We're farmers, not nutritionists
We're farmers, not nutritionists. We originally got involved in bush feed out of necessity during a major drought. Since 2011, we have been sharing our practical boskos experience with the intention to help other farmers who are facing similar struggles feeding their animals.
Two birds, one stone
In Namibia, most farmers have two problems: feeding their animals, and managing the bush on their farms. Why not address both at the same time?
We discourage the excessive use of chemicals to manage encroachment bush. Those chemicals just end up back in the water supply of your animals, your crops, and your family. Instead, we try to encourage farmers to use the bush sustainably. As it turns out, you can use encroachment bush to manufacture feed for cattle, sheep, goats, and wild game. |
Our experience, your guide
We've compiled and condensed our boskos experience into this website. The information and advice we provide can be used as good starting place or basic guide for your own bush feed operation. We recommend that professional help is obtained when deviating from our basic recommendations, and we can't be held accountable if any damages or injuries occur.
This section is updated regularly as new information and methods become available. We recommend you visit this page regularly to stay up-to-date. If you have any questions, please reach out to us. |
How the process works and what bush is suitable
The first important point is to determine if you have sufficient and suitable bush on your farm. Close observation of the farmer is important. Pay attention to which bush's twigs and leaves that the animals on the farm eat. That bush is inherently suitable. Don't use bush that doesn't get eaten by any of the animals. There's a reason they don't eat it.
Most bush types are suitable, but some have better qualities than others. The ideal would be to analyze the bush on your farm and then to mix the bush types according to the qualities present to ensure the best, most nutritious mix. This can be done later in the operation. Begin by first handling the drought or crisis at hand.
Don't remove or cut down good or protected species. There should be enough enroachment species. Good bush can be planted and those prunings can be used. With many bushes, pruning stimulates growth, and often, the new growth is more usable for grazing animals. However, care must be taken not to prolong the pruning process. Branches must be cut off as quickly as possible so as not to trigger the release of tannins. For safety reasons, the pruning process of a bush should not exceed 10 minutes.
A few of the common bush types that can be used are swarthaak, sekelbos, sandveld geelhout, and driedoring.
Bushes in different regions will not necessarily have the same nutritional value or palatability for the animals. The animals on my farm don't like sekelbos very much, but a good friend in the north feeds predominately sekelbos. It will just have to be tested. Seasons also play a role in the animals' preferences.
The ideal time to harvest is in the green season when the bushes still have fresh green leaves and the seed of their flowers. You can still harvest bush and make feed through the winter, but its protein content (and therefore its quality) is lower during that time. If you do harvest in the winter, consider using an additive in your mix to raise its protein content.
Bush that is harvested in the green season and thoroughly dried can easily be stored for a year. The chipped or milled bush be very dry to prevent fermentation. The bust must be stored unmixed and without additives (such as molasses). If it is mixed and then stored, it can easily ferment or attract rodents and insects.
Don't blindly believe feed analayses. The chemical compositition of each bush type differs from area to area, as well as by the time of year the bush is harvested. It would be ideal to have the bush on your farm analyzed at some stage in your process.
In the green season, the bush pulls the maximum amount of nutrients from the ground and stores the nutrients in its leaves, flowers, and seeds for its best chance at reproduction. If the bush is harvested in this time, all these minerals and nutrients are transferred to the feed and your animals reap the advantage.
Never use twigs thicker than 25mm in your feed. The thinner the better.
The thin twigs must then be converted into fibers. We shouldn't feed chipped bush. The ideal would be if the bush fibers look like cut gras and have a woolly appearance. Width is especially important here. Lengths should only be around 10-12mm.
Very good results have come from mixing different types of bush. Saliebos is often less tasty but contains a lot of oils. 80% of the bush fiber can for example consist of a basis like swarthaak or prosopis and the rest can be made of sekelbos, blinkblaar, saliebos, etc.
Tannins are a very controversial subject, and I would like to explain how we understand it and what has worked for us since 2011. When an animal eats a tasty bush, the animal will easily keep going until the bush is dead. It looks then like tannins are nature's way of protecting the bush from becoming overused. Tannins are released after a time if the animal eats for too long. At first, the leaf becomes bitter to stop the animal from eating too much, and later the animal can die from tannin poisoning. It looks then like the bush that release tannins communicate with each other downwind, and the next bush also begins to release tannins as a precaution. We have found out that when a bush is trimmed, cut down, or pushed over, we don't have any problems with tannins. When the animals in the drought in small pastures graze and are forced to eat more of the twigs from the bush, more tannins can be released. It may then be good practice to mix approximately 190g PEG into 500kg boksos. Chemicals are dangerous, though, and proper supervision, training, control, are essential.
Important is to remember that my boskos must be tasty and digestible, sufficient protein, energy and phosphate available and make economic sense for the animals to maintain or grow to accelerate or round off.
Most bush types are suitable, but some have better qualities than others. The ideal would be to analyze the bush on your farm and then to mix the bush types according to the qualities present to ensure the best, most nutritious mix. This can be done later in the operation. Begin by first handling the drought or crisis at hand.
Don't remove or cut down good or protected species. There should be enough enroachment species. Good bush can be planted and those prunings can be used. With many bushes, pruning stimulates growth, and often, the new growth is more usable for grazing animals. However, care must be taken not to prolong the pruning process. Branches must be cut off as quickly as possible so as not to trigger the release of tannins. For safety reasons, the pruning process of a bush should not exceed 10 minutes.
A few of the common bush types that can be used are swarthaak, sekelbos, sandveld geelhout, and driedoring.
Bushes in different regions will not necessarily have the same nutritional value or palatability for the animals. The animals on my farm don't like sekelbos very much, but a good friend in the north feeds predominately sekelbos. It will just have to be tested. Seasons also play a role in the animals' preferences.
The ideal time to harvest is in the green season when the bushes still have fresh green leaves and the seed of their flowers. You can still harvest bush and make feed through the winter, but its protein content (and therefore its quality) is lower during that time. If you do harvest in the winter, consider using an additive in your mix to raise its protein content.
Bush that is harvested in the green season and thoroughly dried can easily be stored for a year. The chipped or milled bush be very dry to prevent fermentation. The bust must be stored unmixed and without additives (such as molasses). If it is mixed and then stored, it can easily ferment or attract rodents and insects.
Don't blindly believe feed analayses. The chemical compositition of each bush type differs from area to area, as well as by the time of year the bush is harvested. It would be ideal to have the bush on your farm analyzed at some stage in your process.
In the green season, the bush pulls the maximum amount of nutrients from the ground and stores the nutrients in its leaves, flowers, and seeds for its best chance at reproduction. If the bush is harvested in this time, all these minerals and nutrients are transferred to the feed and your animals reap the advantage.
Never use twigs thicker than 25mm in your feed. The thinner the better.
The thin twigs must then be converted into fibers. We shouldn't feed chipped bush. The ideal would be if the bush fibers look like cut gras and have a woolly appearance. Width is especially important here. Lengths should only be around 10-12mm.
Very good results have come from mixing different types of bush. Saliebos is often less tasty but contains a lot of oils. 80% of the bush fiber can for example consist of a basis like swarthaak or prosopis and the rest can be made of sekelbos, blinkblaar, saliebos, etc.
Tannins are a very controversial subject, and I would like to explain how we understand it and what has worked for us since 2011. When an animal eats a tasty bush, the animal will easily keep going until the bush is dead. It looks then like tannins are nature's way of protecting the bush from becoming overused. Tannins are released after a time if the animal eats for too long. At first, the leaf becomes bitter to stop the animal from eating too much, and later the animal can die from tannin poisoning. It looks then like the bush that release tannins communicate with each other downwind, and the next bush also begins to release tannins as a precaution. We have found out that when a bush is trimmed, cut down, or pushed over, we don't have any problems with tannins. When the animals in the drought in small pastures graze and are forced to eat more of the twigs from the bush, more tannins can be released. It may then be good practice to mix approximately 190g PEG into 500kg boksos. Chemicals are dangerous, though, and proper supervision, training, control, are essential.
Important is to remember that my boskos must be tasty and digestible, sufficient protein, energy and phosphate available and make economic sense for the animals to maintain or grow to accelerate or round off.
Oes en verwerking van die bos:
Die resep moet die laaste groot probleem wees. Ons het met ons eie mengsels begin met geen ondervinding. Voedingswaardes en mineraalsamestellings kan ook van area tot area verskil en behoort op elke person se plaas getoets te word. Die belangrikste is seker dat die boer sy diere ken en hulle dophou om te sien hoe hulle op die voer reageer.
Wees versigtig met die byvoeging van allerlei chemikalië. Van hierdie middels kan teen mekaar werk en diere negatief beïnvloed.
Wanneer die eerste keer boskos gevoer word, is dit raadsaam om eers met ‘n kleiner hoeveelheid te begin om diere te laat aanpas. Dit kan gebeur dat diere hulle oorvreet as gevolg van honerte en die mikrobes in die pens nog nie aangepas is vir die nuwe voer nie.
Ons gebruik die volgende resepte met groot welslae vanaf 2011:
Onderhoudsvoer:
- Gemaalde bos: +-80%
- Molasse stroop: +-8-12%
- Sout: +-0.5%
- Urea: +-1%
- Phosphate P23 +-0.75%
- Chop of mielies +-5%
- Kameeldoringpeule +-4.5%
- PEG 0,178kg per 500kg Boskos (Gevaarlike chemikalië - moenie oordoseer nie) Verlaag vir skaap
Groeivoer:
- Gemaalde bos: +-65%
- Katoenkoek: +-12%
- Molasse Stroop: +-10-12%
- Chop/Mieliemeel: +-5%
- Sout: +-0.5%
- Urea: +-1%
- Fosfaat P23 +-0.75%
- Kameeldoringpeule +-6%
- PEG 0,178kg per 500kg Boskos (Gevaarlike chemikalië - moenie oordoseer nie) Verlaag vir skaap
CONTACT US
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info@ankawini.com
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+264 81.475.6395
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Ankawini Safari Ranch
@ankawini_weddings |