Fodder establishment
1. Factors to consider in fodder establishment
The following factors should be put in mind when selecting forage to cultivate
• Climate: altitude and rainfall
• Type of soil (moisture, texture, fertility, drainage)
• Diseases and pest resistance
• Drought resistance
Pictures
3. Cultivating fodder crops
• Site selection should be based on climatic requirement
of the specific pasture to be established.
• Ground preparation: most of pasture seeds are small
hence need a fine seed bed.
• Sowing and planting : grass can be sown not deeper
than 1 cm, covered lightly with soil. It can also be
vegetative propagation.
• Management :forages should always be weed free
• Harvesting: fodder should be harvested at early
flowery wilted and fed to the animals.
2. Classes of forages
• Bulk forages: provide most of the energy and make
30-70% of feed e.g. Napier, Boma Rhodes, Brachiaria
grass
• Supplementary forages: e.g. Lucerne, Desmodium,
sweetpotato vines
Tumbukiza
Napier grass Boma Rhodes
Brachiaria
Lucerne Desmodium
Source: agrilifeextension.tamu.edu
Source: theorganicfarmer.org
Source: aliexpress.com
Farmers’ workshop: 5th-10th
February, 2018
Nandi and Bomet Counties
4. Nursery establishment
Forages can be established as pure stand or as
mixed sward. When harvesting you can do cut and
carry or conserve as hay or silage. Sweetpotato vines
Phyllis Ndung’u, Peter Kirui and Linus Kiprotich
International Livestock Research Institute
Phyllis Ndung’u
Mazingira Centre, International Livestock Research Institute,
P.O. Box 30709-00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
This project was funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development.
This document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. July 2018
ILRI thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund