 |
| Ms. Tracy Griffin a farm hand feeds the calves. |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (August 30, 2005) -- Extension Officer in the Department of Agriculture on Nevis Mr Rohan Claxton, is urging local farmers to take advantage of the profits from a small scale cattle farm.
Mr. Claxton who heads the government owned cattle farms on the island said that an ongoing experimental feeding regime with calves at the Maddens Stock Farm is proof that farmers do not need extensive plots of land for grazing or expensive feed to sustain the animals.
We are introducing feed lot management where we take a number of calves from the herd and introduce them to an intensive system type of farming. I am using this to demonstrate to farmers that they do not need large plots of land to raise cattle.
They just need about a half to one acre to produce forage and then they can keep the animals enclosed give them a balanced diet of some mill feed, molasses, salt lick for minerals along with the grass and in that way the quality of the meat is improved because the animal is not walking back and forth to build up the tendons to make it tough.
So in that way you are improving the quality of the meat and you are able to meet the market weight of 250 pounds of meat in a short time. Also, in that way we are showing them that cattle production is a lucrative Agri business, Mr. Claxton said.
 |
|
Lands at the Maddens Stock Farm cultivated with sugar cane used for feed. |
At present there are a total of 14 calves in the feed lot system, seven male and seven female which were fed with a combination of horse pellets with general purpose (a maintenance ration) to jump start the programme three months ago. When the animals got used to eating grain which accounted for 20 percent of their diet, the remaining 80 percent consisted of grass they were expose to in the enclosed paddock.
During the second week of the programme the calves were introduced to beet pulp which replaced the costly horse feed with general purpose. The cattle were introduced to mill feed (wheat middlin which gives the cattle hide a shine) mixed with general purpose and sugar cane for energy which is cultivated on the estates, the forage and the carbohydrates and the grass with its natural nutrients.
The first day we introduced them to the system the average weight was 175 pounds. To date, three months later the average weight is 520 pounds. So in three months by eight months you are ready to sell the animal and make some money, Mr. Claxton said adding that farmers could make near 100 percent profit.
|
|
|
Farm hand Ms Tracy Griffin and Mr. Alfred Mintos who is in charge of the herd prepare cane for the calves in the feed lot system at Maddens. |
The calves come from the Senepol breed of cattle at the farm. At present there is a heard of 88. Mr Claxton said that with the abundance of rainfall they have embarked on the cultivation of one acre of sugar cane, also guinea and sour grass, and Mulberry and Accacia Mangium shrubs which will be used as back up for dry season feeding.
At the moment, the cattle except those involve in the feeding lot system are fed through rotational grazing from paddock to paddock for a two to three day period as part of the management system to break the cycle of pests and parasites in the field. Each paddock is about five acres and there are a total of 16 paddocks
Mr. Claxton contends that although cattle maintenance had become an issue in the past running the farm as it is done at present is one way of showing we can keep the farm running at minimum cost. The ideal thing is to maintain a herd size of less than 100 and we will be ok.
