RUMINANT LIVESTOCK FEED RESOURCES IN THE KUMBUNGU DISTRICT OF GHANA

Abstract

The study explored the types of ruminant livestock feed resources in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region. Simple random sampling was used to select 100 livestock farmers from ten com-munities in the District. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in collecting data on the farmer’s background and operational information such as types of ruminant livestock kept, crops grown, yield per acre and sources of feed for livestock. The results showed that sheep and goats were the most common ruminant livestock species kept by 88% and 86% of the respondents respec-tively with 43% keeping cattle. The average tropical livestock unit (TLU) per household (HH) was 13, 11 and 8 for cattle, sheep and goat respectively. With the overall average of 10.3 TLU/HH. The types of feed resources were natural unimproved pasture, browse plants, crop residues and agro by-products with natural pasture being the most dominant type throughout the year. The types of cereal-based crop residues generated were maize stover (325 kg/HH/annum), rice straw (411 kg/HH/annum) and millet (85 kg/HH/annum). The legume-based residue generated were groundnut haulm (86 kg/HH/annum), cowpea haulm (195 kg/HH/annum) and soybean haulm (133 kg/HH/annum). Agro by-products such as maize bran (216 kg/HH/annum) and rice bran (41 kg/HH/annum) were also generated in the study area. An average of 1236.3 kg of crop residues and 523.2 kg agro by-products was produced per household. With an estimated 11,592 kg DM required for the maintenance of the ruminant species per HH per annum in the dry season (180-days), crop residues and agro by-products could only provide 9.8% with the rest expected to come from natural pasture and browse plants. Without cattle, the crop residues and agro by-products can supply about 53% of the dry matter requirement for maintenance. From this study, it is clear that differ-ent types of feed resources are available for feeding ruminants within the study area and this could help address the problem of dry season feed shortage if appropriate feed preservation and feeding strategies are employed. The cultivation of improved dual-purpose (fodder and food) crops and also enhanced crop husbandry practices could increase the yield of crop residues and agro-by products.