Productivity of dairy cows under smallholder farms using agro-by-products as a concentrate source

F A Mussa, L P Nkhonjera and R C Mkandawire
Department of Animal Health and Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, P.O. Box 30372, Lilongwe 3, Malawi

Introduction
Background information
Results and discussion
Conclusions
References

Introduction

The programme of smallholder dairy farming was initiated in Malawi by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) through the agency of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in the early 1970's. The main objectives are:

1. To provide fresh milk for the increasing population.
2. To reduce imports of milk by-products.
3. To provide an alternative source of income to farmers.

Each farmer established a pure stand of Leucaena leucocephala and a mixed stand of Napier grass. In drier areas Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) was also planted, on a minimum of 0.8 ha per two-cow unit. Liberal amounts of a mixture of maize bran and dried leucaena leaves are fed on some farms while the majority of farms use only maize bran. All cows are confined to stalls as a means of conserving energy, for easy detection of heat and to avoid contact with local Malawi Zebu bulls.

Background information

The economy of Malawi depends on agriculture, in which about 90% of the population is involved. Main cash crops include tobacco, tea, groundnuts and rice. Average land holding size is 1.5 ha, and emphasis is therefore on increased production per hectare.

The Government policy on livestock is directed towards self sufficiency in all livestock products and to export any surpluses that arise. However, the country suffers from insufficiency of milk and milk products, sheep and goat meat. Both large and smallholders are integrated in the farming system programme. There are about 1,200 dairy farmers in Blantyre (in the South), Lilongwe (in the Centre) and Mzuza (in the North) who were given ½ Friesian crosses. Upgrading continues on the farms due to the breeding programme being implemented.

This paper describes dairy farming systems before and after 1984.

Dairy farming system before 1984

Records for each cow were kept-from 1973 to 1984. Data collected from these records (over 10 years) was sent to the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) where it was analysed with the following objectives:

1. Compare the important reproductive and productive traits.
2. Measure the influence of environment (years, season, etc) on dairy production traits.
3. Assess the suitability of various crosses to the different agricultural areas; and
4. Determine trends in dairy production over the years.

Results and discussion

The results of data analyses covering the years 1973-83 are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Estimated least squares means* for age at first calving, calving interval and days open for smallholder dairy herds (1973-83).

Variable		No.	Age at first calving	No.	Calving intervals (days)	No.	Days open
Overall		165	38.4	577	485	591	213
AREA
	Blantyre South	19	38.1	54	461	54	168
	Blantyre North	24	40.1	147	512	160	233
	Chiradzulu	27	36.6	87	463	87	193
	Thyolo North	50	38.5	165	498	165	229
	Mulanje West	22	38.2	87	477	88	201
	Zomba	23	38.8	37	501	37	238
BREED GROUP
	½ Friesian	110	36.7a	432	488	441	216
	¾ Friesian	55	40.1b	145	482	150	211
YEAR OF BIRTH
	1970	18	37.6a	-	-	-	-
	1971	24	37.2a	-	-	-	-
	1972	20	41.8bd	-	-	-	-
	1973	33	42.2bc	16	471	16	218
	1974	20	39.5acd	32	434	32	171
	1975	18	36.8a	53	544	53	277
	1976	16	34.5a	72	488	72	216
	1977	16	37.9acd	101	494	101	221
	1978	-	-	118	473	119	203
	1979	-	-	96	471	96	202
SEASON OF BIRTH
	Nov.-March	38	37.0	35	495	48	222
	April-May	42	41.9	47	461	47	188
	June-Aug.	43	37.3	50	473	52	206
	Sept.-Oct.	42	37.5	49	499	50	228

* Age values followed by the same letter do not differ significantly (P<0.05). Values in other columns did not show a significant difference.

Table 2. Estimated least square means* for total lactation yield, lactation length, milk yield per lactation day and dry period.

Variable		No.	Lact. yield (kg)	Lact. length (days)	Milk yield day (kg)	No.	Dry period (days)
Overall		781	2188	392	5.7	544	107
AREA
	Blantyre South	59	2147ad	391a	5.4a	49	107
	Blantyre North	189	1761a	417a	4.3b	144	113
	Chiradzulu	114	2085de	376ab	5.7a	74	106
	Thyolo North	225	2513b	390ab	6.6c	156	116
	Mulanje West	126	1851ae	361bc	5.2a	87	117
	Zomba	68	2772b	417a	7.1c	34	83
BREED GROUP
	½ Friesian	554	1953a	382	5.3a	403	116
	¾ Friesian	227	2424b	401	6.2b	141	98
YEAR OF CALVING
	1973	-	-	-	-	7	44
	1974	29	2061ad	437ade	5.0ae	28	81
	1975	49	2510ab	443ae	5.8ace	49	107
	1976	74	2463ae	414ade	6.0ac	71	107
	1977	122	2523bef	440a	5.9adf	77	120
	1978	160	2580cbe	402ef	6.8b	78	102
	1979	149	2444ab	386ef	6.6bc	79	134
	1980	106	2285abf	384cdf	6.3bcd	53	144
	1981	45	1864d	373bdf	5.0ef	26	132
	1982	36	1701d	352bdf	5.0ae	12	103
	1983	11	1451d	289bc	4.8ad	-	-
MONTH OF CALVING
	January	74	2144a	402ab	5.5	46	84
	February	78	2240a	409ab	5.6	56	89
	March	50	2764b	454a	6.0	34	125
	April	65	2352b	402ac	6.1	41	101
	May	52	2113a	438ad	5.4	42	88
	June	62	2167a	357bc	6.0	42	99
	July	72	2176a	375bcd	6.0	48	119
	August	67	1954a	374bcd	5.2	44	121
	September	71	2061a	369bc	6.0	47	170
	October	63	1982a	348bcd	5.7	51	114
	November	73	2304a	394ac	5.9	58	89
	December	54	2045a	381bcd	5.4	35	89

* Group values followed by the same letter do not differ significantly (P<0.05).

In the Blantyre North area, where rainfall was only about 700 mm, the age of heifers at their 1st calving was later than that in the other areas. Birth in years of higher rainfall resulted in earlier ages at 1st calving, and the 50% Friesian heifers delivered their first calf 3 months earlier than the 75% Friesian heifers.

Long open periods (and hence long calving intervals) may be ascribed to improper management and/or reproductive problems, but problems of management of artificial insemination (heat detection, time of insemination and attendance to calls etc.), are likely to be significant.

Agricultural area, breed group, year and month of calving and area by breed interaction each had a significant effect on total lactation milk yield (Table 2). Total milk yield was highest in Zomba and Thyolo North where feed resources are more uniform throughout the year and where most farmers were new to livestock farming. In these areas farmers were prepared to accept innovations from extension agents more readily than their counterparts elsewhere who had previous experience in raising the Malawi Zebu, and who resisted the idea that crossbred cows should be managed differently. In addition, smallholder dairy operations were first started in Thyolo North and farmers in that area had gained more experience in handling crossbred cows than farmers elsewhere.

Crosses with 75% Friesian blood produced significantly more milk than the 50% crosses (2424 kg versus 1953 kg). Cows that calved in bad years, in terms of rainfall distribution, produced significantly low milk yields. Likewise cows that calved between November and April produced more milk than those that calved between May and October. These differences also closely followed the monthly rainfall distribution which determines the availability of feed.

The longer lactation length is attributed to the following factors:

1. Where farmers realised that cows that calved in a favourable month were capable of producing more milk there was a tendency to milk these cows longer. It can also be a reflection of the problems associated with management of artificial insemination.

2. Dry periods were associated with decreases in lactation lengths; this suggests that the shortening of the lactation length was a result of constraints (most likely feed availability) that forced cows to dry up while the foetuses they were carrying were still young.

Dairy farming system after 1984

From Tables 1 and 2 it is evident that productivity of cows in smallholder farms was low. The need was recognized to develop feed resources that would allow an increase in total animal productivity without increasing the size of land holdings. Small holder dairy farming has been based on Napier grass, Rhodes grass, groundnut haulms and banana chops to provide roughage while maize and rice bran have been the main concentrates. The establishment of more agro-industries has given rise to the availability of by-products which can be utilized to compound dairy animal concentrates. The interest in the programme is to maximise daily yields per cow through the feeding of a balanced ration with agro-by-products as the main ingredients. The formulations of concentrates prepared by the feedlot company (Southern Malawi) and the Government farm (Central Malawi) are shown respectively in Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3. Composition of a dairy concentrate manufactured by the Feedlot Company (Southern Malawi)

Ingredients	Kg/100 kg of concentrate	kg CP	kg TDN (kg)
Urea	1.0	2.7	-
Cottonseed cake	25.0	10.0	18.2
Molasses	10.0	0.4	6.8
Maize bran	61.0	5.5	47.6
Monocalcium phosphate	2.0	-	-
Salt	1.0	-	-
	100.00	18.6	72.6

Table 4. Composition of a dairy concentrate made at the Government farm (Central Malawi)

Ingredient	kg/100 kg of concentrate	kg CP
Maize	45.0	3.6
Groundnut cake	19.5	8.6
Cottonseed cake	12.0	4.2
Wheat middlings	20.0	3.0
Dicalcium mineral	2.5	-
Salt	1.0	-
	100	19.4

The concentrate mixtures shown in Tables 3 and 4 have been in use only relatively recently at the smallholder level. In the Southern area, Holstein/Friesian cows on the smallholder farms have been found to produce a mean 2,900 kg milk in an average lactation of 170 days (mean 16.3 kg/d), while on the Government farm in Central Malawi, average figures of 4,880 kg during an average lactation of 259 days (mean 18.8 kg/d) have been recorded. Strict comparisons of these data is not possible because of differences in rations used, and the fact that machine milking was employed on the Government farm, but the figures give an indication of the levels of production that may be expected, and could encourage the acceptance of higher yielding breeds by smallholders particularly those who intend to go into dairy as a full time farming activity.

Conclusions

Many areas of Malawi are geographically unsuitable for producing and sustaining good stands of crops or forages. With the increase in the availability of agro-byproducts and the identification of private firms prepared to undertake milling a production of dairy concentrates from these materials, the potential of the smallholder dairy business in Malawi appears promising. Many Friesian x Malawi Zebu cows have proved capable of high milk yields, and crosses appear superior to the Friesian in this environment.

References

Agyemang K. and Nkhonjera L.P. 1984. Evaluation of crossbred cattle productivity on the smallholder farms and on Government units in the Republic of Malawi.