Livestock-Brazseed nutritious for cattle feed (Part 1)

Mildred kamana Njapau

FEEDING cattle must be done in a way that will improve the animal’s performance in relation to other animals.

Commercial farmers use open feeds bunks(troughs) for feeding their animals. These bunks process their own food and animals may feed more than once in a day. Livestock feed has combined ingredients known as feedstuff. It is a combination of grains, byproducts, oilseeds and roughages.

In this edition, we will consider the feed stuff for cattle our major feed being Brazseed, variety called Panicums and Brachiaria.

Meanwhile, Grains are corn, milo, barley and oats. Milo is a drought-resistant type of grain. Grain is needed in cattle diet because it provides energy, hence they are high in energy but low in fiber. Farmers are advised to feed cattle more grain because it makes the cattle grow faster and gain more weight than one can possibly imagine.

Byproducts are leftovers from human food production, that is, sweet corn, bakery waste and grain. However, corn products are very sweet and should be fed at a minimum.

Oilseeds are very important for cattle feed because they provide proteins, energy and some fiber to cattle’s diet. Examples of oilseed are; soya beans and canola meal.

Roughages such as coarse and indigestible ingredients that provide bulk. Common roughages include hay, silage and grass. Silage is a crop that has been preserved in a moist condition by partial fermentation in a tight container (Silo) above or below ground. This is where the majority of cattle feedstuff is derived from.

Bearing in mind, cattle have a diverse diet with a variety of feeds that provide them with different nutrients.

However, the debate is, whether cattle should be raised on diets primarily composed of grass or diet of grain, soya, corn and other feedstuffs. It is rather complicated.

But, cattle raised on searching for food (forage) diet are termed as grass-fed or pasture-raised, hence milk and meat may be termed as grass-fed beef or pasture-raised dairy.

Now talking about grass as the most easy and most recommendable feedstuff for cattle, Agriserve Agro Managing Director Liesel Otton says just like grains, there are a wide range of pasture(grass) for cattle.

She states Brazseed, variety called Panicums and Brachiaria species are the easiest to maintain and nutritious for cattle.  “Its origin is Zambia and it grows so well that it’s practically easy to grow and maintain, however, it has depleted due to overgrazing and non-fertilizing.” Liesel Said.

Liesel says the Czech Centre of excellence has taken the mother seed of the grass to Brazil so as to refine it over the years not Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), but just to bring it back to its original state.

She adds that the re-established quality will be sold and circulated around Zambia to all farmers so that it is regenerated.

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