pastures during the dry season

[henryachoroi@yahoo.com]

In Uganda we are beginning to experience the dry season its normally from December to late march.This is therefore a very challenging period to try to find pasture for the cattle and the greenery and feeds for the pigs feeds on.
The greenery reduces on the cost for the feeding pigs as the common feed maize bran becomes very scare due the less harvest of maize always experienced during the second season.About this time the families never remove maize husks while milling for it is termed as wastage of food so there is no maize bran on the market or it is too expensive . such a luxurious life is limited during the first harvest which is better and family polish their maize thus having plenty of husks or maize brand at lower price
I am seeking advise from experienced or knowledgeable permaculturists on the following issues
a)how can i preserve pastures for my dairy cow for the coming months until about April ?
b)what can i feed the pigs on that wont be expensive as maize bran ?
c)how can i preserve maize bran i buy during bumper harvest because December it is attacked by weevils.
d)is it possible preserve the greenery the pigs feed on?
Thanks a lot i will be most grateful for the advise rendered.
Henry Achoroi

[Krankieone]

you can can cut your pastures/greens for hay or Silage

[henryachoroi@yahoo.com]

how do i prepare have no idea at all

[Terra]

If you search ( uganda hay production ) you will get hits like the one below , if you cut , chop , and completly dry your pasture it will keep for years if you can store it safe from rodents . Chopping while a lot of work will enable storage in bags or drums and will feed out with less waste . Pigs will eat pretty well anything however they will need more protien than dry pasture can provide i dont know what your options are maybe next season grow a high protien feed for that purpose . Storage of the bran safe from weevils , first it has to be as dry as you can get it and store in a air tight container , if possible remove all oxygen by forcing carbon dioxide into storage bin and sealing no insects will survive with no oxygen .


http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&source=hp&biw=1341&bih=640&q=uganda+hay+production&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=42c33c885e5e233

[Tegs]

I would look into paddock rotation. If you can divide up your property so that you can keep the cattle off parts of your land so that you will have some forage available during the dry. I would also look at some forage trees that might grow well in your area and for the pigs nut trees (native?)would be a great long term solution. Having said all that I have no knowledge of the local conditions in Uganda, environmental, climatic or cultural so any solution would need to be tailored to your particular needs/ situation. There was also a great video on the PRI homepage some time ago that explained that there are 30,000 plants that are suitable forage for cattle which I thought was amazing, never found out just what those 30,000 plants were though ...

[kimbo.parker]

if this is a 'one cow' situation, then cutting her browse from the local acacias is workable.
more so if you have kids or a wife that will go for walks seeking browse.

dried feed requires storage....is that an issue.

terra and tegs have got it right in my view - when the feed is plentiful, you dry and store.
and you supplement with browse from trees.
your local acacias will also have a nutritional seed in a pod.....if you can harvest these, they can be stored with ease and have high protein.

these are aussie answers to your problems which as tegs points out may not fit your cultural reality.

i like cattle beasts, i do not like goats.....yet a goat yields milk and eats less.

cheers
k

[sun burn]

Surely there are agricultural NGOs in Uganda that can give you advice suitable for your local situation. They will understand the issues and opportunities better than people in australia can. If you could contact just one major NGO in Uganda (i'm thinking something big like Oxfam or WHO, maybe they would have contacts or advice as to how to contact other NGOs who might be more useful to you.

Do you eat the pigs?

[floot]

henry,

You have a range of strategies available in Uganda..... [and an enormous amount of info from the FAO and google etc].


Go with trees...
Albizia
caliandra'
leucena.... leucena and more leucena
acacias...
gliricidia
moringa
a lot of bamboos


Whilst I live in a similar climate I researched all of my requirements via 'trees for life' and 'FAO' ... and I live in australia!!

cheers,