Pilipino Cattle Industry Development

DA imports Braunvieh cattle semen from Switzerland to enhance local beef and dairy industry

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has imported Braunvieh cattle semen from Switzerland that will produce “dual purpose” calves both for beef and dairy production and perhaps jumpstart the local beef and dairy industry.

  The importation of semen will enable crossbreeding of the Braunvieh breed with locally available cattle breeds through AI. It will bring down the cost of producing superior performing cattle locally by smallhold cattle farmers.

  It can replace the more expensive system of importing cattle for breeding or for dairy use. Importation of dairy cattle can cost P150,000 to P180,000 per animal.

  Direct beneficiaries of the program are cattle raisers of the Camiling Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) of Camiling, Tarlac that has more than 50 cattle-raising members.

  “We have the capability of breeding for crossbred Braunvieh animals with what cows and other resources we have,” said Abad.

“The country never had a vision to develop cattle both for beef and for dairy production. We followed a model that is not appropriate to our situation,” said CCA President Rene G. Abad.

  The concept that the country adopted separated the breed for dairy production and the animal for beef production. But the Braunvieh is a breed for dual purpose dairy and beef production.

  The project “Commercialization of Braunvieh Crossbred Cattle for Dairy and Beef (Dual Purpose) Production” by the Camiling Cattlemen Association (CCA) is being funded by the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) with almost P1 million. The CCA members will provide their cows for breeding, collect the data, manage the project and grow the resulting crossbred F1 calves.

  The project has imported 1,320 straws of elite Braunvieh bull semen from Switzerland coming from proven progeny tested bulls.

  “We’re able to get the cattle semen at an affordable landed price of only P250 per straw,” said Abad.

  The government should invest in a breeding program for cattle which would uplift the lives of smallholder farmers, according to BAR Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar.

  “There are stakeholders in the cattle raising business who are small farmers. It is our mandate to look for possibilities in enhancing their competitiveness through technology,” said Eleazar.

  Filipino cattle raisers who own just one or two animals represent the big bulk of the country’s live cattle inventory, according to Abad.

  “Small cattle raisers account for about 92 percent of our total cattle population. But it’s unfortunate that in the past, the government has not adequately consulted with the needs of the smallhold sector. It’s good we’re getting this attention and help from BAR under Director Eleazar,” he said.

Importation

  This BAR-funded program may perhaps in the long term enable substitution even a small amount of what the country imports.

  The Philippines imported $105 million (P4.2 billion) worth of beef and beef products as of 2005 based on a United States Department of Agriculture report. This was mostly carabao meat (carabeef) from Brazil and India.

  For dairy and milk, the Philippines imported as of 2006 $457.3 million worth of products. Imports come from New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

  For dairy cattle, the National Dairy Authority (NDA) is importing 700 dairy animals from New Zealand up to February 2014. This is for a total of 2,100 heads with a total cost of P294 million at an estimated price of P140,000 per head.

 

Available cattle

  The Philippines has locally available cattle that can be crossed with the Braunvieh. Some of these are native breeds, while some animals are crossbreds of the native with the Brahman and other Zebu (generic for cattle that have hump) breeds of Indian origin. Zebus originated from India and Africa and are suitable for tropical climate as the Philippines.

  The country also once received the French white Charolaise cattle as a gift from France. The Charolaise is used solely for beef and the cow is not used for dairy production. Charolaise grows at a fast 1.7 kilos per day.

  “The French donated Charolaise bulls to us in the 1960s that was used for crossbreeding, but it’s unfortunate we were not able to maintain and develop it,” he said.

  Crossbreds with Braunvieh inherit superior traits such as fast growth, good beef quality, and higher milk production. This could reach eight liters or more per day instead of just two liters or less from the non-crossbred. For beef use, fattening crossbred calves can be slaughtered at an earlier two years of age with adequate feeding.

Cost Effective

  It will be cost-effective for the Philippines to conduct its own breeding program considering some factors. The country with its tropical climate with high rainfall and long sunlit days, has abundant source of feed and forage.

  Large grazing land may no longer be much available, but natural feed like grasses and those from ipil-ipil and other forage trees are easy to grow. New jobs in the rural areas can be created for grass and forage collectors. There are also feed concentrates from agricultural by-products that have been proven to increase animal growth and achieve desired objective such as good milk production.

 

Coordination

  Given its mission for smallhold cattle raiser, other government agencies has come in to aid in other aspects of breeding. For one, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) is already engaged in genomics program for identifying and breeding good traits in native animals, particularly swine. “We will not be inseminating native cows to conserve the already low numbers of the Philippine cattle,” was the assurance given by Abad.

  BAI is supporting the project by maintaining the viability of the Braunvieh cattle semen at its National Artificial Breeding Center until it is used in the AI of the cows.

  The Braunvieh crossbreeding project is supported by the Philippine Carabao Center in artificial insemination (AI). PCC-trained and supported technicians are doing the AI of the cows . PCC is also expected to help supply the liquid nitrogen which ensures preservation of semen straw for AI.

  The CCA is also coordinating with the Tarlac College of Agriculture in the analysis of the data collected. This activity can be used by TCA students for their theses. It is likewise coordinating with the local government units of Tarlac province and the municipality of Camiling that commit to working on AI activities.

  The BAR-CCA project has a capability-building component as the farmers are continuously trained on cattle raising specially in health, feeding, housing, and milking, among others. The project is experimenting on the use of ICT in its training activities and has collected a large amount of materials that can be used by other farmers.

  The National Dairy Authority is assisting the project in the area of training for dairy production via seminars. Abad is hoping that the NDA will become a buyer later of their Braunvieh crossbred cows.

  Braunvieh cattle are known for their good beef quality and higher milking quality. The male crossbred becomes ideal for fattening, and the female crossbred, for milking.

  CCA expects a 30 percent efficiency in AI. Its expects the generation of around 400 calves from its semen straw import volume.

Needed policy

  Crossbreeding of imported dual purpose breeds and local animals to produce more productive cattle for beef and dairy production should be the major program of government for cattle, according to Abad. The DA’s Livestock Development Council could initiate the policy changes necessary to implement this, together with greater participation of the smallhold sector.

  “Smallhold raisers nationwide can do massive crossbreeding with government assistance to produce more productive cattle to reduce our 99+% dairy and 28+% beef importation rates” said Abad. This will result to job creation and increased income among smallhold farmers in the rural areas, and have multiplier effect on the whole economy. “We don’t crossbreed, we’re just importing beef, milk and breeding animals. We can complement the old US model where there is a distinction between the dairy and the beef industry, with the dual purpose European and Latin American model.” Abad added.

  Average rate of fattening of purebred Braunvieh is 1.3 kilos per day while the local cattle grows at only 0.3 kilos per day. If there is crossbreeding (the foreign at 1.3 kilos plus the 0.3 local), the resulting cattle can have higher average growth at 0.8 kilos or more per day with adequate feeding.

Earnings

  Farmers who can care for three cows used to produce dual purpose calves can earn an annual gross income of P150,000 to P180,000. This is at a slaughter weight of 500 to 600 kilos per animal at an average price of P120 per kilo.

  Cost mainly involves feeding.

  “The person caring for the three cows has the time for other agricultural activities. Feedstuff like grass and forage that is readily available and suited only for ruminants like cattle are free,” said Abad.

  CCA is looking forward to applying for a grant with the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or ACEF to expand its breeding work to benefit other smallhold farmers.

Environmentally Friendly Cattle Production

Recent news have painted cattle production as bad to the environment given its methane and carbon production. But cattle is part of nature, just look at the bison population of the American prairies in the past, and the Indian cattle population of today, for starters. It is a part of the natural environment and it is needed as food for us.

Given that, there are ways to lower the carbon and methane footprint of cattle production in order to compensate for other of man’s non-natural activities.


Forage trees to absorb carbon
While cattle production produces carbon, forage trees can not only provide feedstuff for the cattle but also absorb the carbon produced by cattle. In denuded mountainous areas, it can also help reduce erosion but also fertilize it with leave droppings and fixed nitrogen when it is leguminous. Forage trees produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, and are less threatened by drought that are said to be caused by global warming. The challenge now is to identify forage trees that have high carbon absorption, high nutritious plant parts output, hardy, deep rooted for erosion control, high nitrogen fixing, easy propagation and other beneficial characteristics. A number of trees need to be identified so there will be no monoculture systems that also have its dangers. Candidate trees are ipil-ipil, kakwate, malunggay, etc.


Manure to Energy to reduce methane
Manure left on its own will eventually release its methane content to the atmosphere. Putting the manure into biodigesters will convert it to useful energy and safer combustion gases. The gas produced can be used for cooking, electric generation, mechanical energy, etc. This will lead to reduction of oil imports, however small, that will also reduce energy use in oil logistics thus lowering carbon production further.
Manure to Energy have high start-up costs that can be funded by the Carbon Fund from the developed countries using local technologies and production.


Forage based to preserve food for human production
Forage plants also absorb carbon dioxide while producing feedstuff for the cattle. It will also reduce the use of human consumed feedstuff like corn and soya that are imported from highly mechanized production systems. Freeing local corn and soya production solely for human consumption has the effect of lowering carbon due to the removal of logistics that consume oil, and shifting production to less oil-consuming production areas.
It has been said that forage-based diets produce high methane output. Research must be made in the identification of less carbon producing forage species and feeding systems.


Mountain-based to reforest denuded areas
It has been my observation, at least in the lowlands, that when an area bereft of trees is settled by people, after a few years one can find already more trees planted by the new settlers. One good example is the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City. Pictures of the campus at the start of its construction in the 1950’s show an almost treeless cogonal area but if you go there now, it’s a haven of tall cooling trees. Also a good example is the nearby campus of the Philippine Science High School that was also treeless in the early 1970’s.
Cattle production in denuded mountains will be a challenge to start but I am confident landless smallhold farmers has the sagacity to do it, given tenure to the land and a modicum of government and civil society support. However, settling the mountain areas should be well regulated and farmers indoctrinated on proper management for their own long term interests. This is specially important on the intensity of production, waste reduction and recycling, erosion control, etc.
The choice of cattle breed is also important with hardy European dual purpose mountain cattle breeds like the Grauvieh, Tarentaise, Braunvieh, etc. be used to cross with Philippine Zebu crosses. This combination will provide hardiness and productivity needed in the mountains.
Cattle production in the mountains have the advantage of cooler temperatures in the tropics leading to better production specially of milk.


Overall, cattle production is part of nature and should not be carbon-demonized by ‘green’ writers. It’s the conspicuous individual consumption of the developed countries based on a solely profit-minded economic system that has produced the most carbon in the past, at present, and more in the future.