Feeding Cattle Through the Dry Season in Ghana

Start in October, not when the paddock goes bare

By the time the grass around your cattle has turned the colour of dry thatch, the feed decision has already been made for you, and it was made badly. In northern Ghana the dry season usually settles in around November and runs into April. Grazing thins out within a few weeks of the last useful rain, and the grass that stays standing is tough, low in protein and quick to lose what goodness it has.

So the farmer who copes is the one who starts counting in October. Walk the paddock and estimate how much standing grass is left. Ask your neighbours what their stored residues look like. Check current rates at your local market, because prices move fast when everyone starts buying in December. Write the plan down with the number of animals, the weeks you need to cover and the feed you already have.

The people who wait until January pay the most for the least, and their cattle lose weight in the months when the bills are highest. A plan made in October gives you time to cut hay while the grass is green and to buy supplements before the lorries are full.

What the dry season does to a cow's diet

A cow on good grazing takes in a steady mix of green leaf, young grass and some browse. The microbes in her rumen that break down fibre work best with a steady supply of nitrogen and energy. When the green material disappears, those microbes slow down, the cow eats less, and her body starts drawing on its own fat and muscle to keep going.

Dry grass and crop residues carry plenty of bulk and very little protein. A cow can fill her rumen on maize stover and still lose weight, because the rumen is full but the microbes are short of what they need. That is why a dry season plan is about balance rather than bulk. You need fibre to keep the rumen working, protein to feed the microbes, and minerals to keep the body running.

Expect the first trouble in the cows that were already thin at the end of the rains. They reach the dry season with less in reserve, and they are the ones you will find lying in the shade in February.

Crop residues: useful bulk, weak on protein

Maize stover, sorghum stover, rice straw, groundnut haulms and cowpea haulms all come off the farm at harvest, and most of them end up burned or left to rot in the field. Every one of them can earn its keep in the dry season if it is handled properly. Groundnut and cowpea haulms beat most cereal residues, because the legume leaves still carry some protein. Maize stover and rice straw are mostly stem and carry little protein or energy.

Store residues under a roof, off the ground and away from rain. A stack left in the open loses its leaf, picks up mould and attracts termites within weeks. Chop or cut the material into shorter lengths if you can. Cattle waste less of a short, chopped feed, and it mixes better with supplements.

Do not feed residue alone for the whole dry season. Treat it as the bulk part of the ration and put something with protein beside it. If you have heard about treating straw with urea, ask your district livestock officer or agric extension officer to show you the method and the safety steps before you try it, because the handling needs care. The same heap that feeds the animals also feeds the soil when it is returned to the field, which is the idea behind our guide to integrating poultry with crops.

Hay you cut yourself, and when to cut it

Hay made from grass you cut is the most dependable dry season feed you can produce on your own land. The timing decides its value. Cut guinea grass or elephant grass while it is young and leafy, usually at the early flowering stage, and you get a feed with reasonable protein and digestibility. Leave it until the stems are woody and the seed heads are heavy, and you have a bulky material that cattle pick over and leave behind.

Cut in the morning, spread the grass in a thin layer and turn it once or twice over two or three dry days. You want it dry enough to store, with no damp patches at the bottom of the stack. Harmattan days dry grass quickly, though the air is dusty, so cover the stack with an old sack or tarpaulin. Stack the hay on a raised platform, under a roof if you can manage one, with air moving through it.

A simple test tells you a lot. Hay that is green and smells sweet is in good shape. Hay that feels warm, smells musty or shows black streaks has gone mouldy, and cattle may refuse it or fall ill on it. Pull out the damp part and throw it away. Do not try to save it by feeding it to the animals that are already weakest.

Browse trees: the protein you can grow

Leguminous trees and shrubs keep their leaves into the dry season, and that is the reason to plant them. Gliricidia sepium and Leucaena leucocephala are the two names your extension office is most likely to mention. Both can be cut and carried to the pen, and both bring protein to a diet that otherwise has very little. Moringa grows in many compounds across the country, and its leaves are also used as a livestock supplement, though the quantities need checking before you rely on them.

Browse has limits. Some leaves contain compounds that are fine in modest amounts and harmful in larger ones, so introduce any new leaf slowly and watch how the animals respond. Leucaena in particular needs care, and advice on how much to feed and which animals can take it is worth getting before you plant a row. Cut trees back at a height that lets them regrow, rather than stripping them bare in February.

Planting a browse hedge takes a full season, so it is a decision for the year before the dry season you are worried about. If you already have trees on the compound, start there. Count the leaves you can cut each week without harming the tree, and write that number down before you start cutting.

Protein and energy supplements, bought with a plan

Once you have bulk from residues and hay, the next question is what to add to lift the protein. Common options include cottonseed cake, groundnut cake, wheat bran, rice bran and brewers' grains where a nearby brewery sells them. Each has a different protein level and energy level, and each varies from batch to batch. Ask the supplier for the protein and fibre figures on the bag, and do not assume two bags with the same name are the same product.

Work out how much of the ration needs supplementing before you buy anything. Use the weight of each animal, the residue or hay you hold, and the protein gap you need to fill. Your district livestock officer or a reputable feed dealer can help with the sums. Buy in bulk when prices are low, store the bags dry and keep them off the floor, because damp cake spoils quickly and can grow moulds.

Introduce any concentrate slowly. A sudden change upsets the rumen, and a cow that goes off her food for two days can lose more condition in that time than the supplement would have added. Check current rates at your local market before choosing between one supplement and another, and compare the protein you get for the money you spend.

If you already mix your own poultry feed, the arithmetic is the same kind of sum. Our poultry feed formulation basics guide walks through balancing protein and energy, and that habit carries over to cattle.

Minerals and salt: the cheapest insurance you will buy

Salt and minerals are the part of the dry season plan that people skip, because the bag looks small and the cattle look fine. Cattle on residue-based diets are often short of phosphorus, sodium, calcium and trace minerals. The shortfall shows up as poor appetite, lower fertility and a dull coat long before any single deficiency is named. A mineral lick block, or a loose mineral mix in a trough with clean salt where the animals can reach it, covers most of that gap.

Choose a product made for cattle, not one made for poultry or pigs, and read the label for the species it is intended for. Keep the lick out of the rain, because wet blocks break down and lose their value. If you have a large herd, put out a second point so the stronger animals do not monopolise it.

Your vet can tell you whether your area has a known mineral problem, and that local knowledge beats a general list from a brochure. Ask before you start any mineral programme that involves injections or drenches.

Water: the limit that arrives before the feed runs out

In the dry months a cow drinks more as the heat rises, and dry feed needs water to be digested properly. A herd with a reliable trough can cope with a thin paddock. A herd that walks a long way to a dying pond loses condition even when the stack is full.

Check the water supply twice a day, in the morning and late in the afternoon. Look at the trough, the pump, the borehole output or the dam level, and note any day when the level falls faster than you expected. Small dams can drop sharply by March, so plan the second source before the rains end, not after. Keep troughs clean. Algae and dung in the trough put cattle off drinking, and a cow that drinks less eats less.

If cattle have to walk to water, keep the route short and avoid marching them across a field of residue they will trample and waste. Shade on the way makes a real difference on hot afternoons.

Reading body condition before the cow tells you

Body condition scoring gives you an early warning that weighing does not always catch. Most keepers use a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very thin and 5 is very fat. Run your hand along the spine, behind the ribs and over the hip bones. You are feeling how much cover lies over the bones, and whether the spine feels sharp under your fingers.

Aim to keep the herd at a score of 3 or better through to the end of the dry season, and check each animal every fortnight. Score the thinnest cows first, and move them to the best grazing or the supplement pen before you think they need it.

Grazing rules, bush fires and cutting trees

Dry season grazing often means herds moving onto land that is not theirs, or cattle wandering onto harvested fields after the crop is in. Agree grazing routes with the farmers whose stubble your cattle will eat, and keep the peace by following the rules your community already uses. Stubble is a real resource for cattle, but only when the owner has agreed to it.

Bush fires are the most destructive event of the dry season. They can burn the grass you need and the trees you depend on for browse. Clear firebreaks around hay stores and feed sheds. Do not set fire to grazing to clean it up unless your local forestry or agric extension officer has agreed the timing with the community.

Cutting trees for browse or fuel is controlled on forest reserves and some protected land. Check with the Forestry Commission before cutting on any land that is not clearly yours, and keep your browse cutting to what your own trees can carry.

A worked feed plan for 20 cattle, with assumed figures

Here is a planning example you can adapt. The numbers are assumptions, not a forecast. Replace each one with your own weights, residue stocks and bag labels before you commit any money.

The most useful step is the gap calculation. Write down how much each animal gets from hay and residue each day, decide how much protein the herd is missing, and only then compare supplement bags on protein per cedi spent, using current local rates. Keep the sums on one sheet and update it every fortnight. If the stack runs down faster than the calendar, you know the plan needs more hay or more supplement before the cattle start to lose condition.

Dry season feed checklist for October

1. Count the cattle and score each animal for body condition.
2. Estimate the standing grass and the number of weeks it must last.
3. Cut and dry hay from the best grass before the harmattan dust sets in.
4. Stack residues under cover, off the ground, and check for termites.
5. Plant or prune browse trees and record how much leaf you can cut each week.
6. Buy mineral lick and salt, and place troughs where every animal can reach them.
7. Price supplements at your local market and buy the protein you are missing.
8. Test the water source and plan a backup for March and April.
9. Agree grazing routes and firebreaks with neighbours and the community.
10. Write the plan down and review it every two weeks.

Some poultry keepers add cattle once the flock is paying its way, and the planning above is the part that decides whether the second animal helps or hurts. Our chicks leave the hatchery on the day they hatch, so if poultry is your first enterprise, start with the day-old chicks page, check the current chick prices, or WhatsApp us on +233 24 915 1503. The order form is on our homepage. Farmers who want to talk about supplying birds for a bigger plan can start on our partner with us page, or read who we are first.

If you are planning a shelter as well as a feed store, our cattle kraal and housing guide covers the site, floor and handling pen. Mixed farms also need records, and the poultry record-keeping guide shows a simple sheet you can adapt for cattle.

Questions farmers ask