The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube
MANY a times, questions from both established and upcoming livestock farmers on how they can either make money from their livestock enterprise or how they can improve from what they are getting arise.
I pulled a list of tips below from www.drovers.com and I have added a few elaborations to explain some of the tips. However, it is important to note that some of the tips are only applicable to commercial farmers while others can also be adopted by smallholder communal farmers. The tips are as follows:
1. Take advantage of hybrid vigour, use crossbreeds. This is more so for livestock farmers with poor quality indigenous breeds which are well known for small frames among other negative attributes.
2. Invest in a good bull, it will pay back with good calves.
3. Pregnancy check cows within a month or two of the end of breeding. Do not carry passenger cows because they are a drain on your pocket and time. However, pregnancy diagnosis is not a common practice among smallholder farmers because it needs trained personnel to conduct it.
4. Work with a good veterinarian. Be straight with your veterinary officer when he or she asks questions about your management practices. Concealing information can result in wrong recommendations from your veterinarian.
5. Vaccinate your cattle. Vaccinating and treating your cattle means you avoid unnecessary mortalities. Mortalities are your income loss. Buying a bottle of Hitet 120 could save your $800 animal from death! You therefore, need to observe cattle frequently and closely so that you can treat cattle injuries and disease conditions promptly.
6. When dealing with death loss, do not wait until the umpteenth animal is lost to have a necropsy performed. Track down the cause of death as soon as possible.
7. Parasites affect your animal performance, deworm your cattle so that you maintain them healthy internally.
8. Know how to identify plants poisonous to cattle and protect your animals against these noxious plants. This is more applicable to farmers in areas with poisonous plants such as umkhawuzani.
9. Invest in decent cattle handling facilities. This is a challenge especially among small holder farmers however it is important to have proper handling facilities such as pens, cattle race and crush. This makes routine operation easier and safer to carry out.
10. Cull animals with bad traits such as poor temperament. This will make your herd much tidy and easier to work with.
11. Manage your pastures properly so that you get the best out of your rangeland. Avoid degrading the rangeland and also be on the lookout of proliferation of unpalatable grass species. Again you will need to manage bush encroachment so that you do not affect your carrying capacity. Adjust your stocking rates according to the carrying capacity of your rangeland.
12. Supplement your rangeland if it is not producing enough herbage so that your animals do not lose condition. Manage body condition for good reproductive success. A thin herd produces fewer calves.
13. A white salt block is not a complete mineral nutrition programme. Supplement minerals and vitamins properly.
14. Castrate feeder calves to avoid the intact bull calf discount when selling. Also dehorn your feeder calves because horns lead to bruises other injuries which affect carcass grades.
15. There is power in numbers. Pool resources with your neighbours. Group labour, input purchasing, and cattle marketing are some areas where this can be beneficial. This is more applicable to smallholder farmers who face challenges on how to transport their animals to the market. Pooling animals together can reduce the transport cost to the market which is usually in urban centres.
16. Develop and grow a good business reputation. This is achieved to producing good quality animals and having sound business ethics. No one likes to deal with an unreliable person and hence the need to walk a straight line on this one. Also networks and good business relationships can make all the difference in profitability.
17. Keep up to date production records which will help you to make informed decisions. Written records are good for the institutional memory of the enterprise.
18. Use electronic and information technology to your benefit and adapt to changes. Rigid systems that do not welcome change run the risk of naturally phasing themselves out. Technology usually comes with improved and more efficient ways of doing business operations hence it is only wise to embrace it. Do not be afraid to change. Adapt your management and marketing practices and strategies with the times.
19. Buy from reputable suppliers especially for you feed and drugs. Also buy in large quantities especially for the feed so as to cushion yourself from seasonal price increases.
20. Know when to get rid of equipment and other assets that have become a liability because of either being obsolete or constant break downs.
21. When you are not sure about something in the cattle operation, starting asking questions. Try to get the information you need before you need it.
Never stop learning about the cattle business. New knowledge is created all the time, and for many, there is still plenty of old knowledge to master
22. Do not overextend your resources. This leads to less than optimum management, undue stress, and sometimes financial difficulties.
Uyabonga umnatakaMaKhumalo.
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