Bush-based animal feed serves two purposes

“The potential of utilising encroacher bush for animal feed has significant benefits for Namibia, especially during the dry season, or times of drought.” This was the opening remarks of Progress Kashandula, General Manager of the De-bushing Advisory Service (DAS) at the opening of a training workshop on the potential of bush-based animal feed held at farm Langbeen Ranch near Dordabis at the end of September.“Bush-based animal feed is one of the low hanging fruits for Namibian farmers especially in filling up the gap in utilising bush parts. We get an opportunity to contribute towards solving bush encroachment and foresee a very big opportunity for our farming community and land users to take advantage of this value chain,” she said.The training served as a follow-up to the research that was conducted from April 2016 to July 2017 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fu¨r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the UNDP Sustainable Management of Namibia’s Forested Land (NAFOLA) for the Bush Control and Biomass Utilisation Project.The above partners conducted intensive trials on encroacher bush-based animal feed production in Namibia. The results of these trials demonstrate a great potential for this value chain to contribute towards addressing bush encroachment when used in combination with other value chains.The training workshop was facilitated and organised by the Debushing Advisory Service (DAS) and conducted by Dagmar Honsbein, research coordinator for Bush Control and Biomass Utilisation Project. The training took place at farm Langbeen Ranch, owned by Anton Dresselhaus, a commercial farmer who produces bush-based animal feed at a large scale. The training workshop targeted communal and commercial farmers who wish to learn more about the value of bush-based animal feed. A diverse group of 23 farmers from different regions participated in the training.The full day training comprised two parts. Firstly, farmers were exposed to practical application of key principles of bush-to-animal feed production namely bush identification, harvesting techniques, processing bush material, mixing with supplements, palletising for longer storage and practical feeding showcase. Secondly, a series of presentations providing the theoretical foundation of the approaches to explain the principles of bush to animal feed and costing. while solving farming challenges, such as dry seasons, drought and limited cash-flow. “The idea is to enable farmers to cope with stressful farming situations, by utilising on farm-resources,” Honsbein explained.The hands-on training also included group discussions to reinforce knowledge on the process of animal feed production. These sessions allowed the farmers to share experiences and tips on how to efficiently make animal feed on their farms.Honsbein advised especially the small-scale farmers that making feed does not need to be a very costly process with complex equipment; all that a farmer needs is the willingness and ability to do it. “You don’t need a million dollars or machines to do bush-to-animal feed. All you need is the bush and your willingness to get through challenging times, and mostly, your animals, through the drought,” she said.The smaller parts of the bush especially when they are still holding fresh leaves, can be used for making animal feed. The rest can be used for fire wood and charcoal, for example. Additionally, farmers were cautioned not to wait for a drought to produce animal feed but rather engage in pre-emptive feed production when bush carry foliage (from around October to March) to avoid the pressures that come with a drought.

Bush-based animal feed serves two purposes

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Republikein 2025-11-04

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Bush-based animal feed serves two purposes

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