NOTES ON ORGANIC ANIMAL HUSBANDRY.

DEFINITION:Organic animal husbandry is defined as a system of livestock production that promotes the use of organic and biodegradable inputs from the ecosystem in terms of animal nutrition, animal’s health, animal housing and breeding.It deliberately avoids use of synthetic inputs such as drugs, feed additives and genetically engineered breeding inputs.

OBJECTIVES OF ORGANIC ANIMAL HUSBANDRY.

1. To raise animals in a system that takes into consideration the wider issues of environmental pollution, human health on consumption of animal products allowing them to meet their basic behavioral needs and reduce stress.
2. Diversify in keeping as many types of livestock on the holding as each furnishes different nutrients at the household level.For example special attention should be given to rabbits and poultry as income generated from this enterprise goes directly to the disadvantaged segments of the population e.g. women and children.Their nitrogen rich manure is used to increase vegetable production in the kitchen gardens thus improving the family diet.Other like donkeys are useful in transport thus reducing the consumption of non-renewable sources of energy e.g. petroleum based fossil fuels.
3. Exploit the natural behavior of animals in their production systems to reduce stress e.g. chicken like perching at night and perching rails should be provided for this purpose.They should also be raised in deep litter system that allows them to scratch for ants and worms and dust bathe.Dark secluded nest should be provided as the like laying in dark secluded places.Goats being browsers in nature like having their forage suspended high enough so that they can attain an upright posture e.t.c.
4. Use of low external input which lessen the cost of production and allow for a sustainable system of production since most materials can be recycled in the farm and also locally available
5. Bridging of nutrients gap in soil, crops and animals i.e. animals feed on crops and cultivated crops by products.The animal’s waste in form of farmyard manure is composted and taken back to the soil to replenish the lost soil nutrients through cultivation.This ensures the completion of nutrient cycle in the ecosystem.

ROLES PLAYED BY ANIMALS

1. They provide food to human in forms of meat, milk and honey.
2. They utilize lands that are not suitable for cultivation to produce animas product foods of high value e.g. arid and semiarid areas, rocky and hilly topographies.Ruminants are able to convert waste crop by-products in high value human food.
3. They can be used to generate income when their surplus products are sold for cash.They also play the role of insurance in families where they are sold in case of emergencies like sickness and other eventualities that require immediate funds that may not have been planned for.
4. They play a social cultural role in terms of wealth expression, prestige, payment of dowry and other social obligations like worship.
5. They provide energy through draft power and domestic fuel e.g. dry cow dung and biogas.
6. They play an essential role in closing the carbon and nitrogen cycle in the ecosystems by provided in manure used for fertilizing the soil.The ash obtained by burning dung is incorporated in compost manure to provide nutrient for crops.

NUTRITION AND FEEDING.

Farm animals require good diet for efficient production of the intended products, growth and maintenance.

Organic Farming systems aims at growing and producing most of the animal feeds in the farm to enable sustainable production and minimize the risk of contamination of these feeds by chemicalswhich may be in use at other sources where such where such feeds may be procured.Farm production of animal’s feeds also promotes the achieving of the basic objective of organic farming which is use of low external inputs.

The daily ration for all farm animals should contain an average of 70% carbohydrates, 25% proteins and 5% vitamins, minerals and oils.

BASIC NUTRIENTS IN ANIMALS FEEDS.

1. CABOHYDRATES:Provide the animals with energy for maintenance of body health such as during work, gestation, production of meat, milk and eggs.Ruminants are able to obtain their basic carbohydrate requirements from forages and pastures by use of rumen microbes, which enable them to break down fibrous cellulose into energy giving units.This is however not possible in non-ruminant animals like pigs and poultry.Donkeys however do well on a ruminant diet.

No-ruminants obtain their carbohydrates mainly from cereal grains.Such as maize, wheat and their industrial by-products like maize germ and wheatbran, tubers e.g. cassava and sweet potatoes. Feeding of grains and tubers inruminants should be restricted to an average of 2kg for big animals like cows and 200gms to small ruminants like sheep and goats to avoid excessive production of acids during their digestion due to fermentation process.

2. PROTEINS:Are needed in the animal’s body for growth and repair of tissues.

The lack of proteins in the diet rations lead to poor growth rate, reducedproduction of milk, eggs e.t.c, loss of weight and late maturity for growinganimals.Leguminous fodder is a good source of protein for most livestock.

Examples include: desmodium, leucenia, calliandra and sesbania species of legumes.Free-range chickens are able to obtain their proteins by picking ticks,insects, and worm earthworm from the environment.Earthworms to feed chicken can be multiplied by mixing a small amount of the soil containing earthworms with fresh cow dung and dry leaves in a half a drum which is kept moist by covering with an old sisal sack.The worms multiply quickly and after about two to three weeks,they can be harvested and fed to the chickens. Pigs can be fed with human left over (swill) which contains proteins from human diet.Swill may be boiled with offal’s from slaughter houses to fortify its protein content and kill diseases causing micro-organisms that may be present.

3. VITAMINS:Are only needed in small amount in animals mainly for prevention of diseases.They are plentiful in young green pasture or fodder, kales, and young amaranth which has not seeded residues of fruit peels from the kitchen may also act as a good source of vitamins.
4. MINERAL SALTS:Provided essential minerals in the animal body such as calcium and phosphorus, which are necessary for egg shell formation, bone formation, muscle contractions, synthesis of hormones and enzymes e.t.c.Their deficiency from the body results in rickets, reduce growth, soft brittle bones that fracture easily, difficult birth, low egg and milk production, retained afterbirth e.t.c.Animals also develop the ‘Pica’ habit, which leads to eating strange things like cloths, rags, bones, soap, metal sheets e.t.c.Minerals are available from some plant like amaranths (pigweed), stinging nettle (urtica dioica), solanum nigrum (Black night shade), ox gonium sinnathuum (conge – KIK), curcubitae spp (pumpkin leaves).Mixing equal parts of dry leaves from these plants and grinding them to a smooth powered will provide for most minerals in livestock when placed in a mineral box and fed ad-labium.
5. Fats and oils- provide a layer of insulation below the skin for protection against cold.They also facilitate the absorption of vitamins in the body.Sunflower seeds provide a good source of fat for cattle, pigs, poultry and rabbits.Seeds of croton tree are also good source of fat.
6. WATER:While water may not be treated as a true nutrient, it is essential for providing a medium through which other nutrients are absorbed and assimilated in the body.It is also responsible for giving shape and turgidity to most tissue of the body.Clean water which is free from contamination with chemicals and disease causing agents should be provided to the animals ad-labium.Salty water with a lot of natural minerals is not suitable to livestock as it limits the intake.

FEEDING TIPS.

1.Ensure easy access to feed and water to encourage intake.

2.Offer a wide variety of foods daily to meet nutrients need.

3.Provides forage and water at all times to increase production.

4.Limit the intake of concentrates for ruminants to prevent metabolic diseases.e.g acidosis.

5.Supplement the animals diet with feed sources that are rich in mineral and vitamins to protect the animals from diseases.

6.In the range lands, practice proper stocking rate to avoid destroying the environment through overgrazing.

7.Allow time for regeneration of pasture by having short grazing periods followed by period of rest.

8.Don’t use fire for bush clearing as it leads to loss of a wide variety of protein rich and medicinal plant that help balance the animals diet.Trees and shrubs should be preserved so as to provide shade, other trees like Acacia species drop protein rich pods that benefit ruminants directly.

ANIMAL HOUSING.

Appropriate housing for livestock aims at achieving the following basic requirements.

1. Space large enough for sufficient free movement.
2. Sufficient fresh air and natural daylight through adequate ventilations.
3. Protection against the vagaries of the weather e.g. excessive sunlight, heat, rain and wind.
4. Enough lying and resting area according to the species and the size of the animals.
5. Natural bedding material for large animals should be provided.
6. Fresh water and feed should be provided for when designing livestock houses by incorporating feed rough and water troughs.
7. The housing should be designed in a way to allow for easy and efficient collection of manures for composting.
8. A gentle slope is essential in livestock houses to facilitate drainage.
9. Livestock housing should be able to keep away predators while not compromising the ventilation aspects especially for poultry.
10. Use of cheap locally available materials is especially emphasized in organic animal husbandry.

Organic animal husbandry emphasizes on a compromise between total confinement of animals as is the case in zero grazing and free range as the best solution especially in the low potential areas where land sizes are bigger and therefore there is more grazing space.Animals for example can spend the day grazing freely and then be on zero grazing at night for security.

ANIMAL HEALTH CARE IN ORGANIC ANIMAL HUSBANDRY:

Use of traditional therapies that utilize remedies derived from medicinal plants is emphasized in organic animal husbandry to avoid use of antibiotics that are chemically based.A deeper study of animal health care is a topic on itself in this workshop and more details will be covered there.

ANIMAL BREEDING

Organic animals husbandry stresses on avoiding of genetically engineered materials for breeding purposes.Artificial insemination is allowed as a restricted practice.

CONVERSION OF A LIVESTOCK FARM TO AN ORGANIC LIVESTOCK FARM LIVESTOCK FARM.

The following impact points must be considered when converting to an organic system of production for live:

1. Animals shall not be fed with feeds, which incorporated feed additives like growth hormones, bacteriostats e.t.c.
2. Animal waste e.g. poultry manure shall not be used to feed livestock.
3. Animal manures require to be handled properly, removed from animals housed regularly and be composted before taking them to the fields to kill harmful organisms that may be present e.t.c nematodes.
4. The health of animals shall be paramount selection for breeding animals should be based on the resistance to diseases and pests.The farmer should administers only the herbal and natural treatment conventional drugs may only be used as a last resort to save the life of the animals will not be certified as from an organic source for the next three (3) months.
5. The farm should strive to produce most of the feeds from the farm to avoid procurement of contaminated feeds from other sources.

Organic animal husbandry promotes use of clean and healthy products from our animals for our own health, protects the environment, brings down the cost of production and is the system to watch for now and the future in the livestock production.LET’S GO ORGANIC!

Notes compiled by:

Bernard Wainaina – DIRECTOR,

PROFARMS

See also Profarms Ethnoveterinary publication

See also the Profarms Organic Animal Husbandry Publication

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