Sustainable Agriculture Extension Manual

Tethering

Tethering involves tying animals by a rope to a peg driven into the ground so they can graze only in the circle around the peg. Tethering uses pasture land efficiently and stops animals from straying. It can be used with any livestock species (including cattle, goats, sheep and chickens).

Location

Tethering is useful where land is in short supply, or it is not possible to build fences for paddocks because of the cost or the lack of fencing materials. You can tether animals around the edges of a field where crops are growing. After the harvest, you can release the animals in the field to graze on the crop residue, or you can tether them in the field to prevent them from straying.

Advantages

  • A full-time herder is not needed.
  • Tethering is a very flexible method that can be used in many different circumstances.
  • It does not require fencing or other expensive inputs.

Disadvantages

  • The animal cannot run away from predators.
  • The animal may be strangled by the rope if it is tied to a tree.
  • The animal must be moved frequently to make sure it has enough feed and shade.
Tethering in the highlands of Ethiopia

There is a serious shortage of grazing land in the highlands of Ethiopia. Farmers keep a small number of livestock (usually a pair of oxen, a cow and a few goats and sheep), which they tether around the homestead, on the edges of crop fields, and along roadsides. It is a good way of using land that would otherwise be unused. In areas with intensive cash crops, such as coffee, qat (Catha edulis) and vegetables are grown, farmers tether their animals all year round. In places where annual food crops are grown, farmers tether the animals only in the wet season, and in marshy bottom land in the dry season. They give the tethered animals additional feed such as crop thinnings, weeds and hay. — For more information, contact Kettema Yilma, FARM Africa-Ethiopia.

Requirements

  • Pegs.
  • Rope.

Procedure

1. Tether each animal separately to a peg using a rope. Make the rope long enough so the animal can reach sufficient forage, but not so long that the rope will become tangled in bushes. For cattle, you can tie the rope around the animal's neck or one of its front legs. It is best not to tie a goat or sheep by the leg as it may break its leg if it is startled.

2. Move the animal at least three times a day.

3. Provide water to the animal, or bring it to a watering point, at least twice a day.

4. At night, bring the animals into the kraal.

 

Do's

  • Use a strong rope, preferably made of sisal.

Don'ts

  • Don't tether animals to a tree, as they can go round and round the tree and strangle themselves on the rope.

Poultry manure as a cattle-feed supplement

Poultry manure makes an excellent feed supplement for cattle, goats and sheep. It is high in urea, a source of nitrogen, which improves the environment in the animal's rumen (stomach). This helps use the feed more efficiently and easily, making the animal better nourished with whatever feed is available.

Location

Feeding poultry manure is useful where large numbers of poultry are kept in houses. Cattle-raisers can use the droppings from their own poultry, or get manure from chicken farms.

Advantages

  • The urea in the manure makes the animals healthy and fat.
  • Poultry manure is readily available.

Disadvantages

  • Poultry manure can carry bacteria that cause salmonella and coccidiosis disease. Animals that eat it may become ill if the manure is not sun-dried well enough.

Requirements

  • Bag or container for manure.
  • Sieve, shovel.

Procedure

1. Remove the manure from the poultry house and dry it in the sun. Important: it must be dried well to kill any bacteria in the manure and to prevent mould.

2. Break up lumps in the dried manure and sieve it to remove wood, stones and nails that can harm the cattle.

3. Mix the powder with other feed supplements such as bran, maize and the powder left over from milling grain. You need to mix the manure with other feeds because otherwise the cattle may refuse to eat it.

4. Feed this mixture to the cattle. The manure from 100 chickens is enough for 1-4 cattle.

5. You can keep the dried manure in bags for up to 2 months in a dry, airy place (such as under the roof).

 

Do's

  • Dry the manure properly in the sun to kill any bacteria.
  • Feed dairy cows with the manure-concentrate mixture once a day. You can feed non-dairy animals with the mixture twice a day.
  • If you store the manure, keep it dry.

Don'ts

  • Don't give the manure mixture to young cattle less than 5 months old, or to sheep and goats less than 3 months old. They can catch salmonella and coccidiosis easily, and their rumens have not yet developed enough to be able to digest the manure properly.
  • Don't feed wet manure.
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