Off I go to Malambo today! Looking forward to seeing how I can use my knowledge to help the orphanage create an integrated agricultural system to feed its children!

Our pasture rotation project with forage trees for sheep

Well we have just finished our pasture rotation project with forage trees. The project consists of turning an approximately 1ha land that was once bush, then damaged pasture land into a sustainable pasturing system that can withstand more than 50 sheep without additional feed for and indefinite period of time with little maintenance.

We subdivided an approx 1ha plot of land into 21 approx. 650m2 enclosed paddocks. I realize we spent a lot on good quality fencing, but realy and truly this fencing should last for many years with proper care.

The paddocks are arranged in two sections of strips which are parallel to each other. In between the sections is an access road which also serves as a paddock in itself.

The paddocks where planted with improved tropical pastures. We couldn´t afford to buy seeds, so we actually propagated cut grasses from neighbouring farms. With permission of course.

We lined the fences with live fencing of Balo (Glyricidia sepium). Balo is a legume, which not only aids in nitrogen fixation but is a very nutritious supplement to the diet of most pasturing animals.

Under the Balo we planted white mulberry (Morus alba) shoots, which are extremely easy to propagate and don't mind the shade once the Balo grows. The white mulberry is nutritious and fast growing which doesn't mind grazing.

Next outside of the fence, as a funcional ornamental we planted hibiscus shrubs (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis). We plan to feed the animals the cuttings. Sheep and goats are crazy about hibiscus!

Next inside the pastures we planted some Guachapalí trees (Samanea saman) . Guachapalí is a slow growing tree, but grows huge and gives a nice shade wich doesn't seem to discourage the growth of grasses. It maintains moisture in the earth and provides substantial biodiversity in its canopy. The leaves and fruits are edible.

We also planted lots of Moringa (Moringa oleifera) trees. These can be grazed or cut. We kept some for cutting and shade and some for grazing. The Moringa tree is truly miraculous! It is highly nutritious full of Calcium vitamin A and protein. It also acts as a soil improver since it is a legume and is extremely fast growing. The trees we planted about six months ago are already more than 8 feet tall! The great thing about Moringa is that all parts of the tree are edible, including the beans that it produces, and it remains green even in the worst part of the dry season! And best of all it is very tolerant of grazing. The only thing I have noticed, is that sheep need to get used to it. They touch it more in the dry season when they have little of other greens.

We are still expanding on our forage trees planted in the pastures. Soon we will be planting Leucaena which is not very easy to come by for some reason. Leucaena is another legume that can withstand foraging. We plan to plant it in rows among the grass.

Guacimo is another native tree that is nutrious and loved by sheep. We have it growing wild and is apparently also easy to propagate. We are planing to introduce it along the fence, perpendicular to the Balo.

All these forage plants can be accomodated in the paddocks easily with some imagination. We have already mentioned a great variety and yet there are still twice as much out there which grow either native in this area or can be found relatively easily. Variety is the spice of life they say, and in nutrition I do believe it is essential!

For the summer we have an irrigated protein bank next to the pastures of about 650m2in which we grow Guandú (pigeon pea), black eyed peas (cow pea), amaranth. Guarúmo and Acacia mangium we have all over the farm which is cut and given to the sheep.

Now if could irrigate the pastures, then we would be set, however, the purpose of these investigations is to make it accesible to most farmers, plus we don't have electricity nor city water.

The maintenance of the system is such that, whenever the sheep leave a paddock, we remove manualy all weeds, and reseed any bare patches if necesary. This work actualy becomes less and less with time, because the grass does not get damaged in the short period of time that the sheep are there and has ample time to recover. The weeds soon have little space to seed since the ground is densely planted with grass.

We also fertilize with Super 4 broth every two weeks during the rainy season. Super 4 broth is a liquid fertilizer whith an array of micronutrients, that we make at the farm. It is very easy to make. More on that at a later post.

Our system should work for 50 sheep or more (I will let you know how it goes when I get there). At the moment we have 20, and we rotate them about every 7 days, or when the grass has all been eaten. This gives us almost 5 months between grazing for each pasture. This is actualy too much, idealy we graze every 2 months in the rainy season and every 3 months in the dry season. This means that we can double the amount of sheep in the area so they rotate about every 3 days. For this reason we actualy sometimes have to hurry them along and cut the remaining grass.

So 50 sheep within 1 ha is quite a good amount as compared to the information I have seen on 10 sheep per acre in other posts. This would be the equivalent to 25 sheep per hectare.

This system essentialy should provide all the necesary nutrients for the sheep to thrive. It also allows farmers to have a high density of sheep without the need to feed them artificialy. The system also includes ample amout of trees which provide shade, retain moisture, produces microclimates, increases biodiversity, enhances soil stability, improves soil with leguminous trees, controls erosion and provides space efficient "vertical grazing". All in all the most eficient animal management system I have found to date.