The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube Farming
IN the book : The livestock sector after the fast track land reforms in Zimbabwe, Masunda and Mutetwa (2008), raised interesting discussion points around critical success factors in beef production enterprise. This week’s article therefore borrows heavily from their instalment. While some of the raised factors are pretty standard and covered in any basic animal production chapters, repeating them in this edition will not cause any harm. The critical success factors according to Masunda and Mutetwa (2008) can be broadly classified into five categories. These are genetics, nutrition, disease control, herd management and farmer training.
Genetics is one critical factor which most farmers take for granted. I have submitted before on this platform that a farmer needs to define the genetic make-up of his animals not just assembling a congregation of mixed blood of no particular identity. Good genetics in your herd will impact positively on minimum herd performance standards such as weaning weights, age at first calving, steer slaughter weights and calving rates. It is no secret that a Brahman steer will quickly attain the expected slaughter weights ahead of the indigenous breeds because of its superior weight gain attributes. This becomes very apparent when the two breeds are put through a feedlot. Despite consuming almost the same quantities of feed the indigenous breeds will lag behind in weight gain.
Herd nutrition is another important factor which we have discussed extensively but it suffices to mention that the biggest challenge confronting every smallholder farmer is how to adequately feed his/her animals throughout the year against a background of deteriorating veld both in terms of quantity and quality. This is further exacerbated by reckless and irresponsible veld fires that consume most of the much needed veld.
Disease control, which is actually an integral part of herd management, cannot be over-emphasised. An effective disease control system will ensure that farmers do not unnecessarily lose their livestock to mortalities. A general rule of the thumb is that herd mortalities should be kept at less than two percent all the time. It is the sole responsibility of the farmer to look after the health of his/her herd with Government only complementing individual efforts. Also in herd management farmers have to understand the four stages of herd growth as explained by Khombe (2008).
These are: the foundation stage during which the farmer is still trying to establish and grow his/her herd. This is done mostly through purchases and there is unlikely to be any animal sold in this stage. The second stage is the growth stage where heifers and cows in the herd are retained for breeding while steers and infertile cows are culled and taken to the market. The last two stages are productive and equilibrium stages. These are the apex stages and your herd has reached optimal functioning levels which will give you a sustainable annual offtake. Understanding your herd will help you to graduate from being a mere cattle owner to a cattle farmer. The former is hinged on sentimental value while the latter has a commercial approach.
One silent critical success factor is continuous farmer training. Farmers have to keep abreast and up to speed with current production trends and practices. They need to keep informed with market trends for example, new technologies, best performing breeds, movers and shakers of the livestock industry. Small holder farmers can only obtain such information by making it a habit to routinely attend all trainings that are at their disposal. These can be from non- governmental organisations operating in their wards or from government extension officers on the ground. Farmers should desist from the tendency of just attending food aid and hand-out meetings and neglect important training such as master farmer training. Farmers should always attend training so that they get refreshed and can share experiences with other farmers in the group. There is a lot of knowledge both textbook and indigenous that can be shared in these platforms. Farmers can share on how they are treating certain ailments in their herds or even issues such as preventing predation on calves and goat kids. Please book a place during the next training and begin to improve management of your herd, you could easily transform from a cattle owner that you are to a cattle farmer!
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