| Under prolonged drought, such as that of the "El Niño", traditional
pastures suffer severely. Their protein content becomes very low, thus affecting cattle,
which then lose weight, hence leading to diminished meat and milk production and in some
cases mortality of animals. Cratylia is rich in proteins; it is also adapted to a broad
range of mainly acid and low-fertility soils, and has the capacity to regrow in dry
periods. Moreover, … cattle love it!
Experiments with this legume are part of a research program being conducted by the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT, its Spanish acronym) and CORPOICA
with co-funding from the Ministry of Agriculture of Colombia ( MADR, its Spanish acronym)
to find strategies for improving the forage components of double-purpose livestock
systems.
Farmers are evaluating Cratylia on 18 farms in the Piedmont Region of the Eastern
Plains, with excellent results both in calf production and fattening and milk production.
The farmers confirm that cattle receiving Cratylia during summer do not lose weight and
also maintain their milk production.
"With Cratylia, differences in increases in milk production are notable, and,
despite the summer, the animals have sustained their meat very well", affirms Juan
Bottia Becerra, owner of "Ganadería Chaguaní", Piedmont Region.
Bernardo Vizcaya, of "La Isla" Farm, assures that, thanks to this legume,
which was planted in July 2001, he saved more than Col$3 million this year. "Before,
for summer, we needed more than 500 bales of hay. This year, we didn’t need to buy
any; we had given Cratylia, and the cattle looked very well with no weight loss",
explains Vizcaya.
"The technology we’re developing in the Eastern Plains can be used elsewhere
in the country. It is extremely useful in the Atlantic Coast, which carries considerable
livestock and suffers prolonged dry periods", affirms Carlos Lascano, ruminant
nutrition expert and leader of the CIAT Project on Tropical Forages.
Cratylia is being evaluated in two ways: a) in a cut and carry systems by taking it to
the milking stalls or b) planting it in the paddocks for direct grazing by animals.
"The second method is more economical and reduces even more the costs of livestock
production, because labor is saved on cutting", says Federico Holmann, specialist in
livestock sciences, and coordinator of Tropileche, a regional project that has
successfully applied this methodology on farms in Costa Rica.
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