Sustainable Agriculture Extension Manual

Animal draught power

Animal draught power is useful for small- and medium-scale farmers with limited income: those who cannot afford to buy or hire tractors. Draught animals can be used for many purposes: mowing, ploughing, weeding, harvesting, transportation and pumping water. Many types of animals have been used as draught animals, including cattle (or oxen), donkeys, mules, camels and horses.

Animal draught power is particularly useful for smallholder farmers who practise sustainable agriculture. The animals provide a good source of organic manure, and grass and tree fodder can be used to feed them. Using animal traction to prepare the land, and for weeding and other field work helps to avoid the compaction and physical destruction of the soil that can be caused by tractors.

Advantages

• Draught animals reduce the amount of physical labour and makes farming a more appealing occupation. It thus encourages farmers to stay on the farm and not to migrate to the towns.
• Replacing hoes with draught animals and equipment increases productivity. Farmers can double or triple the area cultivated, thereby increasing crop output at low cost.
• Animal draught power is not expensive. The animals and equipment are cheap compared to tractors. The investment can pay for itself in a few years.
• Animals compact the soil less than do tractors.

• The animals and equipment can be supplied locally, thereby creating less dependence on external resources.
• Draught animals do not require radical changes in cropping patterns or labour. Although they reduce labour needs in some field operations, the savings are not drastic, and labour can shift to other activities, such as planting, harvesting and caring for animals and harnesses.
• The use of animal draught-power can create work opportunities by stimulating the development of artisans, increasing jobs for local blacksmiths, carpenters and leather-makers who produce the equipment needed.
• Farmers can hire out their teams and equipment for transport, water-pumping and tillage.

Disadvantages

• Using draught animals is more labour-intensive than tractors.
• Although they are cheaper than tractors, the equipment and materials can still be too expensive for small-scale farmers.

Using donkeys for draught power in Kenya

Manor House Agriculture Centre, located in the Rift Valley province of Kenya, uses donkeys for animal power. It chose to work with donkeys for several reasons:

• Donkeys are more resistant than other species to many tropical diseases, such as those carried by ticks.
• Donkeys do not eat as much as ruminant species.
• Donkeys learn quickly; they can be trained in about 3–4 weeks.
• Both sexes of donkeys deliver equal amounts of power (females need a 6-month work rest during and after a pregnancy).
• A donkey can pull 25% of its body weight for 4 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon, for a total of 7 hours per day. Oxen can only pull 18% of their body-weight, and only for 4– 4.5 hours per day. Oxen need more time for chewing the cud to allow for proper digestion. So donkeys take less time to convert food into power.

6. In arid and semi-arid areas, the cost of keeping oxen is often too high to make them a feasible source of farm power; donkeys are less costly to keep.
7. Donkeys can work for as many as 30 years; oxen can work for only about 15. Since donkey meat is not valuable, there is no reason to slaughter them, so they live for a long time.
8. Donkeys can usually be acquired from local markets at a lower cost than oxen and horses.

Manor House provides training and technical assistance to farmers on how to use collar harnesses to improve performance and how to avoid injuries to the animals.

Training donkeys to work as draught animals

Young animals (about 2.5–3 years old) of either sex are the best age for easy training. Although they are more difficult to train and it takes longer, mature donkeys can also be trained to provide draught power. A young animal can be trained in 3–4 weeks; it takes 6 weeks to train a mature animal.

1. Over a period of a month or more, the owner should aim to develop friendship and a good working relationship with the animal. This would include feeding and providing water to the donkey, grooming it, leading the animal to shelter or to pasture, and other general care.
2. The training starts by having the animal wear a light harness and bridle for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. The farmer can train the donkey to take the bridle by opening its mouth with his fingers. The bridle has reins which allows the farmer to train the animal to obey commands: steer, turn, stop, and move backwards. This training will take about 3 weeks, depending upon the trainer.
3. When the donkey reaches the age of 4 years, the animal can take on light duties, such as mowing and transporting light loads. Once the animal has reached the age of 5, the work can be gradually increased: for example, ploughing for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. Young draught animals should only do light duties because the animal’s body tissues are still growing and developing.

—For more information, contact Alfred Mayende, Manor House Agriculture Centre, Kenya

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