The marginal and semi-arid areas of Southern Africa are not suited to crops without irrigation and irrigation is available to only a few farmers. Livestock production such as beef, dairy, goat and sheep are more suited to farming here for smallholder farmers who do not have access to irrigation. Dairying in particular is increasingly popular because it means cattle, which represent wealth, milk, draught power and manure can be used to bring in a cash income as well without having to sell them. However, because of the erratic and poor rains, and the long dry season, dairying is only viable if the cattle are supplemented with feed, otherwise the milking cows dry off early in the year and there is no milk to sell until they clave again. Also, with poor feeding, the cows often produce calves once every two or three years. A dairy cow needs to produce a calf every year so that she will produce milk every year. However, dairy farmers cannot afford to feed expensive commercial dairy concentrates as a supplement.
Here are the answers to common questions asked about how to overcome the problem of finding a feed which is good enough to ensure the dairy cow will produce milk for at least 250 days in a year and will produce a calf every year.