Improved feeding and forages at a crossroads: Farming systems approaches for sustainable livestock development in East Africa

Dairy development provides substantial potential economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in East Africa, but productivity is constrained by the scarcity of quantity and quality feed. Ruminant livestock production is also associated with negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air pollution, high water consumption, land-use change, and loss of biodiversity. Improved livestock feeding and forages have been highlighted as key entry point to sustainable intensification, increasing food security, and decreasing environmental trade-offs including GHG emission intensities. In this perspective article, we argue that farming systems approaches are essential to understand the multiple roles and impacts of forages in smallholder livelihoods. First, we outline the unique position of forages in crop-livestock systems and systemic obstacles to adoption that call for multidisciplinary thinking. Second, we discuss the importance of matching forage technologies with agroecological and socioeconomic contexts and niches, and systems agronomy that is required. Third, we demonstrate the usefulness of farming systems modeling to estimate multidimensional impacts of forages and for reducing agro-environmental trade-offs. We conclude that improved forages in East Africa are at a crossroads: if adopted by farmers at scale, they can be a cornerstone of pathways toward sustainable livestock systems in East Africa.</p

Small Grain Forage Trial: Nitrogen Fertility x Harvest Date

Cool season annual forages, such as cereal grains, can provide early season grazing as well as high quality stored feed. However, it is unclear if quality and yield of these forages could be improved through better nitrogen (N) management. Improved quality of homegrown forages can help to reduce expensive grain purchases. The goal of this project was to determine yield and quality of an annual cool season forage harvested at various stages of maturity and under different organic N fertility regimes. The data presented here is from one replicated research trial in Vermont. Crop performance data from additional tests in different locations and often over several years, should be compared before you make decisions about planting small grains

Seasonal Distribution of Forage Yield and Winter Hardiness of Grasses from Diverse Latitudinal Origins Harvested Four Times Per Year in Southcentral Alaska

Relatively short growing seasons at subarctic latitudes require maximum efficiencies in production of forages during the brief growing period. This is necessary to provide adequately for livestock feeding requirements both during the growing season and for preserved forages for use during the relatively longer infeeding period. As elsewhere, forages in Alaska are utilized in several ways; these include (a) usually two harvests per year for preservation as silage, haylage, or hay, (b) more frequent harvests for green-chop feeding, and (c) pasturing rotationally or continuously. Various crop species utilized for forage differ in growth characteristics as well as in their responses to various harvest procedures and schedules; therefore it is understandable that a number of species can be advantageously employed for forage production in Alaska, each to fulfill ideally one of the several ways that forages are utilized. Another limitation affecting forage production in the far north is the modest number of useful perennial legume and grass species and strains adequately winter- hardy to persist dependably under northern climatic constraints (Klebesadel 1970, 1971, 1985; Klebesadel et al. 1964; Wilton et al. 1966)

Kentucky Alfalfa Awards History

The Kentucky Alfalfa Awards Program was initiated in 2000 at the 20th Anniversary of the Kentucky Alfalfa Conference. The Awards Program is funded annually from revenues generated each year for the Silent Auction during the Annual Conference

Small Grain Forage Trial Nitrogen Fertility and Harvest Date

Cool season annual forages, such as cereal grains, can provide early season grazing as well as high quality stored feed. However, it is unclear if quality and yield of these forages could be improved through better fertility management. Improved quality of homegrown forages can help to reduce expensive grain purchases. In addition, production of high quality forage can improve the level of beneficial fats (i.e. Omege-3) in the milk. In order to produce forage with the highest levels of beneficial fats management practices may need to be modified. It is unclear if nitrogen management will impact the level of beneficial fats in the forages. The goal of this project was to determine yields, quality, and fatty acid (FA) levels of annual cool season forage harvested at various growth stages and under different fertility regimes. The data presented here is from one replicated research trial in Vermont. Crop performance data from additional tests in different locations and often over several years, should be compared before you make decisions about planting small grains. Support for this project came from the Organic Valley Farmers Advocating for Organics fund

Palatability of teff grass by horses

Most forages commonly used to feed horses have potential detriments including blister beetles or excessive fiber concentrations. Teff grass (T), a warm-season annual forage, has the potential to be a good alternative for horses because of its lack of observed disorders. Our objective was to compare preference by horses for T harvested under different conditions with that of bermudagrass (B) harvested at two maturities. Six different forages were evaluated: T harvested at the late vegetative stage (TLV), at late bloom but that incurred 33 mm of rainfall between mowing and baling (TLBR), with caryopsis visible (TES), or at soft dough (TSD), and B harvested at late vegetative (BLV) and mid-bloom (BMB) growth stages. Five mature horses were used in a balanced incomplete block design where each horse received a different combination of 4 forages each day for 6 d. The 4 different forages were suspended in hay nets in each corner of each stall, and each hay was offered at 50% of the average daily hay consumption measured during a 12-d adaptation period. Forage preference as measured by individual forage dry matter (DM) consumption (kg and % of total DM consumed across the 4 forages) was greatest (P \u3c 0.05) from TLV followed by BLV. Preference (kg and % of total DM consumed) of BMB was greater (P \u3c 0.05) than that of TMBR, TES, and TSD, which did not differ from each other (P ≥ 0.63). Therefore, within a specific growth stage, horses apparently preferred teff grass, but effects of maturity and rainfall had a more dramatic effect on preference by horses than forage species

Wrapped forages for horses

Wrapped forages, in the form of silage and haylage, have become more common in horse diets during recent years. Silage and haylage is commonly produced in big bales. However, for use in stables with few animals, these bales often contain too much forage to be consumed before onset of aerobic deterioration. Smaller bales are therefore of interest, but knowledge of the chemical composition (including vitamin content), fermentation pattern and changes in those variables during storage of small bales is limited, and was therefore investigated. Small bale forage contained higher pH, higher ethanol and lower lactic acid content, compared to general levels in chopped silo silage, but low levels of ammonia-N and butyric acid. There were no general effects of dry matter or extent of fermentation on α-tocopherol and β-carotene contents in the preserved forages, but linear positive correlations between the vitamins and lactic acid existed. In general, long-term storage (14 months) of small bales influenced fermentation variables, yeasts and pH, but silage was affected by storage to a larger extent than haylage. Although changes occurred during storage, values in two month old bales correlated well with values obtained after 14 months. The influence of forage conservation methods on horse preference was also investigated. Hay, haylage and silage were produced from the same grass crops and the forages were offered simultaneously to horses. Silage was the first chosen forage, had the highest rate of consumption and the longest eating time, while hay had the lowest consumption rate and the shortest eating time. Haylage was intermediate between hay and silage in both eating time and rate of consumption. The influence of forage conservation methods on equine hindgut fermentation was studied using fistulated horses. Hay, haylage and silage were produced from the same grass crop and fed in a changeover study. Horses were sampled after being fed the forage for 21 days, and a kinetic study of colon fermentation was performed in each period. Forage conservation method had no effect on microbial or chemical composition in the right ventral colon or faeces on Day 21. All forages showed similar fermentation kinetics in the right ventral colon before (0h) and at 2, 4, 8 and 12 h after feeding