Livestock Marketing

Automatic Milking Systems (AMS) milk cows any time without the need for a human worker to be present. Cows choose when to be milked and detailed data is recorded by the robot which can be accessed remotely by computer or mobile device meaning farmers can check the health and performance of their herd from a distance. It is claimed that robotic milking improves the working conditions and lifestyle of the dairy farmer, as well as having economic advantages and benefits for cow health and welfare. This paper focuses on the relationship between AMS and the role of the stockperson. Although AMS reduces the need for labour in the milking parlour and in theory creates freedom and flexibility for the farmer, in practice farmers found their work routines changed rather than lessened. Ultimately, the role of the stockperson is still vital in maintaining and improving cow health and welfare when compared to conventional milking routines.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritional and feeding value of peanut hay (Arachis hypogaea L.) produced under tropical environment as an alternate forage resource for sheep. Peanut hay was appreciably high in crude protein [CP; 105 g/kg dry matter (DM)] and lower in neutral detergent fiber (NDF; 466 g/kg DM). Moreover, peanut hay was rich in Ca (12 g/kg DM) and P (1.7 g/kg DM). A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of substituting wheat straw with peanut hay on nutrient intake, digestibility, and N utilization. Four adult Ramghani (Kaghani × Rambouillet) wethers (60 ± 2.5 kg body weight) were randomly assigned to the four dietary treatments according to a 4 × 4 Latin square design. The four rations were formulated on isonitrogenous and isocaloric bases and differed in the proportion (in grams per kilogram DM) of wheat straw/peanut hay, i.e., 700:0, 460:240, 240:460, and 0:700. The replacement of wheat straw with peanut hay increased the intakes of DM (P < 0.001), NDF (P < 0.01), and N (P < 0.001). Moreover, apparent in vivo digestibility of DM, NDF, and CP increased (P < 0.001) with the increasing proportion of peanut hay in the ration. Nitrogen retention in the body increased (P < 0.01; 3.2 to 8.1 g/day) with the replacement of wheat straw with peanut hay. These findings showed that substitution of wheat straw with peanut hay can improve DM and nutrients intake, digestibility, and N retention in sheep.

Robotic milking machines are novel technologies that take over the labour of dairy farming and reduce the need for human–animal interactions. Replacing ‘conventional’ twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, it is claimed that robotic milking has health and welfare benefits for cows, increases productivity, and has lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. Such claims are certainly contested, but the installation of robotic milkers clearly establishes new forms of relationships between cows, technologies and dairy farmers.

This paper draws on in-depth interviews with farmers and observational research on farms to examine relationships between representations of robotic milkers as a technology which gives cows freedom and autonomy, and practices and mechanisms which suggest that bovine life is re-captured and disciplined in important ways through the introduction of this technology. We focus on two issues. First, we explore changes in what it is to ‘be bovine’ in relation to milking robots, drawing on a combination of a discursive framing of cows' behaviour and ‘nature’ by dairy farmers and on-farm observation of cow-technology interaction. Second, we examine how such changes in bovinity might be articulated through conceptions of biopower which focus on knowledge of and intervention in the life of both the individual cow body and the herd. Such knowledge and intervention in the newly created sites of the robotic milking dairy are integral to these remodelled, disciplinary farm systems. Here, cows' bodies, movements and subjectivities are trained and manipulated in accordance with a persistent discourse of agricultural productivism. In discussing these issues, the paper seeks to show how particular representations of cows, the production of embodied bovine behaviours, technological interventions and micro-geographies contribute to a re-capturing and re-enclosure of bovine life which counters the liberatory discourses which are used to promote robotic milking.

The study was designed to analyze the socioeconomic characteristics of dairy cow owners and the profitability of rearing Red Chittagong Cattle (RCC) dairy cow in a village named Hazirpara under Chandanaish Upazila of Chittagong District and the study identifies the problems of the dairy owners and provide recommendations. A sample of 30 dairy owners was selected randomly to determine the profitability of RCC. Primary data were collected from the selected farms. Costs and return analysis as well as functional analysis were performed using Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR). The study showed about 20% of RCC farm owners were landless, 40% were small and marginal farmers, 23.33% were medium and 16.67% were large farmers according to their landholding sizes. The average rearing cost of RCC per cow per year was found on the basis of cash cost, non-cash cost and full cost basis at Tk. 34,699, Tk. 12,655 and Tk.47,354 respectively. The average gross return per year per cow of RCC was found at Tk.53,283.33. The average gross return per lactation per cow of RCC rearing over cash cost and full cost basis were found at Tk.19,698 and Tk. 7,043, respectively. The BCR on the basis of cash costs and full costs per year per cow were found 1.58 and 1.15, respectively indicating that the RCC farming is profitable at rural condition in Chittagong. Major identified problems are high prices of feed, scarcity of quality feeds and fodder, low prices of milk, inadequate veterinary care and services, distance of AI center, lack of credit and lack of technology. Ensuring root level veterinary services, cultivating high yielding fodders, arranging training programs on livestock management, health care and marketing and ensuring the extension of easy-to-get credit facilities to the farm owners are the main recommendations for the betterment of the rural RCC dairy owners.

Intensification of livestock farming during the last decades has raised many issues including ecological impacts and food security. In the Middle Atlas of Morocco, extensive sheep production systems are facing changes and constraints that may influence their sustainability. In this paper we present an adapted approach from IDEA (Indicateurs de la Durabilité des Exploitations Agricoles) method to evaluate the sustainability of sheep farming systems in the Eastern Middle Atlas, Morocco. For this purpose, 75 farms were selected from three production system in the area i.e. Agro-silvo-pastoral, Pastoral and Olive-grave based oasis systems. The assessment of sustainability of farms showed that agro-silvo-pastoral and pastoral ones presented higher score for sustainability compared to the olive-grave based oasis ones (P<0.05). Regarding the three sustainability dimensions, i.e. agro-ecologic, socio-territorial and economic, the comparison showed that farming system affects the agro-ecologic and socio-territorial scales (P<0.05) but not the economic one (P >0.05). Analyze of sustainability scores demonstrated that the sustainability of agro-silvo-pastoral farms is limited by the economic characters, while the agro-ecological aspects seem to be the weakness points of the olive-grave based oasis farms. Pastoral farms presented balanced scores for the three scales of sustainability. Consequently, improving these aspects could, on one hand, improves the global sustainability of the three sheep farming systems and, on the other hand, guaranties the continuity of this sector in the Moroccan Middle Atlas area.

Livestock export from Somaliland to the Arabian Peninsula countries is an important economic activity and the main source of Somaliland's foreign exchange earnings. We have employed multiple regression time series analysis of secondary data to understand factors that influence the monthly volumes of small ruminants (sheep and goats) and cattle traded for export in three terminal markets in Somaliland. Results show that the Hajj season, number of livestock exporters active in the markets, market location and livestock ban imposed by the import countries are the main factors that influence the monthly volume of livestock transacted for export. Further, the results indicate that though drought does not influence the volume of small ruminants, it has an influence on the volume of cattle, while the implementation of quarantine stations has a significant influence on the volumes of livestock exports. Finally, border restrictions imposed by Ethiopia do not influence the volume of livestock transacted for export in the study markets. Most of the factors analysed to have influence on monthly volume livestock transacted for export are institutional and policy-related hence can be corrected though requisite regulatory, institutional and policy reforms in consultations with stakeholders.

Organic production may contribute positively to rural development. However, there is a gap of
knowledge with regard to the livestock sector that the present work is aimed at filling by means of a
multidisciplinary and participatory approach. The results suggest that ‘fully organic’ holdings (organic farms
that sell products as organic) have the highest potential to contribute to the rural development in the area under
study. Nevertheless, its implementation requires higher levels of education and implies higher costs. Due to
these difficulties, public subsidies should support such production systems. Moreover, systems with low
productivity but high environmental services should be also supported, such as those extensive (either
conventional or organic).

This review paper is aimed at, reviewing trade routes and border marketing centers, trends and implications of cross-border livestock trade (CBLT) along borderlands of Ethiopia. Traded across different corridors of borderland, Ethiopia's CBLT were traditionally, destined to middle east countries, were the Eastern trade corridor with Somalia involves massive border crossing livestock trade and stand first in terms of traded volume and values. Nonetheless, a significant proportion of CBLT along Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti corridors were also carried out across northwestern, southern and northeastern parts of the country respectively. Livestock sector in Ethiopia, supporting more than 65% of the population and contributes more than 12-15% of total export earnings of the country. However, in recent year, the evidences show that, the trends of official livestock export were declining while, informal export is exponentially increasing. The role of CBLT, on the livelihoods of herders and economy of the country were loomed in the forms of its short-or long-term impacts. In short term, it improves the livelihoods of herders and/or traders through; assisting food security in supplying foods item to the food deficit areas, raising incomes to herders/traders through selling their animals at border crossing/international markets and creates employment opportunity for traders, trekkers or brokers. Whereas, in long term impacts, CBLT have significantly, damaged the economy of our country in several ways. Consequently, Ethiopia have been losing its multi-millions (ETB) of taxes revenue from trade and the devised irrelevant policies and strategies due to the missed livestock trade data (informal) from national statistics led to undermining of sector's economic contributions. In conclusion, any intervention(s) to the CBLT in Ethiopia virtually, requires valuation of its long-and short-term implications to the livelihoods of herders and economies of the country.

Drawing upon recent anthropological research on livestock trade and traders in southern Ethiopia  and a review of different policy papers and reports, this chapter suggests three main reasons for Ethiopia’s failure to recognize pastoral economies because of the government’s fetishized attachment to economic transformation and growth. These are: (1) pastoralism counters modernist visions of Ethiopia’s economy and society; (2) strong political and economic interests dictate the opening of pastoral lands to expropriation and investment, thereby undermining pastoralism and silencing its contributions to the economy; and (3) mobile populations, such as pastoralists, are viewed as political and administrative problems for the Ethiopian state.

Livestock export from Somaliland to the Arabian Peninsula countries is an important economic activity and the main source of Somaliland’s foreign exchange earnings. We have employed multiple regression time series analysis of secondary data to understand factors that influence the monthly volumes of small ruminants (sheep and goats) and cattle traded for export in three terminal markets in Somaliland. Results show that the Hajj season, number of livestock exporters active in the markets, market location and livestock ban imposed by the import countries are the main factors that influence the monthly volume of livestock transacted for export. Further, the results indicate that though drought does not influence the volume of small ruminants, it has an influence on the volume of cattle, while the implementation of quarantine stations has a significant influence on the volumes of livestock exports. Finally, border restrictions imposed by Ethiopia do not influence the volume of livestock...

A Balami breed of sheep in Maiduguri, Nigeria with an overgrown horn that penetrated into the muscles deep around the mandibular bone near the neck region was surgical treated. The horn was trimmed with manual restraint, the wound was sutured with non-absorbable suture and antibiotic administered against bacterial infection intramuscularly and topically. The animal recovered within three weeks. Good husbandry practise of dehorning sheep with long horns at appropriate intervals is recommended for farmers with such breeds of sheep that are prone to having long and twisted horns.

Beyond secure land tenure, strengthening pastoral institutions entails integrated management of production components: pastureland - management, livestock - production and marketing, and labor - movement and migration1. This is particularly important when the interdependence between private livestock production and markets have direct influence on pastureland use. Hitherto, it has been challenging for development experts to figure out how herders obtain sufficient benefits from livestock markets, improve livestock quality and reduce overgrazing on pastureland. This narrative, however, entails a deeper understanding of livestock markets and benefit distribution in its historical context; examining the ways in which Mongols obtained benefits from mobile pastoralism in the past. In 2007, Endicott published the book ‘Pages from the Past: The 1910 Moscow Trade Expedition to Mongolia’. This book has shed some light on the complexities involved in consolidating early twentieth-century pastoral and trade institutions, and their dependence on geopolitics.

Este trabajo está integrado por 4 capítulos.  E el primero, se exponen y  analizan las versiones institucionales u oficiales sobre el cambio tecnológico que, en lo fundamental, giran en torno a la problemática inherente a lo descrito como "Sistema de Investigación";  sistema que comprende solamente las actividades relacionadas con la generación, validación, transferencia y difusión de tecnología.  Un conjunto de apreciaciones sobre progreso tecnológico donde se omiten factores de orden político, económico y social, rayando e lo estrictamente técnico.  Factores que en el presente trabajo se empiezan a manejar desde la introducción.  Un segundo capítulo, donde se plantean algunas herramientas teórico-conceptuales de las que se estiman ayudan a dar una explicación del cambio tecnológico en el sistema capitalista.  Herramientas en las que se busca fincar el análisis del cambio tecnológico, así como las generalizaciones que se hacen sobre el mismo. 
De manera consecutiva, se presenta un marco referencial sobre la política económica que el Estado Mexicano fue implementando en el sector agropecuario.  Se describen algunas de las tendencias del sector en el marco de la política estatal, así como la dinámica y papel del progreso tecnológico en dicho proceso.  Por último, se pasa a precisar algunos de los factores que inciden en el cambio tecnológico agropecuario, con los que se rebaten las tesis oficiales sobre el mismo, y que finalmente es el motivo principal del trabajo, en la búsqueda de una mejor perspectiva para el estudio de los problemas inherentes al cambio tecnológico en la producción agropecuaria.

Modern livestock farming systems typically stand out in terms of production efficiency and chain integration. However, the legitimacy of animal production systems is currently being questioned, due to social and ecological concerns. The term ‘careful’ livestock farming has been coined to reflect a production system that addresses this broader range of concerns. In this paper we argue that although the term ‘careful’ provides a useful starting point to bind together a diversity of concerns that require further attention, it lacks action-ability unless its meaning is further substantiated. Such substantiation is important to provide more concrete action perspectives both in relation to consumers as well as the diverse group of other stakeholders involved.

First, the term careful is analysed from the perspectives of consumer psychology, ethics, and organizational science, showing a high level of agreement on the underlying dynamics and layers of the concept. The resulting insights are integrated into a pragmatic map with social and temporal dimensions, combined with three basic questions: (1) what levels of psychological distance are taken into consideration when designing farming practices? (2), what are the concrete farming system/product features and their benefits?, and (3) how are the benefits distributed over the levels of psychological distance? The map and questions help to substantiate the different meanings of ‘careful’ when used in relation to animal production. We conclude with exploring actions for achieving careful livestock farming and argue that delineating and articulating concrete meanings of the term is a condition for reflection and strategy formulation in multi-stakeholder dialogues.

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of three management systems on animal performance and nitrogen (N) cycle in permanent pastures. The managements were an intensive system with a high N fertilizer application at 136 kg N ha-1 and a stocking rate of 3.35 cows ha-1 (H-N), a system with moderate N application with 91 kg N ha-1 year-1 and the same stocking rate (M-N) and a system without N fertilizer application and with 2.51 cows ha-1 (0-N). The individual milk production was not affected by treatments but the milk yield per hectare was largely influenced by the stocking rate. Milk and plasma urea concentrations were the highest in the H-N group and the lowest in the 0-N group. Similarly, the system N balance was the highest in H-N and the smallest in 0-N group. Inversely the N use efficiency was the highest in 0-N group. Soil nitrate concentration in 0-90 cm deep cores was higher in H-N than 0-N samples.

In 2016, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) announced plans to re-launch the Somali shilling (SoSh), which had its last official printing before the state collapsed in 1991. The article takes this pivotal moment to address the following three questions: (i) Why has the stateless SoSh persisted? (ii) Why is Somalia considering re-introducing an official currency at this point? (iii) What do Somalia’s monetary experiences tell us about relationships among ordinary citizens, elites, and the state in Africa? The article offers an explanation based on a theory of social trust to account for the persistence of the SoSh. Unlike other studies that mainly emphasize a risk aversion attribute to explain the reliance on the trusted and familiar under conditions of precarity, this approach shows how trust can be scaled to explain important macro-level phenomena, such as export trade and nationalism. It proposes that the Somalia story is relevant to other African cases where public trust, st...