3.4. Case study 1: Family group Molina-Monje - … study 1: Family group Molina-Monje As a basis for...

Ethnoveterinary Medicine in Organic Dairy Health Care

3.4. Case study 1: Family group Molina-Monje As a basis for this case study two reports are used that were made by Marco Verschuur;

one in May 2000 and one in July 2001. Many information found in this case-study is taken from these (M. Verschuur, 2000). The following is written on basis of the visits during July and August 2001.

The farm of the family group Molina-Monje is situated in the community of Santa Marta,

in the department San Vicente. The dairy part of the farm is in the process of becoming organic. The farm lies next to the dirt road to La Pita that forks off the Carretera Litoral at San Nicolas Lempa. Santa Marta is situated at about 6 km from the Pacific Ocean. The farm consists of different parts and is owned by the following families:

• Belarmina Molina • Juan (son of Belarmina) and Victoria Molina, a son (Ismael) and three 3 children of

Ismael • Isidro (son of Juan and Victoria) and Petronila Molina. They have a 4-year-old son • Telma (daughter of Juan and Victoria) and Angel Monje. They live together with their

4 sons and an uncle of Angel 3.4.1. Development of the farm During the civil war, Juan Molina was active in the guerrilla, as well as his brothers. When

it became too dangerous he left El Salvador, in 1980, together with his sons and wife, to settle in Nicaragua –all his brothers were assassinated. In Nicaragua he worked in a “co-operation” that was supported by the leftist party, the Sandinists. Here he gained experience in working with dairy cattle. His sons worked in plant production co-operatives.

After the peace accords in 1992, Juan returned to El Salvador. He settled in San Vicente, in the community of Santa Marta, where he received a piece of land on credit from the Programa de Transferencias de Tierras (PTT) and started a farm. The farm was mainly subsistence oriented and the main cultures were maize, sorghum, wheat and beans. His son Isidro returned from Nicaragua in 1996, bought land as well and joined his father in the farm. Later, other parts of the family joined as well. Angel and Telma had some cattle, but only in the beginning of 2000 the group as a whole made the step to a mixed farm by buying more dairy cows.

Every part of the family has its own peace of land, varying in size from 2,5 to 3 mz. All the

land is used in a communal way and the total farm size, including the area for the houses and the patios, is 21 mz or 14,7 ha. The division of land for the different parts of the farm can be found in annex IV.

Each part of the family has its own house and surrounding ground, the patio, in which it produces its own fruits and pigs: Isidro and his wife had one pig at the moment of the visit, father Juan has three and Isidro´s sister four. Before, the family groups had chickens as well, but they all died, probably of cholera. Juan has one horse and the family owns 2 bullocks that are used for animal traction. These stand together in a little pasture near the houses.

The trees and plants in the patios are not full-grown yet and have a low production. Therefore, everything is until now for home-consumption. In the future, surpluses will be sold. Not all parts of the farm will become organic; chemicals are still used in the maize, the sesame and in the horticulture, like watermelon and pepper. The Leucaena trees that have been planted will be used as fodder in the future.

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The farm has a lumbri-culture, for which part of the cow dung is used. This is used for the fruits and legumes in the patio.

In January 2000 three dairy cows and two heifers were bought. In July 2001, new animals

were bought to expand the herd. The amount of dairy cattle and LU that was present in august 2001 is shown in the figure 3 below. The size of 1 LU is adapted to the weight of an adult cow, 400 kg.

Nr LU/ animal Total

Cows 3 1,0 3,0 Calves 2 0,3 0,6 Heifers 6 0,75 4,5 Bull 1 1,3 1,3 Total 9,4 Figure 3 Amount of dairy cattle in numbers and LU

The cows are of mixed breed. The colours vary from black-and-white plated, to totally

black and yellowish-brown. They are a mix of Holstein, Brahman, Brown Swiss and “India” types. When an animal is bough, it should have some resistance to the climate on one side, combined with some dairy type, like Brown Swiss or Holstein.

3.4.2. Grassland During the night, the cows stay in the corral (1 tarea) 2. This is a plot next to the houses

which mainly consists of coarse weeds. In the evening, the cows receive here cut-and-carry grass. At about 9 o’clock, until 4 o’clock, the cows are left in the pastures. These are quite far from the corral, at about 3 km. For the milking cows, the farm has about 5,0 mz (3,5 ha) of own grassland, of which: 0,75 mz of zacate Suazi (Digitaria swasilandensis; locally one of the types with best

quality) 0,75 mz of zacate corte or Pasto australeano (Pennisetum purpureum; used as cut-

and-carry) 2,25 mz of bosque despalado, tree trunks, with unimproved, natural grassland. 0,75 mz of pasto Pangola (Digitaria decumbens) and Barrenillo (Cynodon dactylon);

unimproved grassland mixed with forest; these types tolerates heavy grazing (Skerman & Riveros, 1990).

0,5 mz of pasto estrella (Cynodon plectostachyus); a grass with a very good draught tolerance and good palatability. It colonializes bare land rapidly and its main deficiency is that it may become a little aggressive in cultivations (Skerman & Riveros, 1990).

Next to this there is access to about 15 to 20 mz of communal grassland. A few other families let their animals graze there as well.

The density is in average: 9,4/ 3,5 = 2,7 LU/ ha grassland (included the grassland for cut-

and-carry). The communal grassland isn’t included in this, so the actual density will be slightly lower.

During the time of the visit, the Suazi was left ungrazed so it would produce seed. This will be (partly) used to pay back the amount of seed given to them on credit. 2 1 tarea = 1/16 manzana

1 manzana = 0,7 ha

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3.4.3. Alimentation Wet season Annex IX gives a view of the situation of the grass production on the farm. One LU on this

farm is about 400 kg (the weight of a local adult cow). The intake of 1 LU will then be 2,5% * 375 kg = 10,0 kg DM. The average TDN value of the feed needs to be about 57% for a cow to produce 5 litres of milk (the average production on this farm). This will be estimated as the average need of one LU on this farm. Then the intake of 10,0 kg DM needs to contain 10,0 kg DM * 57% TDN = 5,7 kg TDN.

The figure shows that the average availability of grass per LU in the wet season is 9,8 kg with a TDN-content of 5,7 kg TDN. This comes down to an average TDN-value of the feed of 58%. This is sufficient. The requirements of a lactating cow (LW 400 kg) during the first 12 weeks of lactation are 530 g. The available protein during the wet season is 861 g, which is more than sufficient.

One has to take in mind that the calculation doesn’t include the milk-intake of the calves.

This will especially take place during the wet season (since most calves are born at the end of the dry season). This will cause the young stock to eat less grass, so the average availability for the other animals will be slightly higher than shown in the figure. Also, the available grass in the communal grazing ground isn’t included in the above calculation.

In August 2001, the milking cows received concentrates during milking, on average 3

libras (1,4 kg) per cow. Dry season Until now, there has been no shortage of food. But until now, they have not been through

the dry period with this higher density of (producing) animals. In Annex IX the availability of grass during the dry season is calculated as well. The

amount of LU that is used in the calculation is estimated: (a part of) the present heifers will possibly be pregnant and have greater requirements. Also, the two calves will be bigger by then and maybe there will even be more calves and producing cows. It seems that the amount of grass that is available will not be enough to satisfy the requirements: about 4,4 kg DM per LU per day. This makes clear that the availability of supplements during the dry season is very important. (The communal grazing ground isn’t included here either, but it is estimated that this won’t be an important source of intake).

Caulote (Guazuma ulmifolia) can be used as a supplement. This is a tree that is used much as a fodder during the dry season. The leaves remain on the tree all year, except in very dry areas where they drop at the end of the dry season. The leaves have a DCP of about 13% (Silvoenergía, 1986).

Besides this, guate de maiz (maize stover) is available, but until now this has only been used for the bullocks. The problem with using maize stover for the cows is that chemicals are used on this part of the farm.

The family said that the dairy cows will receive molasses from December till April. These

will provide TDN, but no protein. This could come from concentrates. Annex X shows a possible ration of the dairy cows during the dry season. According to

this, the cows will receive sufficient DM (9,9 kg DM per animal), with a content of 5,8 kg TDN and 678 g DCP. This comes down to an average TDN-value 58,6%. With this, a

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production of 8 litres of milk per cow per day will be possible (Jansen, 1990). The DCP will then also be more than sufficient.

Future The dairy enterprise is still in the process of transferring to being organic. This part of the

farm will grow and will therefore need more space. Extra grassland will have to be established. The 5,5 mz of land now under forest will be used for that in an agroforestry-system: grass under trees. Part of the seed produced in the Suazy-pasture will be used for this.

Although concentrates are an important part in the supplements (protein!), the aim is to develop new ways to provide sufficient protein during the year. Plans include the use of green manure, like various types of beans and leguminoses. Leucaena trees have been planted on the Molina–Monje farm, but only 30 survived the dry period. The one that survived, are still too small to be productive enough.

3.4.4. Milk production In August 2001, two of the three cows were in lactation and gave about 22 bottles of milk

(15,4 litres), of which 7 bottles are used for home-consumption. The maximum that was given until now by these two cows were 25 bottles (17,5 litres). The cows reached this production with a concentrate-gift of 1,4 kg per cow per day. With the production of 22 bottles, the average milk production per cow is then 7,7 litre. Without the concentrates the cows would produce 2,8 litres milk less. The production from grass is then 4,9 litre per cow per day.

In September 2001, the family stopped giving the concentrates. The milk gift dropped

sharply, from 22 to 15 bottles per day in total. They said to have done this because of the advice they received from a CORDES staff-member that giving concentrates wouldn't be economical. But this advice was given when the cows still received 6 libras (2,7 kg) each.

Further on in this chapter (§3.4.5: Finance) a calculation shows that giving 1 or 2 kg of concentrates, at least in this time of year, is profitable: The total drop in milk production (7 bottles) has caused a loss of income of 7 * ¢2,00 = ¢14,00. The total amount of concentrates that was given costed less: 2,8 * ¢2,31 = ¢6,47 3.

As the milk is collected only once a day and there is no cooling available, milking is done

once a day. This is done by hand. The calves are allowed to suckle their mothers in order to stimulate the letdown of the milk and are tight when the milk flows well. The hind legs of the cows are tight also and the udder is washed with cold water. Before each cow, the milker washes his hands.

3.4.5. Finance Until now, the farm sells its milk to a middleman from where the milk goes to a

conventional milk plant (as well as the other (organic) farmers in the region). This means that they receive a conventional – and thus lower – price for their milk. Besides this, as the milk is picked up at the farms by the factory, the received price depends on the distance of the farm to the factory. This causes quite big differences in milk prices: Santa Marta is receives a milk price of ¢1,50 in the wet season and ¢2,20 in the dry season. The farm that will be discussed in the second case study is closer to the Litoral highway and therefore the milk price is ¢2,00 in the wet season and ¢2,70 in the dry season. 3 By the time of the writing of this report ¢8,75 was equivalent to US$1

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CORDES has begun building a milk factory near the head office in El Playón. When this is ready, in January 2002, it will collect the organic milk and all the farmers will then receive the same, and higher price: the foreseen milk price is ¢2,75.

Concentrates cost ¢105 per quintal (= 100 libras = 45,4 kg), which comes down to ¢2,31

per kg (2,2 libra = 1 kg). To compare: this fl.0,66 with a dollar exchange of fl.2,50 for 1 US$. With 1 kg of concentrates, the milk yield will increase 2 litres. A concentrate-gift of 1 kg

then starts being profitable at a milk price of ¢1,16. Even on this farm, where the milk price is low, the use of concentrates will still be profitable.

In August 2001, the home-consumption was 7 bottles per day. Before a couple of months,

there was no milk consumed at all. In figures a to c of annex XI an estimated calculation is made of the monetary income and

the Gross Margin from the milk in the (present) wet and in the coming dry season. In both situations, an amount of three cows is used. For the milk production in the dry season an estimated production of 6 bottles of milk per animal is taken.

In the calculations the ratio ¢ : US$ is ¢8.75 : 1US$. In the wet season, the monetary income is ¢16,20 per day. In the dry season, with the same

amount of home-consumption, the monetary income will be negative: -¢11,40 per day. The total monetary income per year will then be: ¢878. This is ¢293 per cow per year (with the present amount of 3 cows).

However, it’s assumable that the home-consumption will drop. The point where the monetary income becomes positive in the dry season is with a home-consumption of 1,4 bottles of home-consumption per day.

When the home-consumption in the dry season is zero, the monetary income will be the same as the Gross Margin: -¢0,90 per day in the dry season. The Gross Margin in the wet season is ¢26,70 per day. The Gross Margin over the whole year is ¢4.721. The Gross Margin per cow is ¢1.574.

For comparison: the cows have been bought for ¢6.500 each. Above calculations take in mind a consumption of 1,4 kg concentrates and 3 libras of

molasses per cow per day in the dry season. One has to take in mind that the above calculations only show this year's picture. The

amount of milk production is now quite low, but the farm is growing. With a higher amount of cows, the relative amount of home consumption will be lower and at the same time the total Gross Margin and the Gross Margin per cow will be higher.

Also, the dairy enterprise is still small; it’s then logical that income and Gross Margin will

be lower or negative. Same calculations with future milk price The same calculations of monetary income and Gross Margin have been made with the

future milk price (¢2,75) they will receive from the organic milk plant. The same levels of production and home-consumption are used. These are shown in tables d to f in Annex XI.

Only the monetary income in the dry season will be negative then: -¢2,15 per day. The monetary income in the wet season will be ¢34,95. The total monetary income per year will then be: ¢6.002, which is ¢2.001 per cow per year (also here, three cows are taken).

The Gross Margin per day is ¢54,20 in the wet and ¢17,10 in the dry season. The total Gross Margin per year will then be: ¢13.048, which is ¢4.349 per cow per year.

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Conclusions But until now, the family can’t live of what the farm produces only. They have to pay off

their debts and besides that, a part of the animals is not yet producing. That’s why part of the family is working outdoors. Isidro, for example, used to work as a secretary for the SES, but stopped this work, because it took too much of his time. He now gives classes to adults on a nearby school. He self has had education until the 8th grade. He’s now doing the 9th in another college a few km’s up north.

In a few years when the debts are paid off and the present heifers produce as well, it’s assumable that the (dairy) farm will become the main source of income and provide enough to maintain the family.

Labour The family doesn’t hire workers and Juan, Isidro, Fabian and Angel do most of the work

with the dairy cattle. They work in rotation and every four days one of them does the work. The older kids bring the cows to and from the pastures and they also clean the corral. Juan and Isidro are member of the organic dairy co-operation and are the ones that attend the workshops and courses of CORDES.

In Annex VII an overview is given of the amount of work done with the dairy cattle. 3.4.6. Health The main problems are “respiratory infections”. Two different causes are given for these:

they can be caused by a cold, but also by parasites of the lungs. The infections occur mainly when there are changes in the climate.

When the cow has green mucus and a dry cough, anti-parasitic is used, because for them this is the sign that the animal has “lung parasites” (lungworm). When this is not the case and the animal has a cough, antibiotics are used.

The animals have only a few external parasites. The amount isn’t considered enough to

give the animals some kind of treatment and until now, nothing has been done against these. According to Isidro, the birds eat them and the salt in the air works preventively.

Ethnoveterinary medicine In case an animal is sick, the cow is often treated in co-operation with technical staff of

CORDES. These are agricultural livestock engineers or don’t have any diploma, but in both cases do give advice on the use of for example antibiotics. At least at the time of this investigation, no EV-methods where used in these advice. This is probably caused by insufficient knowledge.

On the farm Molina-Monje mostly conventional medicines are used; also this appears to be due to lack of knowledge. They argue they would be motivated to use medicinal plants if they would know how to use them. Isidro stated: “using medicinal plants is better for the environment than chemicals”.

When asked further, however, it appears that they do have some knowledge. They showed two plants that grew in the patio of which they knew the medicinal function: Hoja de golpe and Chichipince. The first is used in the case of wounds or lame animals. An infusion is made of the plant, which is then put on the wound or the sore leg. Chichipince was said to have a antibacterial function and is used in the case of inflammations or skin wounds. It is also used against mastitis. One of the cows was lame by the time of the visit, because of a fall in the

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truck when it was transported to the farm. They used hoja de golpe on it and they said that the cow walked better after some treatments, although it was still limping by the time of the visit.

3.4.7. Matrix of the plots

Plot next to the houses

Plot of Victoria & Isidro

Plot of Belarmina Plot of Juan

Area 1 manzana 4.5 mz 1.5 mz 2.5 mz Water Sufficient clean

water available Not in all parts is water available

No water available

System Waste land Cut-down forest, pasture and grass for cut-and-carry

Fenced forest and pasture

Plant production

Cultivations One part is cultivated with Cynodon plectostachyus

Digitaria swasilandensis, Pennisetum purpureum and 30 Leucaena trees

Digitaria decumbens, Panicum maximum

Maize, beans, water melon; no use of animal dung, chemicals are used here

Trees Zorra, caulote (Guazuma ulmifolia), polvo de queso, escanal, tiguïlote

Zora, caulote, polvo de queso, leucaena (still small)

Zorra, caulote, polvo de queso, escanal

Animals (during the night) 3 cows, 6 heifers, 2 calves and 1bull

(during the day) 3 cows, 6 heifers and 1 bull during the day

(during the day) 3 cows, 1 bull and 6 heifers

Medicinal plants

Hoja de golpe, madre cacao, chichipince

Technology Milking parlour, manga, lombricultura, water pump

Organic pasture Conventional – they still use chemicals; irrigations system

Limitations Lot of waste, weeds and dung that isn’t collected, low milk price

Much zancudos The maize isn’t organic and can therefore not be used for the cows

Potentials Close to the houses, availability of water

A lot of forrage trees; Forest land could be improved

Use of tuza and caña de maíz for the cows, when this part is organic

Future objectives

Sembrar pasto de corte (¼ mz) y frijol abono; hacer abonera de estiércol y rastrojo

Establishing ½ mz of cashew; area of pasto Suazi (Digitaria swasilandensis) will be increased (forest land will be used – agroforestry)

Figure 4 Matrix of the plots (Most parts copied from: Verschuur, 2000)

3.4.8. SWOT

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Strengths Family group – all work within the same family There is sufficient terrain to grow (there are 5,5 mz with only forest) Part of the family already had some experience with cattle Conscience of the integration and sustainability of natural resources They don’t burn cultivations Have other, external, sources of income Leguminous trees have been planted: 30 leucaena trees (still small) Alimentation adapted to needs of cow (higher-producing animal received more

concentrates) They have administration: there is a page for every cow with dates of calvings,

mountings, vaccinations, etc.) Weaknesses Terrains have a low production Some pastures still have tree-trunks (after clearing away the forest) Cow dung from the corral isn’t collected to be used in the pastures Lot of weed in the pastures Alimentary diet has low diversity ; not many roughage options for supplements Far away terrains; large distance (3 km) from the pastures to the corral In some parts, they still work with chemicals and these are thus not organic; this is

negative for the integration of the various farm parts Opportunities The organic dairy project (credit, technical assistance, exchange with other farmers

and regions) Workshops of CORDES – development of human resources

Threats Flooding Animal theft Negative rentability in the beginning of the project Quality of alimentation during the dry period without loosing too much money

(partly from: Verschuur, 2000) 3.4.9. Evaluation of influencing factors Quantity and quality of available water During the day, there is lack of access to water. In the morning and during the night, the

cows have access to sufficient clean water from a well, but in some pastures there is no access at all.

States of the pastures The walking distance to the pastures is quite long (3 km). There are pretty much weeds in

the Suazy pasture. Although it's now only used for seed producing, weeds will cause a lower yield of seed as well.

Availability of alimentation during the dry season The dairy part of the farm is still growing and developing. It’s therefore difficult to do

conclusions on the amount of feed available for the animals.

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As calculated in §3.4.3.:Alimentation, it will be possible under the present situation to give the animals sufficient DM, energy and protein during the next dry season, but this will come at a price (for concentrates and molasses). It’s possible that the family sees this diet as too expensive when there is (almost) no milk production: also on this diet, the cows won’t produce much during the dry season, seen the fact that most animals calf at the end of this season. Many animals will thus stand dry, at least during the beginning of the dry season. Probably, the cows will receive less supplements and will “survive” on roughage. The cows will loose condition, which is what happens in reality (see annex XIV).

However, in the future there will be more feed available: increase of the amount of (improved) grassland and the use of the leguminosas (Leucaena). This will improve the quality of the ration.

In the maize, chemicals are still used, but this has no influence on the certificate of the organic dairy production. However, this causes limitations in the amount of maize stover that could be fed to the cows.

Availability of common salt The cows don’t receive salt. According to the family, the air contains enough, since the

farm is situated at about 6 km from the Pacific Ocean. According to the technical staff of CORDES, this is indeed true, so the animals will receive enough.

Vaccinations The cows receive vaccinations against Blackleg y Anthrax (twice a year). They received

one against anthrax on the 12th of June, as well as a vitamin injection. Parasite control of the intestines and the stomach Desparasitation of the internal parasites is done at the beginning and at the end of the rainy

season. It has been done on the 17th of June (this was one month after the rainy season began). Fosfamisol was used. This is tolerated by the organic norms and is cheaper the Ivomectine, which is not tolerated anyway.

System of control of ticks It has until now not been necessary to actively do something against these. The salt in the

air protects the animals. Salt in the air sticks to the grass, which is ingested by the animals. Care for the cows-before calving, recently born calves and sick animals Until now, two cows have calved. One of the cows died after calving, but gave a healthy

calf. The reason for this is unknown. The "second" cow was already producing when it was bought and already ended it’s lactation.

No extra feed was given to the cows and the calving occurred in one of the pastures. No one was there and it took place without problems or complications. The calf stayed with its mother for 8 days. The idea is to keep the calf with the cow 24-hours a day until the calf starts to eat well. After this, they are let with the cow after milking, 2 hours a day. The calves will be weaned when the cows drop in production at the end of the lactation.

3.5. Case study 2 - Miguel Cruz, community La Florida This farm is situated in the community of La Florida (also in the municipality of

Tecoluca), which is situated on the north side of the carretera Litoral, a few km’s from the

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village of San Nicolas Lempa. The owner of the farm is Miguel Cruz (43). The farm is in the process of transferring to being organic.

Miguel lives together with his wife (17) and together they have a son (1). His wife doesn’t work with the cows: she cooks and takes care of the baby and the house. Miguel does almost all the work on the farm. Sometimes extra workers are hired to repair fences or de-weed.

Miguel comes from the department of Cabañas, where in 1992 he bought his first two cows and later some heifers and calves. After farming there for a while, he got the opportunity in 1998 to buy his present farm in La Florida from people that had received the land through the PTT-program.

The farm has a total amount of 10

cows, of which 9 were in lactation in August 2001. All cows have their own name, like Siete Pelos (Seven Hairs), this one almost didn’t have hair when they bought her, and Cocinera (Cookster). There are 9 calves and 7 heifers. The amount of LU is calculated in figure 6).

The animals aren’t pure bred and are mixes of Brahman with Brown Swiss or Criollo (see figure 5); mayor part is Brahman. A bull of a cousin is used for as breeding bull on the farm. This bull is Brahman x Brown Swiss, but also with mayor part Brahman. No artificial insemination is used. Two years ago another bull was used which had more Criollo blood. Some of the heifers are from this bull.

Figure 5 One of the cows of Miguel Cruz

Nr LU/ animal Total

Cows 10 1,0 10,0 Calves 9 0,3 2,7 Heifers 7 0,75 5,25 Bull 1 1,3 1,3 Total 19,3 Figure 6 Amount of dairy cattle in numbers and LU

3.5.1. Grassland The farm has 8 manzanas (5,6 ha) of grassland that is used the cows. The pasture where the

cows have in the last time have been has a size of 5 mz (3,5 ha) and consists of natural grassland. Major occurring species are estrella (Cynodon plectostachyus) and barrenillo (Cynodon dactylon) (source: www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea35s/ch28). Both types have a good drought tolerance and have a good palatability (Skerman & Riveros, 1990). Although the pastures are divided in three parts with barbed wire, the gates between the pastures are left open, so the pastures are used in continuous grazing, which allows the cows to select the best parts of this natural grassland. Until now, the cows have been grazed here. Another pasture of 3 mz (2,1 ha) is presently not used and has recently been sown with zacate camalote (Panicum máximum), which is improved pasture. These two pastures are quite close to the corral, some 500 mtrs.

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Another 1 mz of natural grassland next to the corral is for the calves. Using the figures given before, the density over the total grassland is 19,3/ 6,3 = 3,1 LU/

ha grassland. This is a bit higher than on the other farm (2,7 LU/ ha), but the quality of the pastures is higher on this farm. The pastures here are pure pastures and have no competition from trees. Trees are present, however, around the pastures, which provides shade for the animals.

The cows go to the pasture from 7:30 to 18:30. During the night the cows are left in a

corral next to the house. Part of the corral has a rood and there is a well with abundant clean water. In August 2001, the cows went to the pasture of 5 mz during the day. Last year Miguel installed a well with a rope-pump system here, from where water is pumped in a half of a tractor wheel. Miguel mixes common salt every morning with this water. In the afternoon the cows have consumed all the salt and they receive pure water. In August 2001 another well was installed in the 3-manzana pasture.

The dung isn't collected. Miguel has the plan to collect it for the improved three-mz pasture.

3.5.2. Alimentation Wet season This wet season (2001) the cows haven’t received supplements. All cows receive the same

ration, disregarding the more productive cows. Miguel is planning to buy molasses (from sugarcane) and give this to the cows during the

milking. Recently he has bought concentrates, but he only gives this to the calves, because he "heard that giving concentrates to the cows may have negative effects for the function of the rumen". This is another example of lack of knowledge and misunderstanding which should be cleared up.

But, as he already had bought the concentrates, he decided to give it to the calves. All calves together receive 15 libras per day (6,8 kg = on average 0,8 kg/ animal), which comes down to 1,7 libras per calf per day. But, seen the fact that these concentrates are given all at once in a big tray, the stronger, older and more dominant calves will receive most.

Dry season The pasture of 5 mz stays quite humid during the dry season, so there are no mayor food

shortages. Trough the 3-mz pasture passes a canal with water from the Río Bravo, with which the land can be irrigated.

Nevertheless, the milk production drops during the dry period, which could have something to do with the time of calving as well: most cows are then at the end of the lactation (for example in August 2001, all cows but one were in lactation).

As supplements during the dry period, cogollo de caña de azucar (sugarcane tops; TDN of

52% and a DCP of 2.6%) are given. In the patio grow leguminous trees: Madre cacao (Glyricidium sepium) and Caragua

(Cassia grandis). These are also used as a supplement during the dry period. In august 2001, Miguel planted young Neem and Leucaena trees in the patio, which will also serve as a protein source in the future.

3.5.3. Production

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The cows are milking only once a day, in the morning, from 5:30 on. The milking is done under the shelter in the corral. Before milking, Miguel washes his hands and cleans the tail of the cow. Here also, the calf is used to stimulate the milk let down. According to Miguel, this suckling of the calf cleans the udder sufficiently at the same time, so he doesn't clean it more. Milking is done by hand. When a cow is ready, it is loosened and left free in the corral without further treatment.

In total, the 9 cows gave 50 bottles per day. After home-consumption, 42 bottles are sold, which are about 29 litres. The milk that is hold back home-consumption is mainly used for making fresh cheese. On average the cows produce 3.9 litres per day, but two of the cows only produce 1 litre per day, so the rest produces 5,0 litres per day. The production is lower than at the other farm, but here the cows have been longer in lactation.

According to Miguel the cows have a period of lactation of about six to nine months and

the Open Days are two to four months. This means that the time-between-calving is about one to 1,5 years.

In a period of one year, one to two cows are discarded. Miguel says that he doesn’t use

home-consumption his cows, so the re-emplacement percentage will be five to ten percent per year.

3.5.4. Finance The milk price that Miguel Cruz receives is higher than on the farm mentioned in Case

study 1. In the dry season, they receive ¢2,70 per bottle and in the wet season ¢2,00. Figures a to c in Annex XIII show an overview of estimated monetary income and Gross

Margin with the present milk price in this wet season and the coming dry season. A total amount of ten cows has been used. In the dry season an estimated production of 3 bottles per animal per day is taken. In the wet season, the monetary income is ¢84,00 per day. In the dry season, with the same amount of home-consumption, the monetary income is ¢54,00 per day. The total monetary income per year will then be: ¢25.254. This is ¢2.525 per cow per year.

The Gross Margin is ¢81,00 per day in the dry season and ¢104,00 per day in the wet season. The Gross Margin over the whole year is ¢33.855. The Gross Margin per cow is ¢3.386.

Above calculations use a concentrate consumption of zero, seen the fact that presently no concentrates are fed either.

Same calculations with future milk price Here also, the same calculations have been made with the future milk price (¢2,75). The

same levels of production and home-consumption are used. These are shown in tables d to f in Annex XIII.

Only the monetary income in the dry season will be: ¢55,00 per day and in the wet season ¢115,50 per day. The total monetary income per year will then be: ¢31.202, which is ¢3.120 per cow per year (also here, ten cows are taken).

The Gross Margin per day is ¢143,00 in the wet and ¢82,50 in the dry season. The total Gross Margin per year will then be: ¢41.267, which is ¢4.127 per cow per year.

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3.5.5. Animal health According to Miguel the mayor health problem is ticks. He says the salty water causes the

ticks to fall off. Nevertheless, he says that next to this he wants to implement the use of eucalyptus leaves as well. He uses the following recipe: you grind the leaves, then you leave them standing in water over night and then you spray on the cow with a pump (like the ones that are used for insecticides). Until now, Miguel hasn't used it, but he has friends who did and had good experiences with it. During another visit he told that for ticks he also uses leaves of caragua and madre cacao. You use a libra of leaves of both species, you pound the leaves, mix them with water and bathe the animal with it.

There was one cow that had had both a retained placenta and a prolapsed uterus. When it

had the expulsion, the uterus was cleaned with cold water, they put sugar on it and they pushed it inside. In the following days, the uterus was expulsed a couple of times again, but they repeated the treatment and at the end the uterus stayed inside. There were no complications and after the last treatment the cow was healthy again. The same cow had a retention of the placenta after another calving. They don't want to sell the cow, because it's a good milk producer. Most possibly there is a relation between the higher production and the occurrence of these problems; taking in mind the fact that the ration isn't adapted to individual needs, the lack of sufficient nutrients may have caused the problems.

A while ago there was a cow with mastitis. The calf was still with the mother 24-hours a

day and the cow wasn't milked yet. That's why they didn't notice in time that the cow had mastitis and apparently because the calf didn't suckle this affected quarter, it the cow ended up with three functioning teats. Normal, when a cow has mastitis, Miguel puts a buja (metal straw) in the teat, so the infected milk flows out. He prefers this above a chicken-feather (which is used much locally for the same purpose), because it's made of metal and therefore finer and smoother.

3.5.6. Matrix of the plots

Natural pasture Improved pasture Pasture for calves

Corral

AREA 5 mz 3 mz 1 mz 0,5 mz WATER Water from well;

in the morning mixed with salt

Canal - water is from the Río Bravo; is used as irrigation in the dry season; next to this, a well is being established here

Water from well Water from well; water is clean and abundant

CULTIVATIONS Estrella (Cynodon plectostachyus) and barrenillo (Cynodon dactylon)

Camalote (Panicum maximum) recently sown

Natural grassland Nothing: bare soil

ANIMALS 10 cows, 7 heifers, 9 calves (calves in the

Not yet 9 calves in the afternoon and night

Cows during milking and night

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morning) TREES Caulote

(Guazuma ulmifolia)

Leucaena, madre cacao, Neem, caragua

FUTURE GOALS Use of cow dung as fertiliser

LIMITATIONS Is not yet organic Idem idem Idem POTENCIALS The soil stays

quite humid during the dry season

Figure 7 Matrix of the plots

3.5.7. SWOT

Strengths Pastures are close to the corral (more or less near 500 meters) Availability of shadow in both the pastures and the corral Availability of sufficient and clean water in all the pastures and the corral: three new

wells (awareness of importance and needs of water) Animals receive salt Use of breeds that are adapted to the climate (mayor part Bramán) Presence of leguminosas: Madre cacao y Caragua. Neem and Leucaena are recently

planted Experience with cows Willing to invest: wells and fodder trees Farm is already quite stable and has positive monetary income and Gross Margin ; it

will then be easier to switch to organic farming Weaknesses Dung isn't collected (yet) and used All cows have access to the same ration; no extra is given to higher producing cows

(this may have caused one high-producing cow to have had several reproduction problems: retention of the placenta and a prolapsed uterus) Cows drop in production in the dry season

Opportunities Terrain stays quite humid during dry season In the plot with improved pasture there are irrigation possibilities during the dry season

Threats Tuberculosis (animal don’t receive vaccination against this) Quality of feed during dry season

3.5.8. Evaluation of other influencing factors Quantity and quality of available water The corral where the cows are for the night has a newly constructed well with clean water.

There is a well in one of the pastures for the dairy cows. In the improved pasture there is now

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one under construction. The calves can drink in the morning when they are in the pasture with the cows, and in the afternoon they receive water from a well.

States of the pastures Until now, the biggest part is natural pasture. Here, plenty of shade is available. There

were some weeds in this pasture in August 2001. Three mz of pasto Camalote are newly sown. This has a good quality.

Availability of alimentation during the dry season Because the grassland keeps quite humid in the dry season, according to Miguel there are

no mayor shortages in this period. Sugarcane tops are fed. These have a TDN-value of about 52%. The cows will receive protein from the available leguminous trees.

Availabilty of common salt All dairy cattle receive salt that is given as a solution in the drinking water during the

morning. Vaccinations The cows are vaccined two times a year against anthrax and blackleg; at the beginning and

at the end of the rainy season. The cows don’t receive a vaccination against Tbc, because the government doesn’t subsidise it and the vaccination is quite expensive. However, this is a disease that could occur. It’s possible to do blood tests before buying cows in order to make sure the animal is free of it.

Parasite control of the intestines and the stomach The animals receive something against internal parasites two times a year, also at the

beginning and at the end of the rainy season. Last year they used “betomal”.

System of control of ticks Miguel gives salt to the animals so the ticks will fall off. However, when the infection is

quite heavy, he uses a bath of leaves of madre cacao and caragua, which he uses every 8 days.

Care for the cows-before calving, recently born calves and sick animals Apart from the cow that had retention of the placenta and prolapsed uterus, there are

normally no problems around calving. Mayor part of the calvings occurs in the pastures. The first ten to fifteen days the calf stays with its mother 24-hours-a-day, without milking the cow by hand. After this period the calves are let with their mothers during the morning in the pasture, after the milking. In the afternoon, they go to another pasture with natural grassland and sufficient clean water. This day-rhythm is followed until the end of the lactation or until the cow rejects the calf. After this, the males are sold.

3.6. Discussion and conclusions 3.6.1. Discussion on workshops The following discussions are a reflection on the workshops. Discussed are points that

were of influence on how the research was continued. That’s why these parts of the

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discussion are put in this chapter. The final discussion and the conclusions can be found at the end of this thesis in Chapter 5: Discussion and recommendations.

Priority diseases Of the priority diseases mentioned in the first workshop in San Carlos Lempa, parasites,

retained placenta, neonatal diarrhoea and mastitis offer best chances for treatment with organic EVM methods.

Anthrax and blackleg are prevented with vaccinations and won’t need attention here. No vaccinations are given for TBC, because of unavailability in the country and lack of

government support. Instead of this, examinations are carried out, and when an animal is proven to be positive for TBC it has to be discarded.

Bloat is a disorder in which the emphasis should be on prevention. It is above all a management-problem and the farmers themselves are the ones that should receive most attention in the form of education about the causes of the disease. Moreover, most existing treatments used for bloat ARE already organic, so the search for organic alternatives, which is the goal in this thesis, is not a necessity. Bloat will have to be given attention, but in another way, that goes beyond the scope of this thesis. Therefore, bloat will not be included in the investigation.

According to Dr. Pineda, a veterinarian working for CORDES, conventional treatment will remain the first option in the acute phases of pneumonia. But, the additional use of EVM offers possibilities.

According to Luis Erazo (the co-ordinator of the agricultural program of CORDES in San

Vicente-La Paz), the priority diseases mentioned by the farmers were the most important diseases in adult cattle. Diarrhoea and pneumonia in calves are nevertheless also important. According to him the sequence in the diseases would be as follows:

1 Parasites 2 Mastitis/ Pneumonia in calves 4 Retention of the placenta 5 Neonatal diarrhoea Parasites are by both parties considered the most important health problem. According to

Mr. Erazo, the main ones can be divided into the following groups: lungworm, ticks of different types, parasites of the stomach (helminths) and tórsalos (tropical warble fly). Next to this there are several diseases in the region that are transmitted by parasites, like tuberculosis and brucelosis, against which no vaccines are used. Both parties consider mastitis and retention of the placenta important.

As a consequence of the above, it was planned to focus on parasites, mastitis, retained placenta and neonatal diarrhoea.

But priority diseases differ between regions. Mastitis, for example, was mentioned as one of the most important problems in Tecoluca, but almost didn't occur in Puerto la Libertad. The other regions had other priority diseases and during the workshops, ethnoveterinary methods for these diseases also got mentioned. The decision was then taken to take these up in the inventarisation and exchange them between the regions as well. However, because of limited time, they won’t be included in the non-experimental validation in the next chapter.

Other observations on workshops

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It was noticed that farmers in general found it difficult to tell the difference between traditional, organic and conventional methods. It isn’t therefore a good idea to ask the participants of the workshops to mention “only traditional methods”. A lot of traditional methods will then be left unmentioned. In order to avoid this, farmers were asked to tell all methods they used or knew of. The researcher ignored the ones that made use of chemicals or drugs and the others were noted.

The (male) participants in Suchitoto seemed reluctant to show their ethnoveterinairy

knowledge. This could be influenced by workshops they received from the Australean veterinarian who had mainly been promoting conventional, western methods. Maybe they have lost respect for the ethno-methods or maybe the find the use chemicals simply more interesting and more "status-giving".

3.6.2. Conclusion Case studies

There are no mayor health problems as far as could be noted until now. Alimentation Annex XVI shows the available fodder sources; the ones that both farms in the cases use

and other sources that are locally available as well. No exact quantities are given, the "x"-s stand for the relative availability.

The most critical months in the alimentation for the cows are February, March and April/ May (until the beginning of the rains). In these months the animals reach the lowest weight. In October and November, at the end of the rainy season, the animals are fattest. In the region most calvings occur at the end of the dry season, in the months March and April. Most cows get pregnant in the rainy season. The cause for this will be that the energy balans becomes positive then.

On both farms the calves are kept with their mothers 24-hours-a-day, at least during the

first week. All milk that is produced during that time is for them. This gives them a good start and they have all opportunity to take in sufficient colostrum.

Role of the cows In the farm of Miguel, the dairy production has the prominent place. At the farm Molina –

Monje this place is still growing; here, the fruits and home-consumption products take in a big place as well. On both farms, the principal goal of the dairy production is income generation (in cash). This differs from the role the cows have on the farms of the participants in Puerto la Libertad (See §3.2.3.). Here, the families have in general only one cow and the milk production is principally for home-consumption. Here, the cows are kept principally for “survival” and are, next to other crop or animal productions on the farm, part of the total survival strategy.

Individual attention On the visited farms in Tecoluca all cows have their own, sometimes funny name, says

something about the bondage the people have with their cows and what the cows mean to the farmers. In the farms visited, all cows had a unique name that had something to do with the state of the condition of the animal or the circumstances when the animal was bought. Next to this, the number of cows on the farms is not that big, so there is much individual attention for each cow. Abnormalities are noted immediately and sick animals are given extra attention.

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However, as appeared from both farm visits, there is none to little adaptation of the ration to individual needs. Development of awareness on the individual alimentary needs of the animals would be useful, seen that alimentation is very important in the prevention of diseases. CORDES has already given a few workshops on this.

Gender On the visited farms in Tecoluca, the ones in charge of the cows are the men. When

extensionists of CORDES visit the farms, it’s the men that talk with these or that help in the case of administration of medicines.

Ethnoveterinary methods Outside the use of breeds that are adapted to the local circumstances and giving salt against

ticks, the mentioned EV-methods mainly consist of the use of medicinal plants. When asked further the farmers in general don’t make much use of them. In general conventional medicines are used: los químicos, as the farmers in Tecoluca call them. The above could be caused by unclearness of the concept of EVM, but also by hesitance to tell what they use of know. It will cost more time and confidence from the side of the researcher(s) to research this. When they were asked explicitly about the use of the shapes of the moon, they mentioned various cases “of which it was said” to have influence, but they said that they didn’t use it themselves. On the other hand, or next to this, the appearing low use of EVM can be caused by insufficient complete knowledge; many farmers only have cows since a few years.

The farmers state that they would be willing to make use of it, if they knew more about it or if they disposed of some well described methods. It looks like they have motivation to use it, seen the following comments of farmers from Tecoluca:

“...much easier to be able to use medicines sooner. Plants can be taken from the patio for instant preparation. This is much faster than when you have to go to a store first.”

“The use of medicinal plants is better for the environment” “It’s cheaper than ‘chemicals’ ” Cheapness and conscience of the environment were mentioned as well in the comments

that the farmers gave on the theme of organic dairy farming in general. CORDES-staff During the farm visits, extensionists of CORDES sometimes visited the farms. On one of

the farms, there was a cow that already had a cough for a couple of days. The case was discussed between the (male) owner and the (male) extensionist and the last then gave the animal a conventional antibiotic treatment (injection). This brings up the question to the awareness and motivation of the CORDES-staff of conventional and organic medicine.

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