Animal Fattening and Fodders
John McPeak
Department of Public Administration and International Affairs
Syracuse University
Presentation at ADRAS IBLI
June 8, 2015
ILRI Nairobi

The Context
• Barrett et al (2008) write “Private creditors that presently do not finance
potentially high-return ventures due to drought risk might be willing to lend if
the assets that secure loans could be insured. Insurance can thereby “crowd-
in” much-needed credit for enterprises in the region without leaving poor
residents excessively vulnerable to losing assets when nature fails them.” (p.1).
• Empirical evaluations conducted in Ethiopia of the Productive Safety Net
Program (World Bank 2010; Gilligan et al. 2006) illustrate that when the cash
transfers are linked to some form of agricultural innovation long term poverty
reduction is possible.
• Both safety net and index-based insurance programs should arguably improve
producers access to credit for asset building investment.
• Is animal fattening one such innovation that research and extension can
support?

Animal Fattening- Context
• Producer prices in the semi-arid rangelands generally get less than half the
terminal market price.
• Animal conformation plays an important role in determining price per head of
an animal.
• Fattening operations have been growing over the past decade.
• Intensification in the livestock sector is already occurring in the form of finishing
operations in places like Adama outside Addis Ababa (Aklilu 2009, Farmer 2010), in Coast
Province in Kenya (Mahmoud 2006) and ranches elsewhere in Kenya (Farmer and
Mbikwa, 2012).
• These operations are sourcing animals in the arid and semi-arid rangelands, holding
them in finishing lots or ranches to improve or increase body condition, and selling them
at a higher price.
• Guiding question; is there a way to retain some of that value added revenue in
the semi arid areas.
• Alternative income generation option
• Employment
• Could be accessible with the kind of credit that is out there

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2000
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8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
Nominal Price per TLU Ethiopia ETB
Addis Nominal Boran Nominal
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1000
2000
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9000
Real Price Per TLU Ethiopia 2010 ETB
Addis Rea Borana Real
Price per Head in TLU
Addis data from
www.lmiset.net
courtesy Jay Angerer
of Texas A&M
IBLI Boran household data
Courtesy of the people
in this room!
CPI adjustment
from WDI
online, 2010 Birr
Prices converted to TLU,
.7 for camel, 1 for cattle,
10 for sheep and goats,
average for price per
TLU for 3 month quarter
per year

Ref: ML_C01_Country
!(^
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8a
3
6
MAURITANIA
ALGERIA
BURKINA
NIGER
GUINEA
Gao
Kayes
Segou
Mopti
Kidal
Bamako
Sikasso
Tombouctou
0 100 200
Kilometers
Wabaria $341
Kati $386
Kidal $201
Gossi $278
Konna $314
Niamana $365
Nara $361Kayes $311
Tombouctou $361
Menaka $327
Adjelhoc $165
Segou $428Bamako $502
CATTLE
Data from
www.malibetail.net
MLPI2 project
At the same
time there
are large
spatial
differences
in prices at a
given point
in time –
cattle in Mali

What explains these differences?
• Transport costs is certainly part of it
• But are there qualitative differences in animals in different markets?
• Something of a mix of the two it appears
• Price by conformation in Ethiopian markets; Dubuluk in Borana, Adama near
Addis.
• Body conformation percents in Addis, Adama, Mega, and Dubuluk
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Fat Moderate Thin Very Thin
ADAMA
DUBULUK
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Addis Markets Adama Mega Dubuluk
Conformation Differences by Market
Fat Moderate Thin Very Thin

Very thin Thin Moderate Fat
Goat
278 ETB
($16.35)
399 ETB
($23.47)
681 ETB
($40.06)
896 ETB
($52.71)
With respect to moderate -59% -41% -- 32%
Sheep
226 ETB
($13.29)
324 ETB
($19.06)
556 ETB
($32.71)
729 ETB
($42.88)
With respect to moderate -59% -42% -- 31%
Average smallstock prices, Dubuluk market Ethiopia July 2010-July 2012 in Birr, 1 USD July 2012 corresponds to around 17 Birr.
What kinds of price differences are present in these markets by conformation?

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50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
450000
AveragePrice(CFA)
Week
Mature Cattle
Gras Moyen Maigre
Average weekly nominal prices by fat (gras), medium (moyen), and thin (maigre) grade
across the markets being monitored with the Mali Livestock Market Information System
during August 2010 to June 2013. Same pattern in KE, ET, and TZ data.
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
AveragePrice(CFA)
Week
Mature Sheep
Gras Moyen Maigre
Overall Patterns in Nominal Prices for Cattle and Sheep in Mali (www.malibetail.net)

What are the prospects for animal fattening?
Reason Feed hard
to
get
Don't know
how
Risk of
animal loss
Lack of
pastures
Lack of
labor
Other
things
more
profitable
It takes
too long
Past losses
experienced
The price
increase
not worth
it
Price risk
Ranked in
the top 3
25% 23% 20% 20% 13% 9% 8% 6% 3% 2%
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Animal to raise Animal to fatten Small commerce Purchase Durable
goods
Give as gift Save in pocket Invest in credit / coop Loan to merchant Loan to someone else
If you unexpectedly received 50,000 CFA ($100) and had no outstanding demands what would you do
with it?
Rank for those who had labor migrated before Rank for those who have never labor migrated
2008 survey of
1224
Individuals in
Gao,
Mopti, and
Tombouctou,
Mali, MLPI 2
project
If you said no to animal fattening, why did you say no?
Adds up to more than 100% since percent in top three

Study of fattening operations in Mali, 2008-2009
Kassogue et al. 2010 All cash values are in CFA with 1 USD worth around 450 CFA at this point in time
Number
Average
buying
price
Average
selling
price
Average
total feed
cost
Average
feed cost
per day
Average
days
implied
return
implied
daily wage
Total value
added
Mopti
cattle
58 92,695
($205.99)
212,350
($471.89)
77,088
($171.31)
81
($0.18)
66 25% 645
($1.43) $5,486.41
Sofara
cattle
215 91,995
($204.43)
166,380
($369.73)
62,205
($138.23)
57
($0.13)
65 8% 187
($0.42) $5,819.33
Koro
cattle
54 157,670
($350.38)
272,465
($605.48)
110,229
($244.95)
58
($0.13)
181 2% 25
($0.06) $547.92

Do we have suggestions to improve feeding
practices from research? From Niger
Bush Hay ad libitum 40 g per day per kg liveweight. 70 days
Groundnut Haulms
(g/day) 0 300 0 600 900
Millet Bran
(g/day) 0 0 400 400 400
Purchase Price 13,368 ($29.71) 13,083 ($29.07) 13,184 ($29.30) 13,173 ($29.27) 13,429 ($29.84)
Feed Cost 1,101 ($2.45) 2,356 ($5.24) 3,394 ($7.54) 5,933 ($13.18) 7,234 ($16.08)
Total Cost 1,301 (2.89) 2,556 ($5.68) 3,594 ($7.99) 6,133 ($13.93) 7,434 ($16.52)
Total cost + purchase 14,669 ($32.60) 15,639 ($34.75) 16,778 ($37.28) 19,306 ($42.90) 20,863 ($46.36)
Net return 743 ($1.65) 1,899 ($4.22) 2,090 ($4.64) 2,260 ($5.02) -131 (-$0.29)
Sales Price 15,412 ($34.25) 17,538 (38.97) 18,868 ($411.93) 21,566 ($47.92) 20,732 ($46.07)
Rate of return1 5.1% 12.1% 12.5% 11.7% -0.6%
Ayantunde et al. 2008, sheep fattening in Niger, feeding trials, different feed mixes, all values in CFA

Do we have suggestions to improve feeding practices from research?
From Mali, sheep fattening.
Feed Days Daily Weight Gain Net Profit per animal
60% cotton seed cake,
40% peanut leaves
76 200 g 11,020 ($22.04)
45% cotton seed cake, 47%
peanut leaves, 8% millet
84 192 g 9,415 ($18.83)
61% cotton seed cake, 39%
sorghum straw
76 124 g 5,850 ($11.70)
From Hamidou Nantoume’s work in Kayes, Mali with sheep.
Thin sheep sell for about $40, average for $80, fat for $120
Trying to figure out using local resources least cost feeds for the animals
Also working to refine technical capacity to do feed analysis (feed trials
and lab analysis including Near Infrared Spectroscopy)

Fodder options
• There are a series of cowpea accessions that appear to be ideally
suited as a fodder crop, yet much of the work so far has been focused
on the use of cowpea in West Africa (Singh et al , Ayantunde et al.
Kristjanson et al. Tarawali et al.). We would like to see how this could
be adapted to east Africa.
• Other feed options exist that could be investigated such as moringa
oleifera, cajanus cajan, and dolichos lablab.
• Transformation options to produce feeds could include
• Urea enriched straw
• Molasses enriched straw
• I am sure there are lots I don’t know about as well

So where to next?
• West Africa with the history of Tabaski fattening has more of a
tradition with this.
• Basic idea should transfer
• The fact ranchers are moving into this area indicates a potential
opportunity.
• Research on least cost rations, and how they change over time.
• Introduction of fodder crops in areas where crops grow could present
a new income generating opportunity.
• May be more promising than attempting crops like maize that are not going to
make it in most cases.

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60.0%
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90.0%
100.0%
777
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Cumulative Percent for When a Cultivated Plot was
Established – Borana &Guji, LAND, Ethiopia

Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) training
.

Boran cattle passing through markets