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MADE POSSIBLE BY
THE MAIZE TRUST
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known, the combined composition of the fodder must be determined.
Determine the moisture percentage, protein composition and energy
content of the crop. This fodder composition will determine what ad-
ditional licks must be provided.
From
Graph 1
it is clear that the amount of fodder differs during
the season. With the extra cover crops, more fodder is available in
the summer, while the amount of fodder in the winter is less. With
the additional cover crops, there is approximately 325 tons of dry
material extra. This means that the producer will have to reconsider
his utilisation of feed. The weeping lovegrass could perhaps be cut
and baled and fed to the stock in winter, or perhaps the weeping
lovegrass can be used as bales or as mature sward with secondary
regrowth as grazing for the livestock.
The cover crops can also be used on a small scale to make
silage, but just make sure that you get cover on the soil again in
some way. Some producers already make silage in silo bags, and the
quality of the feed is very good. This silage can be fed to the animals
later, when they are not yet market-ready. A high-energy diet can
also be considered to ensure that stock are market-ready when they
are slaughtered.
When cover crops are brought in, the entire stock management
system must be adapted, but the reasons why the cover crops were
initially planted should not be forgotten. It is essential that there
should be sufficient cover after the grazing and that enough living
roots remain behind in the soil.
THE IMPORTANCE OF STOCK FLOW
As soon as the fodder sources on a farm are adapted, the stock have
to adapt too. With the cover crops the carrying capacity can be easily
over- or underestimated. You should therefore cut a sample and weigh
it to obtain the correct figure.
Not only will the stock numbers have to be adapted, but the stock
production system too. It is vital for the meat produced on the cultivat-
ed pasture or cover crops to be marketed. It does not help if the cows
are in prime condition and then return to the veld to lose the fat there.
The fat must be sold. With the additional summer cover crops you can
look at oxen production or consider keeping the calves for longer. This
will ensure that the first year will have an enormous impact on the cash
flow and on the feed flow.
The farm in the example can accommodate 300 cows in a weaner
system. If the cover crops are planted, more stock will have to be
kept to utilise the additional 325 tons of dry material. If we assume
that a weaner eats 10 kg of dry material per day, and that the animals
have to remain there for 120 days, it would mean that the 325 tons of
dry material can provide an additional 270 animals with food. Produc-
ers should know that the stock have to be there when there is surplus
food – in this case from December up to and including March. The
stock can be purchased or, if the feed flow permits, own calves can
be held back to market them later. In this case the stock will have to
be purchased.
It is vital to remember that the stock have to be taken to the grazing,
and not the other way around. Stock are equipped with their own milling
and transport machines to convert grazing to meat.
CASH-FLOW IMPLICATIONS
Expanding a stock component to graze the cover crops will dramati-
cally increase the operating capital needs of the business. Provision
now has to be made for establishing the cultivated pastures, for the
stock to utilise the grazing, and for the additional operating capital to
get the animals market-ready.
In this system the main expense– roughly 85% – is purchasing
the stock. If we assume that the weaner price is R30 per kilogram and
that a calf weighs 220 kg, you will have to budget for R1 782 000 to
purchase the additional 270 animals.
This capital outlay must be managed very well. Meat prices are
very elastic and this will determine the profits to a great extent. It is
true that cover crops have a hidden income. The subsequent crops
planted on cover crop fields can perform better and this can increase
the profits of the system. Without taking the additional income as a
result of crop rotation into account, the system can show a profit of
approximately 12%.
When the cover crops are established, do not make your initial steps
too big. Grow into the system – use the profit you make to expand the
planting of the cover crops. If this type of system is to become a long-
term part of the farming, consider selling unused assets to convert this
capital to buy stock. This will definitely increase profits.
Future articles will refer to grazing of cover crops, and to the
additional fodder to be provided to finish stock on grazing.
1
A farm with 500 ha of veld, 170 ha maize, 90 ha soybeans and 40 ha of weeping lovegrass, compared to the same
farm with 500 ha of veld, 120 ha of maize, 90 ha of soybeans, 40 ha of weeping lovegrass and 50 ha of cover crops.