Maasai herd and flock structures in relation to livestock wealth,climate and development

Information was obtained on the structure of the herds and flocks of a sample of 41 households on the three Maasai Group Ranches in Kenya. The purpose of the survey was to contribute to an intensive study of the livestock production system, and also to assess the amount of information that could be obtained from a herd structure study on its own. Differences in herd structure were related to the livestock wealth of the household, the stage of development of the Group Ranch as well as to the variation in climate, and production alternatives.Data from more than 5100 cattle revealed that Maasai herds contained less steers in 1982 (18%) than in 1968 (22%). The proportion of mature steers had also dropped from 5% (1968) to 2% (1982), with maximum valves of 3·2% on the most developed ranch and 2% for the wealthiest stratum of households. A high percentage of females had been retained (56%) giving a herd structure characteristic of subsistence production with milk as a primary output. This structure also caters for a strong market in immature animals and gives the herd a high potential for recovery after a drought. There appeared to be a trend towards increased use of introduced bulls, notably Sahiwal on the Small East African Zebu, with increased Group Ranch Development. However, this trend was confounded by a decreasing aridity gradient with increased development.On two of the ranches for which 1968 counts were available, cattle numbers were 119% of their previous value whereas small stock were 470%. The reason appears to be that increased sedentarisation without adequate range management has resulted in a severe reduction in grasses, and their replacement by forbs. These plants are more palatable to small stock which are better able to exploit the degraded habitat.Information from more than 2730 sheep and 2300 goats revealed that poor households preferred goats and richer households, sheep. The Small East African Goat was ubiquitous, but the most developed ranch had crossed Dorper onto Maasai sheep whereas the least developed and most arid ranch had introduced Somali Blackhead sheep. The Dorper crossbred catered for a market for mutton whereas the Blackhead was primarily for home consumption of fat.The conclusion is that Group Ranch Development has not projected the Maasai into commercial beef ranching as originally planned, but their production system has not stood still. A study of herd structures was a good way of demonstrating the evolution of the system. The method was simple but was dependent for its success on fairly involved and time-consuming sampling and data collection procedures.     

Relating long-term rainfall variability to cattle population dynamics in communal rangelands and a government ranch in southern Ethiopia

This study reconstructed 21 years of household cattle population data in key resource (tula wells) and non-key resource (pond-water) rangelands in southern Ethiopia, as well as 15 years of government cattle breed conservation ranch data, to analyze the relationship between long-term rainfall and cattle population dynamics. For the key-and-non-key resource rangelands, we assessed the reproductive life of cows and the number of calves. For both the communal and ranch systems, we analyzed impacts of multiple droughts on calving rates and herd die-offs. Relationships between pre-drought and post-drought cattle populations were used to evaluate evidence of density-dependence. Breeding females in the key resource tula well rangelands had a longer reproductive life than in the pond-water rangelands, and they produced more calves per reproductive life. Average calving rates were 55% for the communal and 52% for the ranch. Greater reductions in calving rates during droughts implied reduced herd growth potential. Breeding females and immature animals were influenced to a much greater degree by inter-annual rainfall variability than were mature males. The data showed a downward spiral for the total cattle holdings over a 21-year period, with a decline of 54%. The evidence of density-dependence was relatively important at the local land use level as compared with the regional level. Cattle population below carrying capacity under ranch management did not reduce herd die-offs, suggesting that rainfall variability, not density, had greater influence on cattle population dynamics. Long-term trends of cattle populations in the communal and ranch systems synchronized with mean deviations of rainfall. Our results indicate that rainfall variability under the different management systems strongly influenced the dynamics of cattle population, calving rates and mortality. The claim that ranching could be a superior model for range management in Borana over the communal system was not confirmed. The decline in cattle population in southern Ethiopia indicates a need for improved drought management policy. The evidence that droughts were more harmful to breeding females and immature animals than to mature males suggested that drought management needs to focus on herd recruitment potential. For the herders in southern Ethiopia, drought management involved herd mobility and accumulation of herds during periods of favourable rainfall. In the future, the importance of government ranch could be in breed conservation for the maintenance of the Borana cattle breed through distribution of bulls during the drought recovery phase.     

Economic evaluation of current and alternative dual-purpose cattle systems for smallholder farms in the central Peruvian highlands

In four communities in the Peruvian Andes, 56 farmers were interviewed every three months over a period of one year. Information linked to milk and cattle production such as activities, inputs (labour, means of production, capital) and outputs (milk, cheese, animals) were recorded using a closed-ended questionnaire. The communities were divided into two groups with low (LC) and high (HC) level of dependence on income from milk and animal sales. The survey results showed that cattle production on the LC farms was based on less land and a smaller herd (3.32 ha/farm, 1.06 lactating cows) than on HC farms (10.28 ha/farm, 4.19 lactating cows). The data from the survey and the results of the nutritional analyses of 74 feed samples were introduced into a model that applied linear programming techniques in order to estimate the farm household income under the current production systems and evaluate the economic impact of improved forage varieties for hay production. Furthermore, the economic viability of other changes in fodder and herd management was tested. Both groups were characterised by a dual-purpose system generating a gross income from the sale of both, milk and live animals in the amount of -21 (LC) and +1057 US$/farm and year (HC). Due to higher production costs for forages and better access to markets, LC communities were characterised by an integrated crop–livestock system whereas in the HC group income was mainly based on livestock. Introduction of improved and fertilized barley for hay production, was estimated to increase the annual farm income to 127 and 1257 US$ for LC and HC, respectively. This increase was accompanied by an increment of the animal number. Maintaining the animal number but increasing the milk production/cow by feeding additional forage was a less profitable option generating 50 and 1221 US$ of income per farm and year for LC and HC, respectively. The production of hay was limited by high costs (external labour) in LC communities and the restricted availability of family labour in the HC group. A scenario based on the use of improved cow genotypes led to the highest estimated annual farm income for HC communities (1280 US$) but was less favourable for LC. The modelling results showed that the best development strategy depends on various factors such as production costs, access to the markets and to irrigation and availability of different feed resources.     

A model for sericulture and milk production

With a view to increasing the annual output of edible nutrients (milk), employment generation and obtaining better economic returns per unit area under sericulture, a model was designed through the application of the integrated systems approach. By the application of this model, it is possible to produce 23·23 GJ edible energy and 266·33 kg edible protein from milk; 2975 man-days employment and Rs.30·11 profit per man-day labour input from 1 ha in a year. In contrast, the traditional system of rice cultivation in Southern India, with double cropping intensity, could generate 50·67 GJ energy and 244·00 kg protein from food grains, 288 man-days employment and only Rs.8·34 profit per man-day labour input from 1 ha in a year.     

Experimental Evaluation,Simulation and Optimization of a Commercial Heated-Air Batch Hay Drier: Part 1, Drier Functional Performance,Product Quality,and Economic Analysis of Drying

This paper considers the engineering design, operation, functional performance, product quality, and economic analysis of a natural gas heated-air batch hay drier that operates with an automatic bale wagon. The automatic bale wagon and a track are used for loading and off-loading stacks of alfalfa and timothy hay en masse to and from the drier. The newly developed batch hay drier has two identical drying units in a gable roof building, and each drying unit has a large axial flow fan which forces about 450 m³/min of air by negative pressure through 22-32 t (a maximum of five stacks) of small rectangular hay bales placed to dry on the perforated extended metal grate floor of the drier. Top plenum swing-away frames, with attached polyethylene curtains, were used for effectively sealing the vertical sides and one end of the hay stacks.Batches of hay, initially at about 25-40% moisture content wet basis (w.b.) were successfully dried to 12-15% final moisture content in 17-37 h at moderate drying air temperatures of 45±5°C. The drying capacity was 1·0 t dried hay/h, specific fuel consumption 26 m³/t, specific energy consumption 4790 kJ/kg water evaporated, and drying energy cost Canadian $5·82/t when hay was dried from an initial moisture content of 30% w.b. to a final value of 15% w.b. The hay produced by the drier was of high quality with an attractive green color.     

Replacement policy in dairy herds on farms where heifers compete with cows for grassland: Part 2-Experimentation

Replacement policy is not easy to determine on dairy farms where heifers compete with cows for grassland. Using a computer simulation model of this farm situation, two factorial experiments were conducted to evaluate quantitatively the effect of different replacement rates on profitability and herd improvement.The variables changed in herds of average health and very good health were replacement rate (0·14, 0·22, 0·30), age at first calving (36, 24 months), calving index (13, 12 months) and AI sire merit (standard, premium). Initially, the experimental herd had average health, a replacement rate of 0·22, a calving index of 13 months, calved its heifers at 36 months and had been using standard bulls for many years.After 15 years, the increase in the level of a sinking fund when the age at first calving was reduced was between three and five times greater than when premium bulls were used, calving index was reduced or herd health was improved. There was a major interaction between replacement rate and age at first calving.Yield per cow was significantly reduced (P≤0·001) by reducing the age at first calving and significantly increased when premium bulls (P≤0·001) were used or when herd health was improved (P≤0·05).Some treatments were not tested as expected due to the restraining effect of a 13-month calving interval on the availability of cows for breeding pure in a seasonally calving herd.     

An analysis of supply response among cotton growers in Malawi

Cotton is a traditional smallholder cash crop in Malawi. Its production in recent years has stagnated as the area under the crop has declined considerably since 1975. Much of the criticism for the stagnant production and declining acreage has been levelled at producer prices. This paper investigates the responsiveness of cotton producers to changes in these producer prices. A Nerlovian partial adjustment model is used to test the response. The results indicate that producers are responsive to price incentives but that their response is inelastic. Both short- and long-run price elasticity estimates are less than unity (0·13 and 0·46, respectively) and the coefficient of adjustment which measures the speed of adjustment is only 0·212. Prices of cotton and competing crops, area under cotton in the preceding season and weather conditions are found to be important factors to the producers in their land allocation decision making process.     

Kleingrass growth and utilization by growing steers

A model of kleingrass (Panicum coloratum L.) growth and utilization by steers is presented. The model included stochastic inputs of climatological characteristics, water retention at different soil depths, rainfall runoff, potential evapotranspiration, forage growth, forage intake and steer performance. The model was used in a 2 × 3 × 4 factorial experiment where the factors were energy systems (ARC, 1965 versus NRC, 1976), stocking rates (2·47 head per hectare, 4·32 head per hectare and 6·18 head per hectare), and four management options. Individual steer weights by months were not significantly affected by the use of either energy system. Steer weights at the end of the grazing season were affected (F = 0·06) by energy system, the NRC system predicting 7·2 kg per head more liveweight gain than the ARC system. The light stocking rate had greater (P = 0·01?0·13) daily gains over months than the heavier stocking rates. The heavy stocking rate resulted, however, in greater (P < 0·05) production per hectare per year than the lighter stocking rates. Season-long production per hectare favored (P < 0·1) management options that removed steers immediately after forage was consumed rather than anticipating rainfall and new forage growth. The light stocking rate had the least mean seasonal production per hectare (P < 0.·05) but also had the least year-to-year variability. The heavy stocking rater yielded the greater (P < 0·05) mean seasonal production per hectare but the year-to-year variation was much greater. It was emphasized that the use of such probabilities of production could aid the grazier in making stocking rate and related decisions.     

The Effect of Collaboration between Cattle Farms on the Labour Requirement and Machinery Costs

Danish farming is based on the principle of freeholding, but interest in alternative types of ownership is increasing, one of the reasons being the high labour pressure on small farms in particular, where each family has to carry out the work on their own. Moreover, the initial capital investment is high, and earnings are often low.In a study of six milk-producing farms, the potential benefits of joint ownership were examined for field work and for livestock operations. On the establishment of a joint ownership, analyses showed that the number of annual workers can be reduced from 16·8 to between 10·8 and 11·4, if joint field operations are established together with a common feed mill from where feed is distributed daily to the individual cow houses. The number of annual workers can be further reduced to 8·8 if all cows are housed in a joint cow house.Labour and machine costs for five field plans vary from DKK 3063 to 2515 per ha–highest for the plan with beet and lowest for the plan with straw.Labour and machine costs on feeding vary from DKK 2056 to 1811 per year-cow and rearing stock but if all the animals are gathered in a common cowhouse, the costs can be reduced to DKK 1686 per year-cow and rearing stock.     

Multicriterion decision making in irrigation planning

Selection of the best compromise irrigation plan is examined in the multi objective context. The study deals with three conflicting objectives: net benefits, agricultural production and labour employment. Three-stage procedure is adopted combining multi objective optimisation, cluster analysis and multicriterion decision-making (MCDM) methods. Two MCDM methods, namely, PROMETHEE-2 and a newly developed method EXPROM-2, are employed in the evaluation. Spearman rank correlation test is used to assess the correlation between the ranks. The above methodology is applied to a case study of Sri Ram Sagar Project, Andhra Pradesh, India. Sensitivity analysis studies indicated that ranking pattern is quite robust to parameter changes as far as the first two positions are concerned. It is found that net benefits, agricultural production and labour employment per hectare on average for the culturable command area are 8980 rupees ($225), 3.73 tonnes and 242 man-days, respectively, in the best compromise plan.     

Simulated comparisons of breeding plans for beef production: Part 3—systems for producing feeder-calves involving intensive culling and additional breeds of sire

A dynamic model of a beef-cow herd producing feeder-calves was used to evaluate nine mating plans and an intensive culling policy in combination with management options of producing replacement heifers or purchasing them. The nine mating plans were: straightbred Angus, two-breed static crosses using Angus dams mated to Hereford, Charolais, Simmental, Jersey, Limousin and South Devon sires, a Hereford-Angus criss-cross and a three-breed static cross using Charolais sires mated to Hereford-Angus dams. All of these crosses were simulated under a culling policy of culling a cow as soon as she failed to produce a calf.Kilogrammes of calf weaned per cow was the criterion of herd productivity. The Hereford-Angus criss-cross and the Charolais Hereford-Angus three-breed static cross were the most productive crosses. The high productivity of the three-breed cross was due to the heavy calves weaned and the high productivity of the criss-cross was due to a high ranking for the number of calves weaned per cow bred.The intensity of culling which was practised on the cow herd had diverse effects on herd productivity. The heavy culling option increased the proportion of cows in the herd of three years of age or less by 72·6 to 86·4%, resulted in a higher incidence of calving difficulty and decreased the number of calves produced per cow by up to 17·5%. Structure and productivity were altered the most by a change in culling policy when large breeds of sire were used in the mating plans.     

Economic comparison of open and closed nucleus breeding schemes for wool production

Returns on investments in open or closed nucleus breeding schemes to improve clean wool production were examined using Hill's approach of examining the flow of genes through the population.Returns on capital in such schemes are competitive with many alternative investments on the farm if predictions of response are correct. For example, for a typical case considered with heritability of wool weight of 0·4, standard deviation of 0·4 kg, 90% lambs weaned per ewe joined from mature ewes, and 250 cents/kg clean, marginal returns on money invested in labour and materials in the breeding programme in excess of 40% were obtained. The return on the extra investment with an open nucleus using 50% of base-born ewes in the nucleus was about 20%.Returns are sensitive to cost, lambing percentage, price and heritability, the extra returns from the open nucleus becoming more attractive as predicted response or price increases. The value of the gains is not very sensitive to numbers of age groups of ewes or rams.Most of the extra returns go to the commercial flocks, so premiums would need to be paid to the nucleus to provide incentives to maintain the breeding programme.     

Simulated effects of changing strategies on production performance of Gobra Zebu cattle

Analyses of various management strategies available for the production of Gobra Zebu cattle at Dahra Research Station were conducted using a dynamic cattle production simulation model. Growth, milk production, forage and management characteristics collected at the station were the major input data used. Effects of the management strategies on production performances were predicted by examining changes in breeding season, breeding age, weaning age and supplementation regimes on productivity indices. The indices used were efficiency of nutrient utilization (ENU), defined as liveweight sold per 100 kg DM consumed, and cow productivity index (CPI), defined as liveweight sold per cow exposed. When females were exposed to calve first at 3 years of age, the ENU (94·4) and CPI (4·04) were highest for breeding from September to November and lowest (77·93 and 3·43, respectively) for breeding from July to September. Weaning at 7 months of age resulted in the highest ENU and CPI (94·89 and 3·95) while weaning at 5 months generated the lowest ENU and CPI (83·93 and 3·58). Among all feeding alternatives, the highest ENU (105·84) and CPI (4·21) were obtained when the entire cow herd was supplemented from May to July. Supplementation of mature cows only was the most desirable strategy among the selective supplemental feeding practices with regard to cow age classes. Results provided valuable guidelines for selecting management practices likely to increase Gobra Zebu productivity.     

Navigation Method for a Mobile Robot via Sonar-based Crop Row Mapping and Fuzzy Logic Control

A navigation method, which employs sonar-based mapping of crop rows and fuzzy logic control-based steering, is described for a wheeled mobile robot in an agricultural environment. Crop rows are exploited for automatic navigation of a mobile robot without the need to construct artificial landmarks. The crop row map is constructed from the sonar readings and is transferred to the fuzzy logic control system, which steers the robot along the crop row. Three experiments concerning crop row mapping, fuzzy logic control, and their combination, were conducted using the experimental robot in a simulated maizefield. The errors found in evaluating the performance of these techniques were as follows: the position and directional standard errors in the mapping tests were 12·7 mm and 2·4°; those in the steering tests 16·3 mm and 2·2°; and in the overall tests 33·6 mm and 3·2°.     

Profit in a pig herd from performance testing and selection of breeding stock. The effect of variation in the accuracy and cost of testing

Computer modelling was used to compare a variety of performance testing and selection programmes whose objective was to increase the monetary value of pigs as determined by their rate and efficiency of growth and the leanness of their carcases.Factors varied over feasible ranges were the cost and accuracy of performance testing, the culling rates of breeding stock and the degree of subdivision of the herd into a nucleus supplying breeder replacements for the whole herd and a production unit producing slaughter stock.Net returns per sow, evaluated over 10 years of selection, increased, by 120 times, the standard deviation (sd) of the breeding objective for each improvement of 0·1 in the correlation between the selection criterion and the breeding objective (test accuracy).A unit of the cost of testing each pig equalled 0·4 sd of the breeding objective and net returns in the unsubdivided herd declined by 0·6 for each unit increase in cost. Herd subdivision increased net returns by reducing the number of pigs tested—and hence the cost of testing. The optimum ratios of production unit to breeding nucleus sizes which maximised net returns were found. When herds were subdivided in an optimum way, the decline in net returns with increasing testing costs was reduced sixfold.Returns were highest when boars were worked for only one breeding cycle (approximately 6 months) in both the nucleus and the production unit. Depending on the accuracy and cost of testing, maximum net returns occurred when nucleus sows were culled after one or two farrowings. Sows in the production unit were an optimum combination of culled ‘old’ sows and selected ‘young’ gilts from the nucleus. There were a number of other replacement schemes which were almost equally profitable.     

Impact of different water price levels on irrigated agriculture in Northern Jordan Valley

A linear programming model was developed to assess the impact of different water prices on cultivated areas, irrigation water demand, net income and optimal cropping pattern in the Northern Jordan Valley (NJV). The results reveal that the price for irrigation water does not reflect any elasticity in the range of water prices between 0.01 and 0.06 JD/M³ indicating constant real economic water price of 0.06 JD/M³. The change in cultivated areas as well as water demand (reduction) starts at water price 0.07 JD/M³. The expected reductions under optimal cropping patterns are 5%, 24%, and 60% for cultivated area and 4.7%, 18.9%, and 31% for water demand with water prices at 0.07, 0.1, and 0.16 JD/M³, respectively. Significant reductions in net incomes are resulted with increasing water prices over current average water price of 0.025 JD/M³. The expected reductions in net incomes are 33.6%, 53.8%, and 81.4% at water prices 0.07, 0.1, and 0.16 JD/M³, respectively. This result reflects the low land profitability as a result of low land productivity and/or low farm gate sale prices for most crops grown in NJV. The study also shows the inconsistency in quantity of water supplied and water demanded, leading to unbalanced water budget on monthly level and inconsequence, a noticeable waste in the quantity of available water during winter months, although there is a net surplus of water over the year. While the findings of this research reveal that a water price in the range of 0.07?C0.1 JD/M³ does not significantly influence the farmers' socio-economic parameters in the NJV, it may help reach the stated goal of saving water especially when monthly distributions of irrigation water are based on real crops water demands and actual cropping patterns.     

Evaluating crop-livestock-based farming systems: A village level study in the dry zone rainfed district of Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka cropping enterprises interact with livestock production on peasant farms. This analysis of the crop-livestock farming system aims at understanding the existing constraints and interactions between crops and livestock in these farms. The main objective of the study is to describe the crop-livestock integrated farming systems in three rainfed villages in the Moneragala district of Sri Lanka, and to evaluate these systems in terms of maximizing farm incomes from the different crop and livestock components of the systems. A field survey was conducted to collect data from 153 farming families for the Maha season of 1982/83. A linear programming model was formulated to test the hypothesis.The results show that in general the activities for lowland rice, highland rice, sugar cane, labour, farm cash cost, and MVP (compost) are higher in the optimal farm plan than in the actual farm situation. The livestock in the optimal plan is mainly confined to milch cattle. However, with the present high level of manutrition among rural livestock industry emphasis should be placed on the expansion of the rural livestock industry in the study villages. The optimal plan also suggests the use of crop residues as a substitute for compost for farm crops. Hence, in the context of escalating prices of chemical fertilizers, research is required to find the suitability of crop residues and household residues as substitutes for compost. Increases in supplementary irrigation may result in the expansion of the farm area and hence the farm income. Other methods of increasing farm income include: replacing hired labour with non-utilized family labour, increased agricultural research, and extension activity regarding the use of modern inputs by farmers on crops.     

Replacement policy in dairy herds on farms where heifers compete with cows for grassland—Part 3: A revised hypothesis

A preliminary investigation of replacement policy on dairy farms where heifers compete with cows for grassland suggested that profitability falls as replacement rate increases, because the number of cows able to be milked and the maturity of the herd override the gains in milk yield per cow due to genetic improvement by culling for insufficient yield and by the greater use of a sire of high genetic merit.This hypothesis was inadequate to cover all the situations investigated in two factorial experiments involving changes in herd health status, replacement rate, age at first calving, calving index and the merit of AI sires used in the herd from an initial state for these variables of 0·22, 36 months, 13 months and Standard, respectively.Overall, these was a clear indication that the major influence on profitability was the number of cows in the herd. An increase in replacement rate was not always associated with a fall in profitability, nor was an improvement in yield per cow always associated with a rise in profitability relative to the performance of a control herd after 15 simulated years.The manipulation of replacement rate and age at first calving to achieve an increase in the number of cows in the herd was not necessarily incompatible with a desire for herd improvement either phenotypically (yield per cow) or genetically (herd and heifer genotype), particularly if premium bulls were used.     

Cattle are cash generating assets for mixed smallholder farms in the Eastern Amazon

The presence of cattle in the Amazon region is controversial in terms of their ecological suitability and profitability compared with crops. Nevertheless, they are widely distributed in the study area in north-eastern Pará and, contrary to the common image of cattle on large ranches, a high proportion of them are kept on smallholder farms. To explain their presence, cattle are assumed to have benefits beyond physical production, such as complementing resource use or representing capital. To test this hypothesis, the costs and benefits of the three main agricultural activities, cattle, cassava and black pepper production, in terms of land, labour and capital productivity, were recorded in 37 small farms over a period of 15 months. To provide a longer perspective, benefits and costs of these activities were calculated for their assumed lifetime, which in the case of cattle, assumed a stable herd, derived from a deterministic herd model. The resultant values for land, labour and capital productivity of cattle were much lower than the values derived from direct observations during the study period, and were not as high as those for cassava and black pepper. Furthermore, the analysis of resource use in the farms showed that cattle production was not usually integrated with cropping activities, did not improve the use of available labour, and competed for land. Therefore, there had to be a reason for keeping cattle beyond their physical productivity. It was deduced to be their functional quality. Cattle could be disposed of quickly and easily at any time, in order to acquire large sums of cash or the equivalent in kind. The liquidity derived from keeping living stock was not matched by other agricultural activities or by the financial market. Hence, cattle turned out to be the best instrument of finance for the smallholder. Farmers were not interested in the continuous development of their herds, or sustainable production practices, and favoured low input management. Consequently, development plans relying on long-term, continuous commitments to pasture and cattle management are inappropriate. Instead, research and extension work should focus on simple, flexible and low-cost improvements to cattle keeping on crop-livestock smallholder farms, until credit programmes are available that replace the financing function of cattle.