“One calf came to the feedlot in a wheelbarrow, too weak to walk,” says a Baluchi farmer in Keshim, a district of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan. “Forty-five days later, it sold for $200.”
The Livestock Skills Transfer Project, part of a USAID Alternative Development Program, is teaching local farmers to fatten sheep, goats and calves in feedlots. They gain weight quickly and avoid the risks of predators and diseases in mountain pastures.
Summer pasture conditions are poor due to scant winter snowfall. Grain yields were low due to scarce spring rains. As a result, the cost of feed and forage nearly doubled from spring to summer. As feed costs rose, livestock prices fell. To cut costs and avoid the livestock losses they suffered last winter, farmers reduced the size of their herds. Prices in over-supplied livestock markets fell by over 35 percent. Nevertheless, feedlots with unimproved livestock, and using locally produced feed, remained profitable.
Feedlots are part of a long-term strategy to revitalize the national livestock industry. As herds recover to pre-war levels, the formerly abundant mountain pastures can no longer support them. Traditional grazing is risky, unprofitable and damaging to fragile mountain environments. Commercial forage crop production and feedlots offer a viable alternative.
During March–July 2008, small feedlots in Keshim fattened yearling sheep, goats and calves in 45- or 52-day feeding cycles. Sheep gained 43 percent, on average, while goats gained 50 percent and calves gained 44 percent.
The liveweight sales prices per kilogram of feedlot animals were higher than in local markets. The price premiums for feedlot sheep were 26 percent, compared to 94 percent for goats and 98 percent for calves. These premiums were due to higher body condition scores, readiness for slaughter, and improved linkages to downstream markets, as major traders come to feedlots at the end of each cycle.
Feedlot costs were high, but these 45- or 52-day cycles garnered 11 percent profits on goats, 21 percent on sheep and 44 percent on calves.
Village leaders in Keshim District intend to continue operating the feedlots when the USAID project ends. “They will not be abandoned orphans,” says the leader of Panshiri Village. “Everyone wants to be their father.”
Pictured: A view of the Bagh-e-Turk feedlot in Keshim Valley. Farmers retain ownership of their livestock during the feeding cycle. Most animals are sold to traders who come to the feedlots.
August 2008