Beef cattle production and management
Grass to be made into hay should be cut
prior to the flowering stage to obtain the
highest feed value. After cutting, it
should be dried if possible in the sun,
being turned so as to evenly dry it. A day
or two for the finer grasses and more for
the high growing grasses. After drying,
hay should be stored, preferably indoors
where it wil not become damp or
contaminated.
Practical Action
Hay on a scotchcart
How to treat stover or straw with urea
Maize, millet and sorghum stover, have low nutritional value if fed as they are, but can be
improved in quality an digestibility by treating them with a three-week fermentation period using
a urea-water solution.
Urea is potentially poisonous hence it is important that the following steps are followed:
Prepare a trench and line it with plastic or banana leaves on the sides of the floor. If you
intend to use continuously, make two trenches and alternate filling them at 3-week intervals.
The treatment is more successfuI if the stover is chopped to aid infiltration of the urea-water
solution and improve packing in the trench, the straw needs to be cut smaller. Prepare, all at
once, enough stover/ straw for a 3-week period.
Mix 1 kilogramme urea 46% with 10
Iiters of water per 16-20 ki los of straw
or stover and then sprinkle the solution.
FiII the trench with moistened
stover/straw and cover it immediately
with plastic or banana leaves and then
apply soil on the plastic to keep out the
air and reduce evaporation into the air of
both the water and nitrogen from the
urea.
Mixing hay with urea
After 3 weeks it is ready to open from one end. You will be repulsed by the strong granules smell
(urine), and otherwise it will appear slightly moister and browner than the dry stover. Take the
amount you would want to feed and let it sit out unti I the next day before feed i ng it. You can
slowly reduce the time required between taking it out and feeding it as the cow gets used to the
odour. Surprisingly, the cows like it and will consume more treated stover than they wiII regularly
untreated straw in that it has more effect on fattening cattle than on increasing milk but certainly
it is very beneficial to the maintenance of cattle through dry months.
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