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Report on the AgriProFocus Zambia Dairy Learning Lab

conducted by PUM Netherlands Senior Experts.

17th – 18th March, 2015 at Golden Valley Research Trust,

Chisamba.

Report compiled by Gidi Smolders,

PUM Netherlands Senior Experts.

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This report on the first Dairy Learning Lab in Zambia has been prepared by PUM Netherlands Senior

Experts in collaboration with AgriProFocus Zambia.

The Dairy Learning Lab was held on 17th and 18th March 2015 in Chisamba under the theme of:

‘Fodder Management for Dairy Production’. The Learning Lab consisted of morning visits to (dairy)

farms and afternoon training and discussions on the topics of; roughage production and; the feeding

of dairy cows and young stock. Participants of the Dairy Learning Lab comprised of the Dairy

Association of Zambia, various dairy cooperatives, AgriVet Africa, Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre,

Hiefer International, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Golden Valley Research Trust and

8 dairy farmers. There were 21 participants in total. The Learning Lab was organised by AgriProFocus

Zambia with expert input by Mr. Gidi Smolders from PUM Netherlands Senior Experts.

This report is best read together with the following documents;

- Flyer of Dairy Learning Lab

- Programme of dairy learning lab

- Questionnaire for farm visits.

- Photos of farm visits.

- Powerpoint presentation by Gidi Smolders.

All these documents are to be found on webpage: http://agriprofocus.com/dairy-learning-lab-zambia

For more information or questions, please contact the following;

AgriProFocus Zambia Ms. Claire van der Kleij cvanderkleij@agriprofocus.com Phone: +260967992179 Skype: clairevdk

AgriProFocus Netherlands Mr. Wim Goris wgoris@agri-profocus.nl Phone 06 1897 2352 Skype: wimgorisapf

PUM Netherlands Senior Experts Mr. Gidi Smolders organimprove@upcmail.nl Skype: gidi smolders

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 Farm visit (morning day 1) Golden Valley Research Centre, GART.

GART Research Centre is 1hr drive north from Lusaka, in Chisamba. On the terrain are a number of

demo plots of maize and sorghum, from the big seed companies. After a short welcome by Mr

Simunji, Mr Monga gave us a tour along the demo plots with: annual grasses, perennial grasses and

shrubs/fodder trees. Some grasses are for pasture and fire-resistant, other grasses serve for cut and

carry systems. All grasses can also be used for hay and silage making although the grasses with thick

stems have to be chopped before conservation. The farm does not use irrigation, but the grasses still

look green and fresh even though it is the end of the rainy season. The aim of the demonstration

plots is to harvest seeds and not to harvest for feed. This is done in the best possible stage of

maturity for a high feeding value.

Short demonstrations were given to the participants about making a haybale (bales require less

space than loose hay) in a wooden box and a handpowered cutter for chopping long grass and maize.

Although there was a lot of maize around the grass demo plots, this was for human consumption,

therefore, the grain is not used as an animal fodder. In Zambia, there is a lot of maize bran available

(it has a good energy content and is low in protein and minerals).

2. Afternoon session

This was held at nearby Fringilla Lodge, Chisamba.

AgriProFocus Zambia Coordinator Claire van der Kleij presented on; AgriProFocus Zambia,the online

platform and the topic of dairy. For information on the Dairy Learning Lab can be found on the

webpage: http://agriprofocus.com/dairy-learning-lab-zambia. People who want help with online

registration and access can contact Nchimunya Kasongo at nkasongo@agriprofocus.com or call

0967992182

Claire highlighted that the aim of the Dairy Learning Lab was to; collect manuals, documents and

videos on the topic of fodder and feeding, practical information only.

After this presentation, we discussed and commented on the 3 topics from the questionnaire

developed for the farm visits. For each topic below, we shared observations, practices on our own

farms and bits of theoretical back-ground (see powerpoint Gidi Smolders).

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Farm Visit on Roughage Production:

a) On soils and plots:

The soil at the research centre looks fertile and flat. The plots are small (5 to 10m wide by 15m

deep). Weeding has been thorough in the plots. The grass stretch to access/oversee plots has been

mown.

The plots are small for demonstration purposes. As the plots are not for feeding, we could not

calculate the number of dairy animals per acre.

GART is interested in harvesting the seed, which means that they wait until grass turns into straw.

Straw is low in digestibility. In the group only one was saving seeds for own use. When you want to

save seeds from your own grasses (and be seed secure), it could be done at a part of the field and

use the rest of the field to harvest high quality feed.

Dairy farmers aim for palatable fodder with a lot of

energy (sugars) and higher digestibility. See the graph

with an example of maize. From the different parts in

maize plant, stalk and tassel, husk and air shank, cob

and silk (shaded area in the figure) are least digested

by the cattle. You can see in the figure that the dry

matter from the leaves is about 10% of the dry matter

of the whole maize plant, the leaf sheaths also 10%.

The cob and silk is about 15% of the dry matter and

the grain is about 45% of the whole plant when

mature. In the lower axe you see that the percentage

of dry matter increases with the age of the plant:

after 50 days it is about 14% dry matter, at an age of

100 days it is about 29 percent dry matter and at

maturity, at 120 days of age, it is about 39% dry

matter. Although the plant looks and feels quit dry, it contains still 60 percent water. Maize for

feeding should be harvested while in the “milk” stage. The plant then just has a cob with grain, and

the dry matter content is good for making silage.

Dairy farmers should aim to harvest grasses before full bloom. In grasses that is the optimum for

feeding value and yield. Cutting in an earlier stage gives a higher feeding value but lower yield,

cutting in a later stage lowers the feeding value and increases the yield.

An average dairy cow of 450 kg producing 10 kg of milk has an intake capacity of 12 kg of dry matter.

The feeding value is in the dry matter, short DM. All feed contains water: fresh green grass and

legumes up to 80%, hay, by-products and concentrates less than 15%. Depending on the water

content, 12 kg of dry matter is 60 kilogram of fresh grass (DM 20%), 34 kilogram of fresh maize (DM

35%) or 15 kilogram of hay (DM 80%). In a year 1 cow needs about 4400 kg DM (365 days * 12 kg)

from high quality feed: the estimate is that 1 acre of land produces either 5 ton DM of maize or 4

ton DM of grass. That is enough for about 1 cow a whole year. Ten cows need 44 tons of high quality

dry matter (DM): that is about 10 acres.

Note that: when estimating the number of acres needed for roughage production, account for; 1)

other crops not used for dairy, 2) feeding other animals (calves, goats and chicken) and 3) the

external feed sources like brans, cakes, brewers grain and molasses. With the use of irrigation, the

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year round production of fodder is possible, this is important to avoid a drop in milk production

during the dry period.

There were some discussions regarding the use of cow dung as fertiliser for the grasses. . GART

warned that cow dung contains seeds of weeds, so applying dung to the pasture may cause weeds in

crops. You can prevent this by composting the manure, because temperatures of about 70 degrees

will kill the seeds of most weeds. GART used herbicides like MSPA to keep their plots free of weeds (it

kills the broad leafed plants and does not seriously affect grasses). Using these chemicals will kill your

legumes completely.

The Dairy Learning Lab advice on this topic is:

Calculate how much dairy cows can be fed during the year with the roughage at the farm as

in the example given. Adapt for other crops, other animals and other feedstuffs.

Improve production of roughage: use manure, urine, compost and/or (green) plant material

to fertilize the fields. With compost, the soil gets higher organic matter. This way it can

better hold water, nutrients and air, leading to higher production.

Allow cows to graze (at least some time of the day). Establish separate plots and rotate the

grazing as to avoid overgrazing.

b) On the grass species:

At the GART demo plots, there were many species. Each plot had a name tag and Mr Moonga gave a

lot of practical information about the characteristics and uses of these species. One example given is

to intercrop legumes with grasses, for Napier grass and Desmodium.

Participants shared about their own grass production. Most of the farmers used natural perennial

grasses and improved perennial grasses like Napier and Rhodes grass. There were discussions about

the availability of seed of grasses and legumes. All farmers are using improved grasses and legumes

and the seeds are bought on the market.

For all grasses, the best time to mow is in the afternoon, as sugar content varies about 12% during

the day (rising with the sun).

There is confusion about the scientific but even more on the popular names of grasses and legumes.

It was suggested to list all known grasses in Zambia with the official name and with all the local

names in the key milk areas to make it easier for farmers to get familiar with improved grasses and

legumes. Actually, this was partly been done in the Ruminant Feeding Table (Asareca 2013). In the

different manuals used in Zambia there is scattered information about grasses, legumes, shrubs and

trees.

The Dairy Learning Lab advice on this topic is:

The quality of fodder improves when mixing legumes in grass swards. The mix gives a

palatable roughage with proper protein content.

When growing legumes is difficult, consider the alternative of buying protein sources.

During the day, grass has higher sugar levels. Mow in the afternoon.

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c) On conservation of roughage:

The word conservation may be about the soil conservation but here it refers to making hay or silage,

to conserve roughage for the dry season. We saw a demonstration of making hay bales using a

wooden box to compact the material and bind strings around it. Big commercial farms use baling

machines, but it is all the same principle. Hay usually has long stems and a dry matter content of

80%. So cows need more water when eating hay (and water is needed to ruminate and digest).

In contrast to what was said at GART, silage can also be made from grass too. Silage is more work

than hay and it requires more resources (polyethylene sheets), but the feeding values are better. A

good fermentation process in the silage pit needs sugars for bacteria to make lactic acid. Sometimes

these sugars are not available sufficiently, such as in very wet grass, or in high crude fibre mature

grass. Some participants stated that they add molasses to help the fermentation process. If the pit is

not airtight, or if it is open for a long time, the silage may get mouldy and hot. Silage should smell

good and cows prefer it over hay when they are used to it.

Plastic to cover silage is not always available, it is expensive, and it gets perforated after rough

handling. Other materials (plastic bags) can be used. Compaction by a tractor, or heavy drums filled

with water or molasses (heavier than water!) and a thick layer of soil to cover the silage helps the

fermentation as it pushes out air.

The Dairy Learning Lab advice on this topic is:

Making hay requires less resources than making silage. Hay just needs a dry place. Its

nutritious value is less especially when you lose leaves in the drying process. Cows like a

combination of silage, hay and grass.

Silage needs plastic and molasses, extra care to keep it airtight and under pressure. It is also

sensitive for moulding and getting warm after opening the pit.

The size of the silage pit should fit the amount of feed used per week: the cows should eat 1

foot a day to avoid the risk of silage turning bad.

1. Farm visit day to Kalundu Farm (Zammilk),

This farm is also close to Fringilla and GART. The dairy farm is part of Zambeef and is vertically

integrated with inputs, concentrates, processing.

Before we could enter the farm through the main entrance we had to disinfect hands and shoes and

the bus drove through a disinfection bath. We were guided on the farm by the veterinarian Dr.

Danstan Mwiinga and the dairy administration manager Victor Mulenga. We saw the 300 cows in one

of the stables, the rearing of the calves, the concentrate store and the maize silage making.

It was impressive: hundreds of Holstein Frisian cows and calves, tons of concentrates for the

different animal categories, total mixed ration, big machinery and different specialized people

managing parts of the farm.

The ration was fed as a total mixed ration (TMR) and all feed was mixed in that ration. The ration

consisted of Lucerne, Rhodes grass hay, maize silage, maize bran, cotton seed cake and a

mineral/vitamin-premix. No concentrates where fed in the milking parlour or at any other place.

Because of that cows were divided in production groups. The heifers were divided in two groups:

from calving up to 100 days in milk and a group after 100 days in milk. The older cows where divided

in three groups according to milk production; one group with an average daily yield of 40 litres of

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milk, one group with 35 litres of milk and one group with 25 litres of milk. The cows were fed twice a

day and there was always feed available in the trough. To avoid rumen acidosis Bi-calcium carbonate

was provided ad libitum. Cows were housed in cubicle houses with solid floors with dung scrapers to

remove the dung. The dung is separated in solid parts and fluids and only the solids parts are used on

the fields. Big fans under the roof provided a breeze to keep temperature down. The average yield

was 5000 litres per cow (is 16.5 kg per day in a 305 day lactation)

Age at first calving is 22-24 month and all heifers are synchronised by using hormones to have them

in heat (and mated and calving) in groups of 10. To have the cows in heat within 55 days after calving

and pregnant within 100 days) they were examined by the veterinarian and treated with hormones

to induce heat when needed. The pregnancy rates from first insemination in heifers were high (90%),

in cows it was as low as 35%. For the first inseminations in heifers sexed semen was used (at 100 USD

per straw). Standard antibiotics were used as dry cow treatment. On average cows had three

lactations before they were culled and replaced by first calving heifers. The aim of the farm was to

expand before the end of next year to 1500 cows (from 800 now), so all female calves were kept (and

bull calves were fattened) and not yet available for sale for other farmers.

The female calves were raised in a large barn (the bull calves were in another barn) separated from

the cow barns. They were replacing the old individual places with straw by plastic crates with slatted

floors to improve hygiene and efficient cleaning. Calves got colostrum within 3 hours after being born

for 4 days and changed to milk replacer, provide at 1.5 litres two times a day for a period of 3 month.

They also were provided with concentrates with monensin (an antibacterial chemical) and most

hayracks were empty. The older calves and young stock were grazing.

The harvesting of maize has started at the farm and they were filling the first silo and preparing the

second one. The pits were partly in the ground and partly above and could reach a height of 4

meters. The compaction was done by two heavy tractors driving back and forth all the time and the

trailers with maize were pulled over the silage as well. The silage was going to be covered by

polyethylene sheets and some soil. The total land size was 1100 ha of with 60 ha of maize silage.

The last part of the farm we visited was the feed mixing unit. In future, all feed will be mixed

automatically in the right proportions here and now it was being tested in chopping hay, before it is

implemented into the feeding management of the farm.

On internet you can find more information about the farm and the plan for further development and

the impact on the environment, here:

https://www.google.co.zm/search?q=kalundu+dairy+farm&rlz=1C1SAVS_enNL535NL539&oq=Kalund

u+dairy&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.1970j0j9&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8.

In the afternoon the discussion focussed on the second part of the questionnaire, combined with

experiences from the participants, information from the provided manuals and theoretical input

from the expert.

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2. Afternoon session

GART presented a farm trial with cowpea as a dairy fodder (on day 2). The trial compared 5 groups of

6 farmers. One group fed regular fodder and bran to dairy cows, in 2 groups some of the bran was

replaced by cowpea and in 1 of this groups 300 grams of grinded cowpea beans were added. In 2

groups cowpea pods were include, 1 of them was also provided with grinded cowpea beans. The

dairy cows responded to cowpea within a few days, milk yields increased 1,5 liters per day and even

a little more with the grinded cowpea beans. Cowpea beans are very energy rich with 16.6 Mj ME per

kg. (Presentation is included as an attachment)

On Feeding Dairy Cows and Young Stock:

d. on feed rations

Observations shared: for this 2750 acre farm, land is not a limiting factor. The herd size is now 830

dairy cows and the target is to go beyond 1000 this year, with 2 more big sheds like the 2 we saw.

In the discussion about the Total Mixed Ration on the farm there were some doubts about the

amount of long fibrous feed, seeing the need for Sodium bicarbonate to treat rumen acidosis. In the

feed mixer trailers the feed is chopped and mixed thoroughly: an advantage is that cows cannot

select for specific parts in it. A disadvantage is that there is not enough long fibrous material left to

stimulate an optimal rumen function. One of the small scale farmers provides her cows with a TMR,

handmade and with enough fibre for a healthy rumen. Cows produced on average 20 litres of milk,

so the management must be good.

The presentation by Gidi on this topic explained that cows use the energy in their feed for

maintenance, for growth (meat) and for milk production. His calculations are done in metabolic

energy (or ME, expressed in mega joules). The system with ME energy values of feedstuffs is used in

most countries. The US uses a system based on TDN or total digestible nutrients value. Choose and

use one system to compare animal requirements with the energy in feedstuffs. Both energy values

(ME and TDN) can be derived from feed analyses (or from feed tables).

A ruminant must ruminate: that means a cow should have a ration that it enables to act as a

ruminant: after swallowing the feed very fast, it must find a quiet place and re-chew the feed for

proper mixing with saliva to promote digestion. Therefore it needs crude fibres and some long stems

to keep a healthy stomach.

The Dairy Learning Lab advice on this topic is:

Feed a cow (a ruminant) 4-5 kg of fibrous feed to ruminate and not only concentrates to

avoid off feed symptoms and rumen acidosis. Monitor whether cows are ruminating.

A big cow has more maintenance needs than a small one. But 1 big cow producing 20 litres of

milk needs less maintenance feed than 2 cows producing 10 litres each.

Jersey cows are efficient as they have low body weight and relatively high production.

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e. on feeding for dairy

The energy and protein requirement for 1 litre of milk with 4% fat about 5.2 Mega joule and 90

grams of protein.

A general rule is that in addition to roughage, an extra kilo of by-products or concentrates should

increase the yield with 2 litres of milk. This means that the price of by-products and concentrates

should be less than double the price of milk.

Some by-products are so low in energy that they only provide energy for 1 litre of milk. The example

given in the training with different types of rice bran: the bran highest in energy has three times

more energy than the bran with the lowest energy content. As maize bran is more relevant for

Zambia, the following table gives some info on composition and feeding value. Consider that also

maize bran is a product of highly variable composition.

So one should ask the composition and feeding value when buying concentrate or by products. One

of the organisation participating in the learning lab offered to analyse feed samples.

The requirements for dairy cows have been listed in the table below. Our average cow of 450 kilo

and 10 litres a day has an energy requirement of 110 MJ (mega joules of ME) and 1234 grams of

crude protein.

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The ration this cow needs is then for example:

- A wheelbarrow of 65 kg fresh grass (which contains 80% of water).

The dry matter content is 20% or 65*0.20 = 13 kg of dry matter.

The ME from grass is 7.9 Mega joule ME per kg of dry matter.

So with 13 kg of dry matter (out of 65 kg of grass) the cow gets 13*7.9 => 103 Mega joules,

ME.

- Half a kilo of concentrate contains 6,5 Mega joules. With the grass (103), this ration balances

with the requirement of 110 Mega joules.

- In the dry season the fresh grass could be replaced by another ration, for example maize

silage, hay and brans or cakes, in a ration with similar values.

- One can replace only part of the roughage by concentrates. Cows need a minimum 4-5 kg dry

matter of fibrous feed to keep the rumen in good function

- The cow also needs 60 litres of water per day. In the 65 kg of fresh grass there is already 52

litres (the cow is eating water), so 1 extra bucket of 10 litres water is needed. Note that when

feeding hay, the water content is only 20%. So the cow gets only 3 litres water out of 16 kg of

hay, and needs 6 buckets of water extra. This means that for 3 cows you have to carry 18

buckets of water, every day.

The Dairy Learning Lab advice for this topic is:

- Ask for the quality of purchased by-products and cakes. Calculate cost – benefit.

- Cows eat water hidden in grass, but they always need extra water.

f. on herd and cow management

One observation is that the farm has production groups for cows giving 28, 35 and 40 litres of milk a

day. Each group is fed a different ration, calculating the average energy requirements for that

production. Cows producing more than average yield, need to eat more to reach the requirements.

One can calculate the requirements for every cow according to body weight, age and production.

There are requirement tables for young stock, with different growth rates and with different adult

weights. For milking cows there is a requirement table as you can see with the weight of the cow

and the milk production in litres per day.

How to feed a herd, as each animal is different? Best, find out what the average of the herd is, or

calculate the average for each production group. A production groups separates the high productive

animals from other groups like cows at the end of lactation.

There was a discussion about whether feeding ad libitum (always feed available) is preferred over

taking the feed away after 2 hours. Gidi’s advice is to have palatable feed available 24 hours.

Dominant cows eat first and in most (free stall) barns the feeding space is limited. So the cows with

lower rank need their time to eat too. A related issue in this context is that cows are able to select in

feed.

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Balanced feeding also helps to manage cow fertility. Imagine that the average cow of 450 kilo has a

dry period of 8 months. It needs a lot of maintenance feed, while it is not producing 10 litres a day.

With an interval between calvings of 18 months, a lactation of 3000 litres means 2000 litres a year.

With 12 months between calving, the same lactation yields 3000 litres a year: an increase of 33%.

The Dairy Learning Lab advice on this topic is:

First, make sure that cows can take as much good quality feed and fresh water they want to

eat and drink. Only then it is possible to reach a high production when your cows are

genetically equipped for it.

When you feed your cow enough high quality feed at all times, you can reduce the interval

between calving’s, reduce the dry period and have more milk produced in a shorter period.

When farm conditions are not optimal, cross breeds or indigenous cows perform better than

exotic cows (Friesians). The animal that fits the farm conditions does not get skinny, or ill, or

loses production and does not have fertility problems.

Feedback on Dairy Training Manuals:

In a few sheets attention remarks were shared about the manuals used in Zambia.

Manual on improved feeing of dairy cattle by smallholder farmers (GART), 50p.

Improved dairy farming practices for small scale milk producers (WE EFFECT), 132p

Integrated small holder dairy farming manual (Heifer international Zambia), 97p.

Fodder banks in livestock and dairy production (Small holder drought mitigation programme), 69p

Module 7: dairy cattle feeding (Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre), 6p.

Dairy cattle feeding (presentation of Livestock Services Cooperative Society), 9p

All manuals give valuable information about feeding, in very diverse ways.

The GART manual has practical information about maintenance and milk yield, and gives feeding

value in the product only. In this way it seems that mature grass has a higher feeding value than

young grass and that a mixture of Napier grass and Desmodium is lower in quality than only Napier

grass.

The We-effect manual has very clear drawings and pictures and descriptions of grasses, legumes,

shrubs and legume trees. The energy part of the feed should be elaborated more extensively and

must have a more prominent place than proportion of dry matter as a measure for feeding value.

In the Heifer International Zambia manual is extended information about feed and feeding, in

different chapters and sometimes a bit hidden. The advice on how to make dairy meal with brans

and cakes gives very different feeding values of the meal, varying from only 1 litre of milk up to 2.5

litres of milk.

The manual from the Small Holder Drought Mitigation Programme focusses on surviving the dry

season and less on production and rations. There is information about browsing and protein content

of (parts of) trees.

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The module dairy cattle feeding from KASISI Agricultural Technical College gives a lot of information

in brief. It must be elaborated more on energy and good quality roughage. Nice list of feeds in

Zambia but no specification.

The presentation from Livestock Services Cooperative Society provides a very brief overview about

feeding. The picture about the balance should be between requirement and supply. Energy needs

more attention because proteins cannot be used efficient without energy.

In few manuals prevention of milk fever does not meet the latest views: limit the calcium supply in

the dry period to keep the calcium mobilization from the bones active, so it is working well when the

calcium demand is high when lactation starts. The comments and remarks on the manuals will be

shared with the ‘owners’.