If you're faced between these 2 grasses, choose elephant grass! Guinea grass is very poorly digested by rabbits. Energy digestibility is 10.7% for guinea grass and 45.2% for elephant grass. Protein digestibility is 13% for guinea and 64.7% for elephant grass. So it is wort searching for and using elephant grass. Guinea grass seem to be more common but you can still find and plant elephant grass. I did just that for my goat and the yield was very good. I will write about planting elephant grass when I have the chance.

I got this from one of my researches online and I'll like to share it with you. This formulae was said to give good carcass but they did not state the daily growth rate. Anyway, it is still wort trying out. One thing with rabbit diet is that if it contains too much starch, mortality will be high. So this formula is a good guide for rabbit farmers.

And here is it:
Maize: 21.97%
Maize offal:18.31%
Wheat offal: 10.26%
Sweet potato vine: 4.4%
Rice bran: 18.31%
Groundnut cake: 23.03%
Bone meal: 2%
Palm oil: 1%
Salt: 0.25%
Vitamins-minerals premix: 0.25%
Methionine: 0.1%
Lysine: 0.15%

This diet has crude protein: 18.09%; crude fiber: 23.07 and metabolic energy: 2566kcal/kg.

The premix used was Roche VM 502 with the following content per kg: Vitamin A: 12000IU, Vit D3: 12000 IU, Vit E: 3.6 IU, vit k: 1.8mg, Vit B2: 3.6mg, Nicotinate: 18mg, Calcium D-pentothenate: 9.6mg, Biotin: 0.36mg, Vit B12: 0.12mg, Choline chloride: 120mg, Chlotetracycline: 4.8mg, Manganese: 24mg, Iron: 48mg, Zinc: 96mg, Copper: 60mg, Iodine: 1.8mg, Cobalt: 48mg.

Legumes can be a good source of cheap protein for rabbits. However, some legumes are rich in protein but most of that protein won't be available to rabbits. Research have found the following legumes to be very digestible for rabbits: Albizia falcata, Leucaena, and Sesbania. Don't let the names intimidate you. By googling pictures of them, you may recognise some.

Wilt them before feeding to get rid of poisons they contain.The poisons can cause poor growth, hair loss, dermatitis etc. Also, don't feed too much of one legume, combining them is better.

Giving bakers' yeast to cows at 20g per cow per day improves digestion and fermentation, feed intake, stimulates the immune system, help them cope with heat stress and feed changes.

Cows produce more milk during early lactation and the more milk they produce at this time, the more they will produce during late lactation. To get more milk, wise dairy farmers use a strategy called Targeted Feeding. This involves feeding more concentrate during early lactation and less or no concentrate during late lactation.

In one experiment, cows produced an average if 15L milk per day when fed napier grass ad-lib plus 8kg dairy meal per day for the first 3 months. During the next 7 months of lactation, no dairy meal was fed and the cows produced 5.5L/day. Total dairy meal fed was 720kg per cow and total milk produced was 2505L.

But when fed 2.4kg dairy meal per day for 10 months, they yield an average of 8L milk per day during first 3 months and 6L/day during next 7 months. Total dairy meal fed was 720kg per cow and total milk produced was 1980L.

Between the 2, there was a big difference of 525L of milk! Yet the same quantity of dairy meal was fed.

Elevated shelter seem to be the best as the goats will not come into much contact with their feces and this reduce the chance of disease and parasite transmission. Elevated shelter floor should be 60 to 90cm above ground. Roof should be about 150 to 200cm above the sheltered floor with a 28 degree slope. The floor should consist of treated floor board or bamboo spaced a finger width apart (~1.5cm for adult sheep and narrower for goats; 1.3cm for young lambs). You can make the slatted floor removable. Gap between the wall and roof should be 50-80 cm.

Space Requirement
1. Permanent Housing (zero grazing): 1.2 square meter per breeding females. 2 square meter per breeding males. 0.8 square meter per young animal. Also add an exercise yard for them.

2. Night Housing and Day Grazing: 0.8 square meter per breeding females. 1.5 square meter per breeding males. 0.5 square meter per young animal.

Feeding Space: at the feeder, leave 30-40cm per animal.

More coming later.

One research compared these 2 goats and here are the results.

Red sokoto kids grow faster (66.9g/day) than Sahelian goats (46.6g/day). Red sokoto kids have lower birth weight (1kg vs 2.2kg) and lower weaning weight (3.9kg vs 5.6kg). Milk yield between the two was not significantly different.

The Red sokoto is also called Maradi. Sahelian goats are also called West African longlegged. Sahelian goats can't survive for long in forest and dense savannah and they're not tolerant to trypanosomiasis.

If you need this fast-growing goat, you can get it at John Godson Pilgrim Ranch Umuahia, Abia state and Nigeria Veterinary Institute at Zaria or Ibadan. I found this out from someone.

Serious cattle farmers grow their own grass instead of relying on free forages in bushes. In Columbia, elephant grass in 2.5ha maintained 35 milking cows producing an average of 15L milk per day. The grass was supplemented with 1kg of concentrate per 4kg of milk produced (i.e 3.75kg concentrate per cow). I guess this info can help someone estimate how much land is needed to grow grass for dairy cows.

Blood from slaughter houses are very high in protein, though the amino acid profile is not balanced.

Blood cannot store for long before it starts smelling. So to make it store for 1 week, mix it with 0.7% sulphuric acid (H2SO4). Equivalent amount of other acids can also be used.

Alfalfa is a good quality plant for cattle because of its protein content. But I've not seen it in Nigeria yet. But I came across a site that stated that sweet potato vines and foliage, when dried, compares favourably with alfalfa hay for cattle. So any time you see a cattle feed fmla with alfalfa in it, just know that dried sweet potato vines and foliage is a good substitute.

Cassava leaves is a very good source of protein for ruminants (goats, cattle, and sheep). Young leaves contain 28-30% crude protein and older leaves contain about 20% crude protein. They are also rich in vitamins and minerals. Fiber content is high but this is a problem for monogastrics (poultry, pigs) and not for ruminants.

When growing cassava for leaves, they are planted close together to achieve 60,000 plants per hactare. This is equivalent to a spacing of about 60cm x 28cm. When cassava is grown for roots, plant density is about 10,000.

First harvest is done at 4 months after planting and subsequently, at 3 months intervals. Yield of up tp 21 ton dry matter per hactare is achievable per year. Harvest by cutting the stem at 40cm above ground.

Before feeding to ruminants, reduce the toxic cyanide content by chopping and wilting under shade before sun drying. During wilting, turn them regularly to prevent fermentation and spoilage. After wilting, they'll dry quickly under the sun. Another way to reduce cyanide content is by ensiling. Cyanide content of 508mg/kg (with respect to dry matter) have been reduced to 70 7mg/kg after ensiling for 21 days with 5% sugar paln syrup (i.e sugar and water at 1:1 ratio). Some cassava varieties are better detoxified by sun-drying, others by ensiling.

Cassava contains a good amino acid profile, though it is deficient in methionine. For minerals, it is a good source of calcium and trace minerals. Phosphorus abd sodium content is low.

Cassava leaves have been known to reduce nematode (worms) infestation in goats.

In this post, I'll be sharing some useful feed fprmulae for sheep. I made this collection from various academic researches.

1. Forage Feed Fmla for Lambs


In an experiment with Javanese thin-tail lambs and Kacang kids, a diet of elephant grass and tree legume forage or wilted cassava leaves gave a growth rate of 50g/day ( Javanese thin-tail lambs) and 20g/day ( Kacang kids). Sheep can grow faster than these. But this is still another fmla worth trying out since it is cheap.

If it work for those sheep species, it will probably work for other species, though result may be different.
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Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication...k_District.

In addition to grass and concentrate, goats need minerals as they are critical for growth and general wellbeing. Here is a sample mineral lick suitable for goats.

Bone meal: 50%
Trace mineral mix: 10%
Molasses: 5%
Cement: 13%
Salt: 22%
(Seng sokerya and Rodriguez 2001)

Note that goats that have access to lots of diverse plants will likely meet their mineral requirement. But if your goats are penned, they will need minerals to perform better.

Initially, they grow fast until they reach 5 months old. Then it slows down until adult weight is reached. Growth rate varies from 20 to 200g per day depending on feed quality.

After a period of under feeding, they will grow faster than normal if feeding is improved. This is called compensatory growth.

Below is a feed formulae that can make goats to grow at a rate of 54g per day:
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70% Gliricidia sepium, 30% Cassava peel (dried under the sun to remove toxin) and salt lick.
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A 6 months old goat weighing 6.1kg was used in the experiment. When growing at this rate, the goat will gain 19.8kg in 1yr, ataining 25.9kg. When killed and deboned, we'll be left with 13.2kg meat, considering the fact that goats normally have 51% dressing percentage.
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Pictures of Gliricidia
   
Image source: http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropic...dia+sepium

   
Image source: https://www.feedipedia.org/node/552

The pic below is Leucaena leucocephala from wikipedia. It is another good legume tree for ruminants.
   

Experiment Source: https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=BAG...el&f=false

I just want to share my son's homework the other day. Their teacher asked them what they want to be when they grow old. He drew a farmer because he wanted to be one. When I asked him, he said it's because he loves plants and he wants to take care of them. He also wanted to help people by giving them food using the plants he grew. I just found it really cute. If you have any related stories, please feel free to share!

Hello all. Pls can I apply paraquat to weeds in a maize farm without bad results? What are the herbicides i can use in a maize farm?

Will it work? Considering the fact that cigarette contains nicotine, a pesticide.

Just like cucumber and pepper, should okra be prunned to increase yield and prevent them from reaching over 6ft tall?