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The Potential Roles of Tree Legumes in Ruminant Nutrition for Dairy Goats are:
June 11, 2009
· high quality and high digestibility biomass resource, available in and around the farm
· supplement to provide nutrients deficient in the diet resulting improve microbial growth and digestion of cellulosic biomass in the rumen
· source of undegradable protein
· source of vitamins and minerals to complement deficiencies in the concentrate feeds
· reduction in the requirements for concentrate feeds and result to lower feed cost
Alaminos Goat Farm (AGF) continue to pursue its two years pasture improvement program to increase to 30% the ratio of legumes in the pasture areas. The other 70% would be forage grass. AGF is focusing on Indigofera as its main legume. Malunggay and Mulberry are also being planted. We look at the prospect of reducing concentrate feeds and increasing legumes intake in the daily diet of our dairy goats.
Indigofera is easiest to establish in the pasture area, we are planting some malunggay seeds directly. To find out the best way to propagate the seeds of malunggay we are also planting it on plastic trays and seed beds to see where it goes.
Mulberry cuttings are planted in plastic bags initially so we can observe it carefully, we bought the cuttings at PHP 25 pesos each in Davao. According to our research mulberry holds a lot of potential among the legumes because it is highly palatable and is almost a complete feed for dairy goats. A research study funded by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nation claims mulberry leaves can replace concentrate feeds one on one without affecting milk yields.
Big volumes of legumes and forage grass are needed to feed the goats at AGF. This requires AGF to replenish the soil with organic fertilizer because of the frequency of cutting the legumes and forage grass in our cut and carry style feeding program. With the use of organic fertilizer it adds to the claim of AGF that MILK STAR fresh goat's milk is healthy and organically produced.
Composting of goats manure is being practiced to produce organic fertilizer. We have started vermi composting using African Night crawler worms. Production of vermicompost and African Night crawler worms are the target of this project.
The success of a dairy goat enterprise is dependent on the establishment of a good feeding and management program.
These are interesting times at AGF, we intend to commercialize technology developed in our pasture improvement program if found to be viable and sustainable.
We are excited with the possibilities of increasing the legume intake and the resulting lower feed concentrate cost. Increasing milk production with the addition of legumes in the total mixed concentrate ration will also be explored once sufficient volumes of legumes are produced.
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