Thursday, March 28, 2024
Ruminants

The Principles of Cattle Production

Cattle resources are mainly concentrated in the Sudan, Southern Guinea, Northern Guinea and the Sahel ecological zones in a descending order of distribution.

Cattle production is a major part of the livestock sub-sector contributing substantially into the national economy through its supply of animal proteins in form of beef and milk, raw materials to agro-processing industries in form of commodities such as hides, beef, milk, bones, horns and hooves; provision of gainful employment and livelihood to a host of people and families as well as a source of farm power in animal traction and cow dung for bio fuel and soil fertility.

The Principles of Cattle Production

The valuable contributions of the cattle industry relate to foreign exchange earnings, instrument for capital accumulation or saving and a number of socio-cultural roles in different societies.

However, cattle production in Nigeria lags behind meeting all the expected contributions satisfactorily. The output of cattle is low and this reflected from less than 2kg of beef and 23g of milk is derivable by an individual annually from local stock.

A number of constraints are involved ranging from nutritional, genetic make-up, to socio-economic and institutional constraints. This study will endeavour to put status of cattle production into perspectives that will enable students appreciate and develop focus to finding lasting solutions.

1. Breeds of Cattle

The Nigerian cattle population is dominated by the zebu breeds. Data from FAO (1980) and Lamorde and Franti (1975) indicate the following percentage composition of the national herd:

• Breed %

• (White Fulani) Bunaji 51.0

• (Red Fulani) Rahaji 14.0

• (Sokoto Gudali) Bokoloji 11.5

• Adamawa Gudali 11.5

• Others 12.0

• Total 100.0

In addition to indigenous breeds, various exotic breeds have been introduced mainly for cross breeding to improve milk and meat production of the indigenous cattle; these include the Holstein-Friesian, Brown Swiss and Jersey for milk production, and the South Devon, Sahiwal, Brahman. Santo Gertrudis, Droughtmaster and Butana for beef production.

Nearly all the exotic introductions are found on government and institutional ranches and dairies, and they constitute a very small percentage of the national herd.

Read Also: Major Genetic Differences between Tropical and Temperate Livestock Breeds

The other production coefficients of the national herd are more difficult to derive. The calving rate has been estimated to be 45 per cent (Lamorde, 1974, Saka Nuru, 1976). There appears to be general agreement to an estimate of 15 per cent for calf mortality, whilst the
adult ornon-calf mortality rate has averaged 4 per cent.

Off-take isgenerally assumed at about 10 per cent, although there is no statistical basis for this as a considerable proportion of the slaughtering is not recorded. The cow culling rate has been estimated at about 10 per cent, whilst the replacement rate is about 15 per cent.

Pullan working with traditional herds on the Jos Plateau has given live weight estimates of cows, heifers, and steers as 250 kg, 175 kg and 235 Kg respectively.

ILCA (1980) studies indicate the possibility that a high proportion of the animals sold are for reasons of sickness or un-thriftiness, and in some cases this may account for as high as 50 per cent of the sales. Hence an average carcass weight of 125 kg at 49 per cent killing out has been suggested.

Extrapolating from a national herd of 9.3 million and an average killing out percentage of 49 per cent, the above model would give annual sales of around 117,000 tonnes of dressed beef. At N2.25/kg, this would represent a farm gate value of about N262 million. The combined value of stock and milk sales at the farm gate is therefore in excess of N400 million per annum.

There is a need for caution in the use of these data as the absolute basis for projections, especially when the data cover a relatively short period of time, which may not entirely reflect the typical cyclic pattern of weight losses and gain experienced by most traditional herds.

The off take rate has been estimated to be as high as 16.9 per cent among traditional herds (Lideco, 1980) while live weights observed over a longer period of time indicate higher average than those of Pullan or ILCA (1980).

Recorded live weights of Sokoto Gudali and Bunaji yearling bulls and steers purchased from traditional herds on delivery at the Feed Lot Operations, Mokwa, indicate an average of 230kg (Olaloku, 1977). In addition, there are other components of national herd productivity including manure and draught power.

These become relevant and of great significance in an integrated crop and livestock farming system. Indeed, the value of the manure is underscored in the existing symbolic relationship between arable crop farmers and pastoralists in which the latter is allowed to graze crop residues in exchange for manure from the stock.

Nigeria has indigenous breeds of cattle from which could be raised animals of suitable type and productivity, whether for economic production of beef or milk; but that nutrition must be improved in order to achieve optimum productivity.

Generally speaking, the yield per animal unit is very low but it is pertinent to remember that this is from herds subsisting on the savannah lands of the most northerly states, which provide, during a wet season of from four to five months, a coarse herbage of only very moderate feeding value, being almost bare of keep during the seven or eight months of the dry season.

Thus the animals suffer annually, a prolonged period of malnutrition, often of near-starvation and at no time in the year do they live on what can be regarded as nutritionally adequate level.

2. Systems of Cattle Production

1. The Traditional System

Outline: Cattle production under the traditional system is generally associated with the pastoralist transhumance which has developed over the years as an adaptation to environmental and historical factors; it constitutes the main component of cattle production in the country with
the pastoral Fulani as the centre of focus.

The traditional livestock grazer was faced with the problems of seasonal variations in forage availability, water, disease, social interactions with the arable crop farmers, government taxation demands, and the need to cater for his family.

The resulting evolution has led to a range of husbandry practices geared to overcoming these problems, particularly availability of grazing and the need to avoid the tsetse fly transmitting trypanosomiasis.

Classification of Pastoralist: Ethnic, ecological and economic factors all influence ownership and management of cattle, independently and in combination. As a result, there is an almost infinite number of permutations, but four groups can be broadly recognised:

1a.Nomadic or Fully Mobile Pastoralist

These practice pure transhumance, with no permanent place of residence and no regular cultivation. They and their families move with the herds, generally in a southward direction during the dry season and moving back during the rains.

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They have average herds of about 80-100 head of cattle together with some sheep and goats (20 – 40). In the search for grazing and water, areas of tsetse fly infestation and other diseases are avoided; their movement is also determined by the location of arable framing communities which provide crop residues for grazing, as well as markets for sale of produce and purchase of essential needs.

1b. Semi-Nomadic or Less – Mobile Pastoralists

In contrast have a permanent place of residence where the elderly members of the family stay with some of the stock, such as the Lactating cows. The other stocks are moved away in search of grazing and water for long periods of time during the dry season.

They practice some cropping (often hiring outside labour) although livestock remains their most important economic activity. This group generally does not own as many cattle as the former group, but all their other practices are similar. Indeed, it is claimed that this is a transition stage to full sedentarisation.

1c.The Semi – Settled Pastoralist

These have a permanent place of abode and practice some supplementary cultivation for food production. They keep smaller herds and usually only move out in search of grazing and water towards the end of the dry season. They sometimes construct temporary shelters, and grow and harvest crops at the beginning of the rains before moving back to their home base.

1d.Settled Pastoralists

These live continuously in permanent settlements all year round, and practice arable cropping in addition to livestock husbandry. Herds are grazed during the day by children or hired hands and the animals are tethered at night. Some of these look after stock for owners who live in the urban areas.

Pastoralist Management: In order to survive in a purely nomadic system, each unit must control enough livestock to sustain itself. While many forces have led to the continual process of settlement a key factor is herd size which, either due to inheritance or disease may cease to be
viable economic unit in its own right so that recourse to cultivation is necessary for survival.

However, with allowance made for a total dependence on the proceeds of livestock husbandry and the constraints of perpetual mobility, the husbandry system holds good for both nomadic and settled Fulani.

The Mobility of Cattle is a Feature of all Extensive Grazing System: At the extreme the pure nomads may move hundreds of kilometers and stay nowhere more than a few days while for the permanently settled, the grazing zone may be within say five kilometers of the camp. For the
latter there are three, albeit indistinct, phases in the year. During the growing season the herds are kept off the crop lands in large units.

Immediately after harvest the cattle are put in is graze crop residues; this is often, but not always, by arrangement with the farmers. As the dry season progresses the herds; are progressively subdivided for grazing, smaller units being better able to seek out and utilise small patches of
grass, crop residues, etc.

in some areas there is a separation of the ‘wet’ animals; (cows and calves) and cows that are in an advanced stage of pregnancy, which are left behind in the ‘Mashekari’ or permanent place of abode while the rest of the herd is moved out in search of feed. The wet herd is grazed in areas like the fadamas (the low plains) that have good dry season supplies of forage and water.

A close examination of the traditional pastoralist system reveals a stronger emphasis of milk production than beef, and the system of management that ensures all year round supply of milk from the herd.

Milk is a major source of income for the family’s day to day needs, and women attend markets daily in order to sell the sour milk (nono), butter (mai) along with millet or sorghum ball (fura); the fura is sold with the nono mixed by the vendor and is consumed on the spot. Household heads also attend market regularly and the trading pattern leads to a natural affinity between herd movement and the location of markets and population centres.

In conclusion, it should be stressed that the general concept of the traditional grazier as a nomad who cannot settle is fast disappearing. The picture that now emerges is that between 40 – 50 per cent of traditional Fulani graziers are settled, another 20 – 30 per cent are estimated to be semi-settled, whilst only about 20 per cent now remain in the traditional nomadic system of production.

This is significant for it means that the often stated constraint that nomadism has on introducing technology to the cattle industry does not apply to over 50 per cent of cattle owners.

2. The Modern System

The introduction of semi-intensive and intensive methods, modeled on those successfully employed for beef and dairy production in agriculturally advanced countries, is largely confined to government, parastatals and institutional research farms.

They commenced with the establishment of a number of governments Livestock Improvement and Breeding Centres (LIBC) in different parts of the country during the late 1940’s and early 1950s. This trend continued into the 1960s and has attracted the attention of some farmers in the private sector, who, in corporative groups or as individuals have started mixed farming
enterprises.

These mixed farming operations have gained popularity amongst the educated groups (retired public servants, etc) who are taking advantage of the Federal Government’s encouragement of agricultural production through the provision of guaranteed credit facilities.

Though initially influenced by Fulani systems cattle production on these units has some element of specialization into beef and milk production whereas in the traditional system, both are complementary products of the cattle industry.

Beef Production: The establishment of beef cattle ranches has taken place mainly in the Guinea Savanna zones. The ranches are stocked with indigenous cattle breeds such as the Gudali (Sokoto and Adamawa), the Bunaji, and in the ore southerly areas the trypanotolerant N’Dama has been introduced along with the Ketuku or Borgawa cattle.

Management plans on most ranches have included provision of extensive range grazing, sometimes undersown with legumes, with allocations of 3 – 4 hectares/animal in the Southern Guinea to 4 – 6 hectares/animal in the Northern Guinea and Sudan Savanna zones.

Some of the ranches provide improved pasture areas of about 0.125 ha/animal for dry season feeding (Upper Ogun Ranch in Oyo State) or maize and grass silage also for dry season feeding and feed lot operations (Mokwa Ranch, Niger State). Mineral salt licks are provided in the paddocks and all year round watering from dams and bore holes.

Deworming and vaccination against the major cattle diseases are carried out routinely, and cattle dips are provided for control of ectoparasites, particularly ticks, some recording has been carried out but because of the inconsistency with which this has been done, it has not been very easy to utilize these records in a meaningful evaluation of technical and economic performances.

A ‘Steer Fattening Unit’ scheme was introduced for small-scale producers in the Derived Savanna areas of the old Western Region in which, under a system of continuous bush grazing with adequate water supply, mineral salt licks and facilities for tick control and deworming possibility of profitable beef production using trypanotolerant breeds and crosses was investigated.

This idea caught on with many farmers in the area, and has continued with modified aspects of the scheme and today a good number of them fattern steers for supply to slaughter houses in Ibadan and other urban areas. A recent apparently successful development along these lines is the Smallholder Fattening Scheme introduced by the World Bank Assisted Livestock Project Unit (LPU).

Feed lot fattening of yearling bulls steers on a commercial scale was introduced into the Nigerian beef industry about a decade ago on the Mokwa Cattle Ranch.

A significant development was the introduction of sugarcane molasses from the Bacita Sugar Factory into the fattening diet in late 1972. The fattening programme was planned to coincide with the end of the sugar cane harvesting season, so that large quantities of molasses would become available for feeding during the long dry season period of November to April.

The bulls and steers were purchased from the traditional herds as yearlings aged 18 – 24 months, predominantly Sokoto Gudalis with some Bunajis with average weights of 200 – 240 kg. They were quarantined for 30 days during which they were vaccinated for CBPP, anthrax, and proplylactic treatment with ‘Berenil’ against trypanosomiasis, as well as drenching for worms and spraying for ectoparasites.

Therefore, they entered the feedlots with two-week adaptation period on the molasses based feeding regime. Group fed, each animal received approximately 3 kg molasses, 3 kg cottonseed, 5 kg grass/maize silage plusad libitum supply of salt licks and water.

Over a- three-month fattening period, the animals average 300 kg live weight at average, daily gains 682 gm. The dressed carcasses were marketed through the cold stores and supermarkets in urban centres of Lagos and Ibadan.

Although the records indicate substantial improvements in the physical performance of the indigenous breeds under the modern as compared to the traditional system of management, it is pertinent to note that the different models of the modern sector taken together only account for a very small percentage of the National Herd and their contributions to the beef market is therefore correspondingly small.

Milk Production: Milk production under the system of management is confined almost exclusively to government or institutional experimental farms. The dairies are generally located within easy marketing distance of consumption centres, and attempts have been made to organise
dairying countries. Herd size varies from 30 to 50 on the experimental stations and from 50 to 200 on the ‘urban’ dairies operated by various State Ministries of Agriculture.

The animals are housed, milked by hand and/or machine, and the milk is usually processed before distribution to consumers. The animals are maintained on cultivated pastures with supplementary concentrates, and standard milk recording is practiced on most farms.

Although milk production per animal under the modern system has been substantially higher than that obtained by traditional producers, the results have not been very encouraging when compared with their counterparts elsewhere.

Low performances have been attributed to poor management resulting in low pregnancy rates due to poor organization of the breeding programme especially heat detection for Al, long calving intervals, short lactations, and little attention to balanced feeding in terms of concentrate or forage use. In addition, there tended to be very little selection of stock at the time of purchase.

In terms of increased milk production in their own right, the contribution of these dairies has been insignificant and they have incurred high costs and considerable manpower demands. Although it could be argued that their role is as research and development centres, this could be justified
if their breeding and production objectives are carefully defined and satisfactorily implemented along with the generation of records from which objectives evaluation of performance can be made; in most cases this has been the case.

Read Also: Options for Genetic Improvement in Tropical Livestock

Agric4Profits

Benadine Nonye is an agricultural consultant and a writer with over 12 years of professional experience in the agriculture industry. - National Diploma in Agricultural Technology - Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural Science - Master's Degree in Science Education... Visit My Websites On: 1. Agric4Profits.com - Your Comprehensive Practical Agricultural Knowledge and Farmer’s Guide Website! 2. WealthinWastes.com - For Effective Environmental Management through Proper Waste Management and Recycling Practices! Join Me On: Twitter: @benadinenonye - Instagram: benadinenonye - LinkedIn: benadinenonye - YouTube: Agric4Profits TV and WealthInWastes TV - Pinterest: BenadineNonye4u - Facebook: BenadineNonye

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