Factors limiting cattle production in the Thai Highlands

Abstract

This work was undertaken to determine factors limiting the production of cattle in the highland regions of northern Thailand and to develop strategies for improving the productivity of cattle and developing the cattle industry. Little previous research had been conducted in this field and the need for agricultural development of this region has provided the impetus for the following studies.A survey of large areas of the highlands indicated that productivity of cattle was low in all cases and that low levels of managerial, technical and economic inputs were common to the industry. Stock owners were not interested in increasing these levels because cattle were not raised on a commercial basis. Differences in ownership patterns and attitudes toward stock between ethnic groups were related to the purposes for which cattle were kept including their use as sacrifices in religious ceremonies; productivity was low in all cases. The principal constraints to development of the industry suggested from the survey were: disease, theft, predators and nutrition . Technical and management inputs to overcome the first three were available but were not practised because of lack of knowledge in some cases and because the productivity of individual animals was considered by hilltribes to be too low to warrant such inputs.A second group of studies defined the levels of productivity of cattle raised under traditional conditions in the highlands and determined that low levels of productivity may be related to poor nutrition or genetic adaptation of native cattle to the harsh environment. Studies on the quality of native pasture available and ingested by native cattle in the highlands indicated that cattle productivity was probably not limited by nitrogen or phosphorus content of their diet for more than one-third of the year (wet season and cool season). Low productivity was found to be associated with the low digestibility (27% to 75%), low feed intake (1.3% to 2.5% o f body weight) and low sodium content of herbage (0.1 to 1.6 g kg DM-1). Invasion of native Imperata cylindrica pastures by Eupatorium adenophorum was attributed to a lower level of vigor of Imperata in the highlands than is common in other regions.Nutrition studies concerned both supplementary feeding of cattle grazing native pastures and the grazing of improved pastures. Initially it was determined that native highland cattle could make high liveweight gains (543 to 535 g head-1 day-1) when fed concentrates. Dry season supplementary feeding of cattle grazing native pastures with molasses, urea and minerals increased liveweight gains and suggested a response to both energy and minerals or urea. Higher liveweight gains, higher reproduction rates and lower calf mortality rates were recorded to the sodium component of a sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate supplement. Supplementation with urea, sodium, phosphorus and sulphur in the dry or wet seasons and supplementation with cut improved pasture herbage produced similar responses in liveweight gain (30 to 32% increase over no supplementation) that were attributed to sodium and increased feed intake but not to urea.Cattle grazing improved pastures at a stocking rate of 1.0 beasts ha-1 gained weight more than three times faster than cattle grazing native pasture at a stocking rate of 0.06 beasts ha-1. No response to mineral supplementation of cattle grazing an improved pasture was recorded. A grazing pressure of 210 kg bodyweight ha-1 was shown to be feasible for improved pasture while 420 kg bodyweight ha-1 led to pasture degradation; control of intestinal parasites increased liveweight gains.It was concluded from the studies conducted that the principal technical constraint to development of the highland cattle industry was the poor nutritional regime provided by traditional systems, particularly sodium and feed intake deficiencies. Other constraints identified in the survey can be overcome by implementation of existing knowledge which could bestimulated by the increased cattle productivity possible through improved nutrition.