Keep livestock for increased yields

Cows are sources of revenue. PHOTO/FILE 

What you need to know:

  • Agriculturists recommend that organic manure should always be applied by digging it into the soil and mostly before planting the crops. 

One of the best ways to keep a farm productive is to keep livestock and to grow crops. The two enterprises support each other to make the farm more productive. Livestock droppings and urine are good manure for the crops to grow well. 

If a farmer keeps livestock such as pigs, goats, cattle or poultry he has a big chance to sustain soil fertility if he applies their droppings and urine in the soil on his farm.  In their groups farmers can seek guidance from the area agricultural services extension officer about how to use the droppings to keep the soil fertile. Extension officers can also teach farmers to make compost and how to apply it on the crops.

Compost is organic manure made by mixing plant or vegetable material with livestock droppings. It is a process that involves transferring the mixture from one pit to another after a period of about four weeks ----- from pit number one up to pit number five.  As the mixture is transferred from one pit to another fresh mixtures are deposited into the first pit to make the process of manure production on the farm continuous.

Animal beddings --- the grass or any uneaten vegetable material on which the animals lie --- can be used to enrich the soil and to improve crop production. The farmer who keeps livestock and at the same time grows crops earns money by selling livestock products such as milk or eggs and also crops like vegetables, maize and fruits. Such a farmer does not have to worry about purchasing manufactured fertilisers which would reduce profits.

Agriculturists recommend that organic manure should always be applied by digging it into the soil and mostly before planting the crops. 

It is also recommended that heaps of preserved livestock manure are covered by a layer of soil, perhaps four inches thick, to prevent losses of important gases and mineral nutrients if exposed to direct sunshine. A farmer should plant a lot of fodder grass and trees to feed the animals well fed. Some farmers keep gardens of fodder grass for that purpose.