The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effects of changes in the strategy to manage the bio-economic efficiency of a Murrah Buffalo production system in the province of Camagüey, Cuba, located 21º north and 77º west, 217 meters above sea level. The climate is tropical humid (Aw) of plains. The mean annual precipitations were 1 180 mm (71% between May and October), the temperatures were between 24 and 29 °C. The soil is brown, without carbonates, and brown-red fersiallitic. The system comprises 5 100 ha and has 536 workers/year. A strategy to introduce management changes in agro-technical, food, reproductive, replacement, health, salary policy, and training was implemented as part of an innovation package with a systemic and participatory approach. The evaluation lasted eight years, and it was critical to increase dairy production in more than 200 000 kg/year in 2012, in comparison to 2004, with improvements in natality and reduction of operational expenses of the system. It was concluded that the strategy had a determining effect on the system's indicators

Arcos Álvarez, Cristian N.

Armas Cajas, Jorge A.

Bastidas Pacheco, Hernán P.

Curbelo Rodríguez, Lino M.

Guevara Viera, Guillermo E.

Guevara Viera, Raúl V.

Hernán Chancusig, Francisco

Lascano Armas, Paola J.

Martínez Freire, Maira N.

Serpa García, Guillermo V.

Torres Inga, Carlos S.

English

Portal de Revistas - Universidad de Camagüey

Journal of Animal Production, 30 (3), 30-35, 2018  Bio-economic Impact of Strategic Changes in Murrah River Buffalo Management Raúl V. Guevara Viera*; Paola J. Lascano Armas**, Cristian N. Arcos Álvarez**; Guillermo E. Guevara Viera*; Francisco Hernán Chancusig**, Jorge A. Armas Cajas**; Guillermo V. Serpa García*; Hernán P. Bastidas Pacheco**; Maira N. Martínez Freire**; Carlos S. Torres Inga*; Lino M. Curbelo Rodríguez*** *Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Cuenca, Yanuncay Campus, Ecuador. **Academic Unit of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (UA-CAREN), Veterinary Medi-cine Degree, Technical University of Cotopaxi, Latacunga, Ecuador. ***Center for Animal Production Studies (CEDEPA), Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Camagüey, Cuba. rguevaraviera@yahoo.es ABSTRACT The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effects of changes in the strategy to manage the bio-economic efficiency of a Murrah Buffalo production system in the province of Camagüey, Cuba, located 21º north and 77º west, 217 me-ters above sea level. The climate is tropical humid (Aw) of plains. The mean annual precipitations were 1 180 mm (71% between May and October), the temperatures were between 24 and 29 °C. The soil is brown, without carbon-ates, and brown-red fersiallitic. The system comprises 5 100 ha and has 536 workers/year. A strategy to introduce management changes in agro-technical, food, reproductive, replacement, health, salary policy, and training was im-plemented as part of an innovation package with a systemic and participatory approach. The evaluation lasted eight years, and it was critical to increase dairy production in more than 200 000 kg/year in 2012, in comparison to 2004, with improvements in natality and reduction of operational expenses of the system. It was concluded that the strategy had a determining effect on the system's indicators. Key words: Bubalus bubalis, strategies, training, cooperative, innovation, efficiency  INTRODUCTION In the last decades, buffalo breeding has become an alternative to milk and beef production due to greater adaptability than cattle to infertile lands, its rusticity, and capacity to make better use of na-tive grass. In many regions, buffaloes have been reported to match or perform better than the local cattle, in terms of growth, environmental toler-ance, health, and beef and milk production. The previous indicates the importance of this resource in tropical and temperate regions in different parts of the hemisphere (Fundora and González, 2001; Mudgal, 2010). Fundora and González (2001) pointed out that this species is well known, and the results achieved in this area have shown its development and true potential as a source of labor and nutri-tion. Although there are still technological defi-ciencies that can be corrected, buffaloes are a vi-able alternative to mitigate the adverse situation of cattle raising in tropical countries, and increase food production with high nutritional and thera-peutic values at competitive costs; in that sense, Cuba is not the exception.    Buffaloes are dairy animals with a proven feasi-ble alternative for milk production in Camagüey, Cuba. The effects of strategic changes imple-mented in the main local buffalo raising company have not been quantified so far; neither has the system shown greater bio-economic efficiency. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to evaluate the effects of the strategy of operational changes on the bio-economic efficiency of buffalo produc-tion systems at the Maraguan Cattle Raising Company, in Camagüey. MATERIALS AND METHODS This research was done at the Maraguan Cattle Raising Company, located on the easternmost part of the municipality of Jimaguayu, Camagüey. It is located on 21º north latitude and 77º west longi-tude, 217 m above sea level. The climate is tropi-cal humid (Aw) of wavy plains and low hill chains, with seasonal humidity. The annual pre-cipitations mean of the experimental period was 1 180 mm (71% from May to October), and the Bio-economic Impact of Strategic Changes in Murrah River Buffalo Management J o u r n a l  o f  A n i m a l  P r o d u c t i o n ,  3 0  ( 3 ) ,  3 0 - 3 5 ,  2 0 1 8  highest temperatures varied between 24 and 29 °C. The predominant soil is carbonate brown, and brown without carbonates, and brown-red fersial-litic (Hernández et al., 2012). The system encompasses 5 100 ha. Undesirable woody plants cover 60% of the area, especially sickle bush (Dichrostachys cinerea). The average number of workers is 536, whose mean salary is $218.00 CUP ($1 USD=$25 Cuban Pesos). The annual commercial production accounts for $275 000 CUP, which underwent $1.8 million pesos in losses, between 1996 and 2004. The population consists of 255 buffaloes and 1 150 heads of cattle (Table 1). This research lasted eight years, with a dynamic evaluation every two years. Only river buffaloes were used (crossbred 95% Murrah) A strategy to introduce management changes (ECAMAN) was implemented as part of an inno-vation package with a systemic and participatory approach, which was based as follows: 1. A baseline diagnosis with a participatory approach of the production system was performed, using the Rapid Rural Ap-praisal technique (Rolling, 1999). 2. The diagnostic results and the new guide-lines for animal breeding and well-being were the groundwork for strategic planning, consisting of a series of meet-ings of laborers, technicians, and the board of directors in every key man-agement area. 3. The purposes, priorities, mechanisms, production goals, and reasonable dead-lines to implement the strategy, were discussed. 4. A periodic control mechanism was set up during the implementation of manage-ment changes within the strategy, and its impact was measured through bio-economic and social and environmental indicators.  5. Training actions were carried out at every level, concerning organization, pastures, feeding, reproduction, cattle economy, and health of buffaloes. 6. The results were analyzed twice a year by comparing the most outstanding farms.  7. The females were allowed to reproduce from 14 months of age (60 fe-males/stud) on, each 300 kg minimum mean weight. 8. Behavioral test to male buffaloes 9. Selection of female offspring from high yielding cows. 10. Implementation of general dehorning and castration at 10 days of age. 11. A dose of commercial antiparasitic medication Labiomec was administered to each calf in the first days after birth; a second shot was supplied at 4-5 months of age.  12. Sickle Bush (Dicrostachys cinerea) and other woody plant species were col-lected to be used as hedges.  13. The presence of pastures and forages was increased, by introducing new va-rieties of Pennisetum and Panicum, and the area was enclosed with electric wires. 14. The studs were replaced every two years, before August. 15. The animals were weighed using a tape measure, following the Venezuelan Chart, with 18% deduction. 16. Jobs were restructured, particularly non-productive occupations; and a novel paying system was applied. 17. Different indicators were measured, such as, milk production (thou. kg), to-tal of milking cows. Prod/day/year (kg), total deaths (No.), deaths of herds (No.), births (No.), cows in reproduction, total herds. Statistical analysis To evaluate the impact of the strategy to trans-form management of productive indexes (individ-ual production), simple ANOVA was performed, using SYSTAT 12.0 (Wilkinson, 1998). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION River buffalo systems have increased their in-terest, and have significantly spread out in the last 15 years in Latin America. Thus, countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Cuba (the larg-est increase as to total animals and herds) attribute it to the species´ high adaptive capacities, which may beat bovines and other ruminants in adverse edaphoclimatic conditions. Buffaloes are known for their fertility, response to supplements, high food conversion, and economy of resources, for R. V. Guevara; Paola J. Lascano, C. N. Arcos; G. E. Guevara; F. Hernán, J. A. Armas et al. J o u r n a l  o f  A n i m a l  P r o d u c t i o n ,  3 0  ( 3 ) ,  3 0 - 3 5 ,  2 0 1 8  sustainable production (Bernardes, 2007; Mudgal, 2010). When the buffalo program was started at the company, the production strategy was poorly or-ganized, only based on the etiology. Eventually, the differences between bovines and buffaloes have been acknowledged, along with, proper hus-bandry (Fundora and González, 2001). At the be-ginning, only 338 l of milk were produced by 54% of the cows; 2.0 t of meat were produced by animals weighing 275 kg on average; and natality was 59%, which were very low indicators for the species. The economic losses were $1.8 MM CUP, and income was $275.0 M CUP. In 2004 (Table 2), the workers reported that the company was run according to the basic princi-ples of a cattle company. Consequently, their re-sults failed to show a favorable bio-economic situation, regarding the production area and the number of animals. After changes in the latter in-dicator during the last years of evaluation (Table 3), efficiency and production increased, creating a positive scenario of the production economy. The above-mentioned response coincided with reports from several studies in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the adoption of some tech-nologies or experimental tests of some aspects of production have had sensitive positive effects on Murrah buffaloes, as in the works of Fundora and González (2001) in Cuban herds, and Mudgal (2010), in India. Without a doubt, the previous is a reflection of the strategies designed and implemented by the board of directors of the company and rural ex-tension, combined, along with farmers. It coin-cided with the results of this study, as it com-prised commercial herds, rather than comparisons of treatments in which single differences are the key results. Instead, this work was based on a group of systemic components with a high value regarding the implementation of strategic alterna-tives with a systemic approach. In the fourth two-year period (2010-2012) (Ta-ble 3), mean values of 2.91 kg per milking cow; 0.46 mortality; 90% natality; 30.7 t of meat; and 326 kg/animal, were recorded, as a result of im-provements in resource management and animal husbandry. Other authors have dealt with different aspects, like changes in grazing methods, seeking more rationality (Voisin grazing), activating ni-trogenized supplementation, and including sugar cane as forage in Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba (Fundora and González, 2001). The changes implemented after 2004 in terms of reproductive management of studs, and the incor-poration of cows at 14 months of age, made clear differences from cattle breeding. As a result, management strategies to enhance their qualities were implemented, which coincided with the find-ings of Fundora and González (2001) in Cuba; and Charlini and Sinniah (2015), Rajagopal (2008), and Anitha et al. (2011) in India, in terms of incorporation of females, their body condition, and regulation in the number of males per females and/or necessary inseminations per gestation. Table 3 shows that the new strategic changes in production incremented natality. The mating sea-son lasted less than 90 days in more than 85% of the cases. Male fights over mating were reduced, and a large number of gestations and calving were programed for later months. Although seasonal strategies can be considered, their effect was not demonstrated. The results of this study suggest beginning re-production at 24 months of age to guarantee mas-sive reproduction with more mature animals. If these conditions are met, the animals will be ready to start mating. In practice, the males were incorporated about a month after a group of cows had calved, and waited for a new reproductive cy-cle. Campo, Hincapié, Quesada, Fundora, Herrera and Alonso (2005), Hurtado, Cerón and Valencia (2006), and Fundora and González (2001) cor-roborated the results achieved with the change of strategy for buffalo breeding. They studied the ef-fects on improvements in forage and general nu-trition in buffalo systems of tropical areas in Latin America, like Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, and Vene-zuela, which led to increased dairy and meat yields over 1.5 kg/milk/day. Concerning the previous, the results achieved, other than the reproductive changes, and the im-portant role of using females calved from high-yielding cows, derived from changes imple-mented in animal nutrition. This strategy im-proved consumption and the nutritional contribu-tion remarkably, with ensuing high yields of animals and areas. It was validated by the sys-tem's efficiency in relation to better bio-economic indicators, and resilience after a critical stage (Martínez, 2006). Bio-economic Impact of Strategic Changes in Murrah River Buffalo Management J o u r n a l  o f  A n i m a l  P r o d u c t i o n ,  3 0  ( 3 ) ,  3 0 - 3 5 ,  2 0 1 8  An additional but equally important point is the improvements in the reproductive and genetic re-sponse of herds after the implementation of the new strategy, which coincided with positive ef-fects observed in that direction (Andrighetto et al. (2004); Hurtado-Lugo et al. (2006); Aspilcueta et al. (2007); Malhado et al. (2007), and Agudelo, Hurtado-Lugo and Cerón-Muñoz (2009), who es-timated production peaks and favorable results in buffalo lactation following changes in technology, including the evaluation of response to lactation in some cases. Accordingly, Tonhati et al. (2000) reported 1 259 kg of milk, somewhat below the reports of Amorim et al. (2006), and Malhado et al. (2007) in Brazil, who reported milk production means of 1 650 ± 687 kg, and 1 864 ± 677 kg; and by Kan-sana and Sinniah (2012), in India, with over 1 200 kg. In all the cases, higher values corresponded to strategic programs for dairy control, reproduction, and genetic breeding programs implemented sev-eral decades ago in these countries. CONCLUSIONS Largely, the application of changes in agro-technical management of pastures and forages, supplemented feeding, salary policies, training, and reproduction, had favorable and determining effects on the main productive indicators, such as, cattle population, reproduction, and economy, us-ing Murrah buffaloes in the period studied, in Cuba. REFERENCES AGUDELO-GÓMEZ, D.; HURTADO-LUGO, N. y CERÓN-MUÑOZ, M. F. (2009). Growth Curves and Genetic Parameters in Colombian Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis Artiodactyla, Bovidae). Revista Colombia-na de Ciencias Pecuarias, 22 (2), 178-188. ANDRIGHETTO, C. A.; PICCINI, A.; GIMENEZ, J. N.; MENDES, J. A.; MOR R.; NI, C. L. (2004). Curva de lactação de búfalas Murrah ajustadas pela função gama incompleta. V Simpósio Nacional da Socie-dade Brasileira de Melhoramento Animal, Pirassu-nunga, Anais do SBMA. ANITHA, A.; RAO, K. S.; SURESH, J.; MOORTHY, P. S.; REDDY, Y. K. (2011). A Body Condition Score (BCS) System in Murrah Buffaloes. Buffalo Bull, 30 (1), 79-96. ASPILCUETA, R. B.; TONHATI, H.; ALBUQUERQUE, L. G.; SESANA, R. C., SENO, L. O. e BIGNARDI, A B. (2007). Parâmetros genéticos para produção de leite no dia do controle de búfalas da raça Murrah no Brasil. 44 Reunião Anual da Sociedade de Zoo-tecnia, Jaboticabal, Visçosa, Brasil. BERNARDES, O. (2007). Buffaloes Breeding in Brasil: Position and Economic Relevancy. Rev Bras Re-prod Anim, 31 (1), 293-298. CAMPO, E.; HINCAPIÉ, J. J.; QUESADA, M. S.; FUNDORA, O.; HERRERA, P. y ALONSO, R. (2005). Estacionalidad de los partos, reproducción y pro-ducción láctea en Búfalas de Río y mestizas (Río x Pantano). III Congreso Internacional sobre Mejo-ramiento Animal, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba. CHARLINI, C. y SINNIAH, J. (2015). Performance of Murrah, Surti, Nili-Ravi Buffaloes and Their Crosses in the Intermediate Zone of Sri Lanka. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 27 (3), 55-60.   DE AMORIM RAMOS, A.; MALHADO, C. H. M.; CARNEIRO, P. L. S.; GONÇALVES, H. C.; AZEVEDO, D. R. (2006). Caracterização fenotípica e genética da produção de leite e do intervalo entre partos em bubalinos da raça Murrah. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 41 (8), 61-67. FUNDORA, O. y GONZÁLEZ, M. E. (2001). Performan-ce of Primiparous Buffaloes and Their Progeny. Proc. VI World Buffalo Congress, Maracaibo, Ve-nezuela. HERNÁNDEZ, A.; VERA, L.; NAVEDA, C. A.; GUZMÁN, Á. M.; VIVAR, M.; ZAMBRANO, R. et al. (2012). Tipos de suelos y sus características de las partes medias y bajas de la microcuenca Membrillo, Ma-nabí, Ecuador. Revista EspamCiencia, 3 (3), 87-97. HURTADO-LUGO, N.; CERÓN-MUÑOZ, M.; GUTIÉRREZ-VALENCIA, A. (2006). Estimación de parámetros genéticos para la producción de leche en el día del control en búfalos de la Costa Atlántica Colombia-na. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 18 (3), 1-6. KANSANA, H. y SINNIAH, J. (2012). Productive and Reproductive Performance of Nili Ravi Buffaloes at the Nikawaratiya Farm in the Intermediate Zone of Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the Abstracts of Jaffna University International Research Conference JUICE-2012, Sri Lanka. MALHADO, C. H. M.; RAMOS, A. D. A.; CARNEIRO, P. L. S.; SOUZA, J. C. D.; PICCININ, A. (2007). Parâ-metros e tendências da produção de leite em buba-linos da raça Murrah no Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, 3 (1), 376-379. MARTÍNEZ, A. (2006). Caracterización del sistema de producción de lecherías bufalinas en la provincia Granma. Tesis de Maestría en Producción Animal, ICA, La Habana, Cuba. MUDGAL, V. D. (2010). Buffalo Meat. Encyclopedia of Food Science Technology and Nutrition. London, UK: Academic Press. R. V. Guevara; Paola J. Lascano, C. N. Arcos; G. E. Guevara; F. Hernán, J. A. Armas et al. J o u r n a l  o f  A n i m a l  P r o d u c t i o n ,  3 0  ( 3 ) ,  3 0 - 3 5 ,  2 0 1 8  RAJAGOPAL RAO, K. (2008). Studies on the Efficacy of the Ovulation Synchronization Programs to Im-prove Fertility in Repeat Breeding Cross Bred Cows. Doctoral Dissertation, Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati. ROLLING, N. (1999). Training Course in Rural Exten-sion. International Agriculture Center, Univ. of Wageningen, Netherlands. TONHATI, H.; MUÑOZ, M. F. C.; OLIVEIRA, J. D.; DUARTE, J. M. C.; FURTADO, T. P.; TSEIMAZIDES, S. P. (2000). Parámetros genéticos para a produção de leite, gordura e proteína em bubalinos. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, 29 (1), 51-56. . Received: 3-10-2018 Accepted: 3-16-2018   Table 1. State of herds at the Livestock Company in 2004 Animal category Quality and age in months Heads Buffalo calves up to 12 months 64 Female buffalo year-lings  13-24 months old 36 Young females 24 months old to calving 53 Buffalo females from first calving 165 Male buffalo calves up to 12 months 73 Male buffalo year-lings 13-24 months old 38 Young buffalo bulls 24-month old castrated males 19 Buffaloes Studs ready for reproduction 3 Laboring buffaloes Tamed buffaloes for farm labor 10   Table 2 Dynamics of productive indicators on the farm (2004-2012) Production indicators 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Dif.  2004-2012 (+, -) * Milk production  (thousands, kg) 25.0 100.8 229.0 236.2 245.1 +220.1 Total milking cows 40 95 188 196 224 +184 Prod/day/year (kg) 1.71c 2.91c 3.34b 3.81a 4.19a +2.52 Total deaths (No.) 2.0 6.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 - Deaths of herds (No.) 1.0 1.0 6.0 4.0 3.0 +2.0 Births (No.) 44.0 55 59.0 72.0 85.0 +41 Reproduction cows 74.0 159 221.0 267.0 283.0 +209 Total buffalo herds 255.0 1 296 2 062 2 109  2 131 +1 870   Table 3 Annual reproductive results after the implementation of technological changes in the company Year T/females Buffalo cows H/plan Births (No.) Natality (%) 2004 148 74 74 44 59  2006 482 282 282 175 62  2008 832 387 359 255 90  2010 1 174 533 444 367 95  2012 1 371 662 621 519 97   

Bio-economic Impact of Strategic Changes in Murrah River Buffalo Management

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Bio-economic Impact of Strategic Changes in Murrah River Buffalo Management

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