Fattening
Village Buffalo with Forages
 Mr.
Neng Lao Ly lives with his wife and ten children in Xang village,
Xieng Khouang province, Laos. For many years, Mr. Ly and his
family have been planting rice (mostly in shifting cultivation
fields but more recently in a small area of paddy). They normally
keep one buffalo to help them with heavy work, such as ploughing
the paddy field. In recent times the village has been reducing
the area of land they slash and burn, which has resulted in
a more reliable source of water from the mountains for their
irrigated fields. But this has had a negative effect as well:
the grazing lands for animals have been gradually disappearing.
To supplement the meagre feed resources that their buffalo
could graze in the hills, his wife and one or two children
would spend 4 - 5 hours each day cutting grass about 5 km
from the village and carrying it home.
In 2001, Neng Lao Ly started working with district extension
workers on small trials with 4 grasses (Andropogon gayanus
"Gamba", Panicum maximum "Simuang",
Brachiaria brizantha "Marandu", Pennisetum
purpueum "Napier") and 1 legume (Stylosanthes
guianensis "Stylo 184"). Within 6 - 8 weeks
of cutting and feeding these forages, he noticed that his
buffalo was not only stronger but fatter. He particularly
preferred "Simuang" and "Stylo 184" because
his buffalo seemed to thrive on these two varieties.
In 2002, Neng Lao Ly decided to expand his forage area to
more than 1000 m2 and experiment with ways to use the forages.
He sold his buffalo just before the wet season and bought
a new one for 3.9 million kip (USD370). Over the 2 - 3 month
period of heavy work he fed his buffalo cut forage every day.
He noticed that not only was his buffalo stronger but she
gained weight during this period. This had never happened
before…normally his buffalo would lose weight because
of the heavy work and poor feed. At the end of this period
he sold the buffalo for a profit of 700,000 Kip (USD67).
Since then he has bought and sold two more buffalo using
the same method and on each occasion made about 450,000 kip
(USD43) profit. With the new forages, not only did he get
a strong buffalo and make a good profit but now it only takes
one person to cut forage each day. The labour saving for his
wife and children has been substantial.
(Note: to compare these profits with the normal farm income,
one hectare of upland would yield rice worth about 1.2 million
kip (USD115) and take up to 250 - 300 person days per hectare
to produce).
Feeding
Stylo to Village Pigs
 Mr.
Thit Bounthanh lives with his family in Piknyai village, Luang
Phabang province, Laos. They rely on lowland and upland crops
for their livelihood, with few sources of cash income apart
from fattening pigs. In the past they would normally keep
about 15 - 20 pigs, which they would fatten for market in
4 - 5 months during the wet season. Every day someone from
the family would search for leaves and tubers of the water
yam which was the staple food of the pigs. The yam grows wild
along the small streams that flow through the village. The
yam leaves and tubers are cooked with rice bran and fed to
the pigs as a mash. In recent times, however, with increased
numbers of farmers raising pigs in the village, the yam has
become scarcer and one person from the family now needs to
spend 2 - 3 hours per day searching for it.
In
2001, Mr Bounthanh had 2 sows and 13 piglets. After 4 - 5
months of feeding, the sows were still thin and weak and were
unable to produce enough milk for their piglets. He tried
to sell the two sows but the best price he was offered was
only 340,000kip (USD32) for the two pigs and the buyer was
reluctant to take them because they were so thin.
In
2002, Mr. Bounthanh decided to evaluate the legume, Stylosanthes
guianensis (Stylo 184) which the local extension staff had
told him was a good supplementary feed for pigs. Once he saw
how palatable stylo is for pigs, he decided to mix 1kg of
fresh stylo leaf with the normal feed of rice bran and yam
tubers for two sows and also feed them an additional 2kg of
fresh leaf in the middle of the day.
Within
one week he noticed big differences. His sows started to fatten,
were producing more milk and both the sows and piglets were
more energetic. After 4 - 5 months these two sows had reached
75 kgs and he was able to sell them for 645,000kip (USD62).
On top of this, the piglets had fattened much faster than
before.
He
was particularly proud that many farmers came to him wanting
to buy the sows. His answer to these farmers was that he was
going to expand his area of stylo next year and try to increase
his herd of pigs to 25 animals. He recommended that they should
do the same.
(Note: Mr. Bounthanh's profits compare with the value of a
normal day's contracted labour in Pik Nyai village of about
10,000kip (USD 0.90))
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