square means for initial and final weights (Blantyre).

		Liveweight (kg)
		No.	Initial	Final
Overall		2498	298	399
Breed group:
	Local zebu	749	235	339
	Crossbred exotics	1021	292	392
	Exotics	728	369	467
No. of teeth:
	0	291	293	396
	2	1195	302	401
	4	852	292	399
	6	160	300	402
Month at start of feeding:
	January	190	301	414
	February	-123	300	402
	March	445	303	413
	April	230	305	412
	May	297	291	399
	June	380	300	406
	July	125	300	389
	August	153	395	382
	September	107	298	393
	October	261	292	392
	November	111	298	370
	December	76	297	411

Table 4. Least square means for liveweight gain, days on feed and carcass grade.

		No.	Liveweight gain (kg)	Days	Grade
Overall		2498	0.56	193	1.5
Breed group:
	Local zebu	749	0.54	201	1.8
	Crossbred exotics	1021	0.55	194	1.5
	Exotics	728	0.60	182	1.2
No. of teeth:
	0	291	0.57	204	1.5
	2	1195	0.58	191	1.4
	4	852	0.54	197	1.4
	6	160	0.56	178	1.5
Month at start of feeding:
	January	190	0.57	214	1.4
	February	123	0.59	173	1.4
	March	445	0.60	184	1.3
	April	230	0.77	183	1.6
	May	297	0.64	177	1.3
	June	383	0.63	175	1.6
	July	125	0.55	179	1.7
	August	153	0.51	202	1.6
	September	107	0.53	186	1.4
	October	261	0.45	234	1.5
	November	111	0.36	220	1.7
	December	76	0.56	184	1.1

Initial weight

Initial weights depend on breed type, age of steer (as shown by the number of permanent teeth) and the month and year the steers are put in stalls.

Three types of breeds are issued to farmers: exotic (Brahman, Sussex and Friesian steers), mixtures of the exotics (crossbreds) and Malawi Zebu. The first two are issued to farmers at minimum weights of about 300 kg. Malawi zebu steers with six or more teeth are fully grown and are very likely to be issued at weights greater than the 227 kg for Malawi zebu steers with four teeth or less. During adverse weather conditions feed resources are inadequate and most steers lose weight and go into the stalls in rather poor condition.

Final weight

The breed of steer and time of year it is put in the stall affects the final weight. Bigger breeds normally end up with higher weights than the Malawi Zebu. Feeding levels are controlled by the feed resources available and the attitude farmers have to the breed. In times of adequate resources, soon after harvest. steers receive more feed. Some farmers prefer the bigger breeds claiming they give a higher economic return. Considering the size of these steers, this claim is doubtful when it comes to the feed input and the gross margins, which are normally low.

Daily weight gain

Feed resources seem to influence weight gain. A difference is clear between the south, where variations according to time of year are conspicuous, and the central region, where feeding seems to be uniform throughout the year. Weight gain is greater in the south where steers have frequent access to green forages. Differences between breeds are negligible.

Total days in stall

Malawi zebu steers tend to stay longer in stalls and nearly all those in the south come from the rural herd which is under a communal grazing system characterized by low quality grasses. These steers are normally first to recover from grazing stress. Steers with two or no teeth are still in their high growth wave and take longer to finish regardless of the high initial weights. Underfeeding and grazing effects are probably the cause of this long stay in stalls.

Carcass grades

Exotic steers have grades of "choice" and "prime". Steers with four or more teeth normally have their carcasses down-graded due to too much fat deposition. Steers that do not finish completely, due to inadequate feeding, have low grades.

Conclusion

The Malawi zebu could be considered the most profitable breed to use in the stall-feeding programme given the existing feed resources. The breed is adapted to make use of the limited crop residues and natural grasses available in the country. The country is self-sufficient in high-grade meat and therefore no imports of beef are needed. The abattoirs in the country obtain their slaughter cattle from cattle markets, stall-feeding and dairy steers. Stall-feeding contributes about 20% of the total slaughter in these abattoirs.

Integration of livestock production and cropping is becoming more accepted because the manure produced by the steers in stalls, once applied to the soil, sometimes raises yields more than the use of chemical fertilizers. Pressure on land is eased because the scheme allows steers to be removed early from the communal grazing land and be finished in pens. The scheme provides an income for the small-holder farmers who use it to buy more inputs to increase crop yields.

The average total meat consumption per year is about 5500 tonnes. Some 10% of this meat comes from the stall-feeding scheme.

References

Agyemang K, Nkhonjera L P and Butterworth M H. 1984. The performance of stall-fed beef cattle in Malawi. A joint report by the Government of Malawi and ILCA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.