sepium
What is this Action Sheet about?
This Action Sheet ) in agroforestry. Gliricidia sepium is a South
American nitrogen-fis about how to plant and use Gliricidia sepium (Mother
of cocoa or quickstickixing tree with many uses on the farm.
What can Gliricidia sepium be used for?
Food: Flowers can be fried and eaten.
Fodder: Leaves are rich in protein and highly digestible for ruminants like
goat and cattle, as they are low in fibre and tannin. There is evidence of
improved animal production (both milk and meat) in large and small
ruminants when Gliricidia is used as a supplement to fodder. However,
non-ruminants fed on Gliricidia sepium have shown clear signs
of poisoning.
Apiculture: The flowers attract honeybees (Apis spp.), hence it is an
important species for honey production.
Fuel: Good for firewood and charcoal production. The wood burns slowly
without sparking and with little smoke.
Timber: Very durable and termite resistant; used for railway sleepers, farm
implements, furniture, house construction and as mother posts in live-fence
establishment.
Poison: The leaves, seeds or powdered bark are poisonous to humans
when mixed with cooked rice or maize and fermented. It has been used as
a poison for pests like rats and mice.
Medicine: A traditional remedy for hair loss, boils, bruises, burns, colds,
cough, debility, eruptions, erysipelas, fever, fractures, gangrene, headache, itch, prickly heat,
rheumatism, skin tumours, ulcers, urticaria and wounds.
Erosion control: Hedgerows in alley cropping control soil erosion.
Shade and shelter: Often grown as shade for tea, coffee and cocoa. It is also used as a nurse tree
for shade-loving species. Its fine, feathery foliage gives a light shade.
Reclamation: Can be planted to reclaim denuded land or land infested with Imperata cylindrica
(Cogon grass)
Soil improver: Capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, and can be used to improve soil fertility. Used
as a green manure, G. sepium increases soil organic matter and helps to recycle soil nutrients
because it produces much leaf litter. It also improves soil aeration and reduces soil temperature. It is
a drought-resistant and valuable water-conserving species, because in the dry season it sheds most
of its leaves, hence reducing water loss through transpiration.
Boundary/barrier/support: Can be used for live fencing around cattle pastures and for delineating
boundaries. Its fast growth, ease of propagation, nitrogen fixing ability and light canopy makes it
ideal as live support for black pepper, vanilla and yam.
Alley-cropping: Hedgerows in alley cropping slow weed growth and have been shown to reduce the
incidence of disease in groundnut crops.
1 Forests
Where does it grow Africa and is it a safe exotic species?
Countries in Africa where Gliricidia is naturalized or grown on farms: Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia.
When species are introduced from another continent, they often start to grow in the wild, and may
compete with native vegetation. In West Africa, the Global Invasive Species Programme lists
Gliricidia sepium as invasive alien species, as it has become wild in many areas. However, due to
its many uses, it is not so far considered a pest.
Where will it grow?
Gliricidia sepium grows between 0-1200m, and can survive where the mean annual temperature is
between 15-30°C with no frost. It needs a mean annual rainfall of between 600-3500 mm. It can
therefore grow from the semi-arid subtropics to the wet tropics. It can be grown on a wide range of
soils from pure sand to deep lake-bed deposits. If you are obtaining seed, it is worth seeking seed
from plants that have been tested and shown to grow well on the soil in your area (See Action Sheet
56: Where to get tree seeds). In areas where Gliricidia seeds well, you can collect pods when they
begin to turn yellow/brown, and then dry in the sun to extract the seeds.
How do you plant Gliricidia seeds?
G. sepium can be planted directly in the field or grown in a nursery before transplanting to the field
after 6 to 8 weeks. Direct sowing of seeds requires good land preparation and regular weeding. It is
not necessary to treat fresh seeds before planting. However, when seeds are not fresh, they need to
be soaked overnight in hot water and planted immediately. Nearly all the seeds will germinate within
a week.
Seed or seedling inoculation with suitable strains of rhizobium is necessary where G. sepium is not
naturalized (See Action Sheet 36: Planting Nitrogen-Fixing Trees). In countries where Gliricidia is
native or naturalized, local bacteria will already live in association with the roots of Gliricidia. In this
case, using local soils in the nursery will automatically provide the right bacteria.
In the nursery, almost any type of seedling container can be used, although an open-ended
container allowing regular root pruning will help avoid spiral growth of the seedling root as it
becomes rootbound in the container. A rich soil mixture is recommended for the nursery, with added
organic matter to enrich poor soils.
Transplanting Guide
Transplant on a rainy day, or when there is enough moisture in the soil
2 Forests
Uproot seedlings with soil lumps on the roots and put in well-ventilated containers
Carry to the field where you plan to plant out. Carry carefully to avoid exposure
of the roots and any damage to the plants
Can Gliricidia be grown from cuttings?
G. sepium is commonly grown from cuttings, although for establishment in poor soils, growing from
seed will lead to better root development. Cut pieces with 2-6cm diameter and 30-100cm length and
make wounds with a knife on the first 20cm of the stake. Plant with at least 20cm below the ground
as soon as possible after harvesting, and do not allow to dry out. The cutting will need to be watered
regularly until they are well-established.
The use of stump cuttings from nursery grown plants can also be successful. Grow seedlings to at
least a 1cm diameter stem, then cut the root at 15cm, the shoot at 25cm, and roll in mud, or
otherwise keep wet, until they are planted out to the field.
3 Forests
How do you manage Gliricidia in the field?
That depends what you plan to use it for. If you are growing for firewood, then you can coppice it –
cut it close to the base so it resprouts new growth. If you are growing for fodder or green manure,
pruning at 0.3 – 1.5 m will make more leaves grow.
These pictures show how Gliricidia can be used to fertilize maize fields in an improved fallows
system, using green manure for biomass transfer from the gliricidia trees to the soil. The months
given are relevant for Southern Africa. It is always worthwhile talking to farmers and extension
workers with experience of a technique you are interested in applying on your farm for the first time.
Plant 6-8 week-old seedlings from the
nursery at a spacing of 1m x 1m, in
between rwhere you plan to plant rows of
maize.
Weed all unwanted plants which might interrupt
the growth of the young Gliricidia plants.
Free the plants from all materials that might catch
fire and create a firebreak around the field
After 18 – 24 months of growth, the field of
Gliricidia is often ready for cutting.
In early September, cut the trees when they
reach 30cm in height. Leave the cuttings in the
field for 2 weeks until they drop leaves. Two
weeks after cutting, the Gliricidia biomass is
ready to be mixed into the soil.
4 Forests
In late September, collect up the dry poles and
sticks for firewood or other uses. The leaves will
have dropped off.
In early October, make ridges or dig in the
Gliricidia leaves and soft twigs.
In October, plant maize at normal planting
spacing
By December, you see the maize growing
between the coppiced Gliricidia trees.
In January, coppices are cut back again and
the leaves and soft twigs are applied between
the maize plants as a top dressing or mulch.
5 Forests
In late February, it is time to cut the Gliricidia
coppices again and apply between the maize
plants as a top dressing or mulch.
In April and May, the maize will be ready for
harvesting. Leave the Gliricidia to grow as a
fallows from May to September. In September
you can prune to 30cm, leave for 2 weeks, dig
the twigs and soft leaves in, and plant again on
naturally fertilized soil.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This Action Sheet was compiled by Nancy Gladstone, based on the following sources:

Mulberry leaves found nutritious for livestock

Publication date: Tuesday, 23rd May, 2006

PROTEIN-RICH: Dairy cows and goats like the taste of mulberry leaves

By John Kasozi
MULBERRY (Morus alba), locally known as ‘nkenene,’ is a multi-purpose fodder shrub. It plays an important role in the nutritional security of both animals and people.
Its sweet fruits are highly valuable and eaten mainly by children, while its leaves provide high-quality feed for small ruminants.
Kenyan farmers have been feeding cows and goats on mulberry leaves since the 1990s. Ugandan farmers have also begun making use of it.
William Opio, a senior trainer with St Jude Family Projects in Masaka, says mulberry was previously planted for the silkworm industry and taken as a fruit by children.
“Now we give it to livestock. Although it is still little, we mix mulberry with fresh forages (grasses and legumes) to get a balanced diet,” he says.
Fresh grasses like Tanzania (kakira kambwa), elephant and guatemala are a source of carbohydrate and contribute 70% to the diet.
Fresh legumes like mulberry, calliandra (kalibwambuzi), sesbania (muzimbandegeya), leucaena, tephrosia (muluku), lablab, gliricidia (mutamesse) and ipomea temirostris (ekabowabowa) are protein-giving foods. They work as a dairy meal.
Opio says the cows and goats graze and browse every type of grass and shrub.
“We have saanen, torgenburg and boar goats,” he says.
“Among the legumes, it is mulberry and calliandra that are consumed first. Fresh forages are cut on a daily basis, chopped, mixed and fed to animals,” he says.
According to Paths to Prosperity Report, International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) 1998-99, a similar experiment was carried out in central Kenya in 1997-98 to determine the voluntary intake of tree-shrub fodder supplements by heifers.
Mulberry had the highest voluntary intake of the fodder used in this trial, compared to dairy meal.
The high voluntary intake and the fact that the bark was eaten are indications of mulberry’s high nutrition. Sweetness is an important factor in the voluntary intake of fodder.
With each type of fodder, cattle were able to select the more nutritious parts. And their selective feeding, together with the level of supplement intake, determined the amount of nutrients they consumed.
As a result, cattle produced more milk when given mulberry than when given calliandra or leucaena. The extent to which farmers used mulberry as fodder for dairy cattle was similar to the extent they used calliandra and leucaena.
Ends

Making Hay on Fairhill

When grass is mown with the scythe it will inevitably end up laying in windrows (photos 2,3,4).

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Cara buat hay 2

Introduction

Hay making is the process of turning green, perishable forage into a product that can be safely stored and easily transported without danger of spoilage, while keeping nutrient loss to a minimum. This involves reducing its moisture content by drying the forage in the sun. The process of drying the green crop without significant change in aroma, flavour and nutritive quality of forage is called "curing". This involves reducing the moisture content of green forages, so that they can be stored without spoilage or further nutrient loss.
Feeding hay to livestock helps reduce the amount of concentrate feeding, and thereby, the cost of feeding. The low moisture content of hay considerably reduces cost. Hay can be fed to sheep and goats, both of which are selective feeders. This means that, if enough hay can be made, then the sheep and goats can be fed excess hay.

Suitable crops for making hay

Crops with thin stems and more leaves are better suited for haymaking as they dry faster than those with thick, pity stem and small leaves. These may include, among others:




Introduction

Membuat Hay

Makanan ternakan adalah kos yang paling penting dikawal oleh penternak kambing.Harga makanan konsentret (palet) semakin hari semakin mahal. Selain silaj, kita juga boleh membuat hay (rumput kering). Saya telah surf beberapa laman web untuk membuat hay dan berikut cara yang terbaik yang telah saya temui , bagi kapasiti penternak kecil seperti kita semua. Hay boleh digunakan sewaktu kita kekurangan rumput, musim hujan dan kemarau besar.

I am not an expert at hay making, but I have been asked to write an article about it, as some of you may be struggling for hay this year. If there are people with more experience of this than me, please feel free to contribute your ideas, and to correct anything that you believe to be incorrect.

This is my third year of mowing by hand. In 2005 I experimented with haymaking. I didn’t have any animals, so was just trying to discover what worked. In 2006 I cut about an acre of hay by hand, injured my elbow, and had the rest cut and baled. This year, I still have bales left, so I am just mowing, not haymaking. I mow about 3 ½ acres, some of which I keep for hay, but the rest is just stacked in piles to decompose naturally. This is mown throughout the summer, mowing for between 2 – 4 hours a day.

Advantages

This year has highlighted some of the advantages of using a scythe. With the amount of rain that fell in June and July, even when the rain stopped, it took a while before the ground was capable of supporting machines. Cutting by hand allows you to get onto the land much quicker, and make hay with a much smaller window of good weather. This is particularly important if you have a small area of grass to cut, and rely on somebody else to come in and do the job. They will cut their own, and the larger fields first. The scythe also allows you to take hay from the smaller areas, orchards, lawns, hedgerows, verges etc. which would be uneconomical or difficult to cut by machine. The cutting is however much slower, unless there is more than one mower.

Handling

The key to hay making by hand is not the mowing, or the drying, but in the handling of the finished product. In particular the movement of it, and how you store it, and I would like to discuss this first.

If you think back to the way that loose hay used to be handled, it will give you some idea of what you need to do now. The finished hay was stacked onto a cart in large piles. It was held in place by ropes which were “pinned” into the hay itself with long pins (the original needles in a haystack). It was taken into the barn where it was thrown (pitched) onto a raised floor with a fork (a pitchfork), then trampled down. When hay was needed, a long knife was used to take a slice off, which was then either thrown down to the animals wintering in that building, or taken to the animals. This system applied to the larger farms and estates, and it would need a historian to say how much of this would apply to a farm worker, or peasant farmer, but some basic ideas can be drawn from it.

Movement

A quick thought about which areas that you conserve for hay, where you overwinter your stock, and what buildings you have available, or need to construct, could save you work. If you overwinter stock in buildings, then putting your hay there makes sense. That way it is only moved once, from the field into the building and then fed directly. Stored overhead, it will also add an element of insulation. If your animals are kept outside during the colder weather, is there a suitable building near there that could be used, or is there another suitable area that already has a building which could be used for the stock? Could you change the way that you graze your stock so that the fields that are kept for hay are the ones closest to where it will be stored? Much of this is common sense, but perhaps this is a good time to look at how you work now, and see if you could make things easier for yourself.

As for the carriage of the hay, there are a number of simple ways of getting loose hay from A to B, the most suitable being dependent on your own circumstances. If you have some machinery (tractor/compact tractor/ ride on mower), you could put the hay onto a trailer and tow it. A cart drawn by a pony, or harness goat would also do the job. We’re talking about a volume problem, as opposed to a weight problem. The hay is fairly light, but takes up a lot of space. Here, we’re only moving the stuff about 100m, so we simply stuff the finished hay into the big bags that you get sand and gravel delivered in, then two of us drag it into the shed. Crude, but effective.

gil says : I use a wheelbarrow, with a fork stuck through the hay to hold it down. Takes ages, but if you've nothing else available, it works.

Storage

For those of you without a suitable upper storey to use, you will need to make some form of racking. A simple solution is to “acquire” some of the metal security panels that they use around building sites. These can be supported in pairs to form a ‘V’ shape, or in threes to create a ‘U’ shape. A similar rack could be built quickly, and cheaply, using timber and weldmesh. You will need to leave a gap underneath to allow some airflow. It would make sense to ensure that there is enough room for a cat to get under (rodents) and perhaps for you to crawl through. Please note that these are just suggestions. Last year we simply stacked our bales into a box shape, and filled the space inside with loose hay. It worked. It should also be possible to make a rack that your animals could feed from directly, saving more labour.

A word of caution. If hay is stored too damp it can catch fire, or go mouldy. I have no experience of this, but I’m sure there is plenty of advice on this in the forums.

Haymaking

The making of the hay is not too difficult. It requires a scythe, a rake, and a pitchfork. It will take two to three days of dry weather to deal with about ½ an acre of hay, with an extra day for each additional ½ acre. This figure is only approximate, and will depend on your proficiency with the scythe, the time of year, the weather, and the consistency of the meadow that you are mowing. To give you some idea of what area of grass you will need to cut, last year I probably only used the hay from ¼ of an acre for my six ewes. A harder winter will need more hay, as will more stock.

Mowing is easiest at dawn, getting progressively harder through the day as the internal moisture in the grass decreases. So a sensible routine for haymaking would be as follows :

Night 0

The night before mowing, sharpen your blade, and a spare if you have one.

Day 1

On day one start mowing at first light, and continue until about eight. Have breakfast, peen your blade, or change blades then continue until lunch. The grass is left in rows after mowing. I leave these rows until I have finished mowing. This allows the ground between the windrows to dry out a bit. I spread the grass with a pitchfork, trying to fluff it up as much as possible. The aim is to get as much air through it as possible. If you have one or more helpers, they can do this for you. Whilst they could follow behind you whilst you’re mowing, I prefer to wait until after 11 am. Once the grass has been shaken out, you can get on with something else for a couple of hours, not forgetting to peen your blade(s) for the following day. If you’re a glutton for punishment, or you have no other choice, you could mow right through the day. Personally, I’ve had enough by then, and it takes a lot of effort to sustain that level of work for a number of days. Late afternoon I turn the grass again. I’m not sure that this is necessary, but it’s worked for me, so I’ll continue to do it. Just before dark, I rake the grass back into rows. This is to reduce the surface area of grass that will become wet with dew overnight.

Day 2

Day two is a repeat of day one, with the following additional tasks. Once the dew has dried, normally by 11 am, I shake out the grass that was cut on day one. With helpers, that can be done whilst you are mowing. If I’m alone, I wait until I’ve finished mowing, shake out the grass from day one, then shake out the grass from day two. In the evening, the day one grass is raked into a row, and then into heaps, further reducing the exposed surfaces.

Day 3

Day three repeats day two except that the first batch of grass should be ready to put into the rack by the end of the afternoon. In fact the grass gets another day to cure in the rack before the grass from day two is piled on top of it. To judge if the hay was ready, in the early afternoon I twist it to make sure that no moisture comes out of it, and then leave it until later that day to be on the safe side. When it is cured, it does develop that typical “hay” smell. It may not sound very scientific, but the smell is different from when the grass is first cut. You can keep this routine going for as long as the weather remains suitable.
Variations and coping with the weather

The system that I have described works for me, but you may need to adapt it to suit your own circumstances. The key is flexibility, and the thing most likely to affect you is the weather. Ideally what is needed is a spell of warm dry weather, which lasts long enough to get everything done. It doesn’t have to be bright sunshine, just dry. Wind helps. That doesn’t always happen so you need to make adjustments. Firstly, if you are not going to get a prolonged spell of dry weather, you can still make hay in small bites. A two day spell would allow you to mow for one day, and then stack loosely in the rack at the end of day two. By the time that your next batch of hay was cut and ready for stacking, the first batch will have finished curing. If you’re not confident that it is dry enough, just shake it out of the rack when the weather is suitable.

If you are making hay and the forecasters predict the possibility of overnight showers, mound the hay up into large piles, so that only the outside layer gets wet, and then shake it out again to dry off. The books say to comb the outside layer to help the rain to run off, but I’ve never managed to get that to work. I’ve been told that the hay takes less damage from rain when it is first cut, than once it has dried and then gets wet again. Therefore if your dry spell is sandwiched between days where there is the possibility of a shower : start to mow on the day before the dry spell, and accept that it might get a bit damp.
In some countries they use frames, fences, trees etc. and hang the grass on them to increase the airflow, and therefore speed up the drying. This might be an option for people with smaller areas of grass to cut.

Grass is easier to mow earlier in the year than later. So it will save a lot of effort if you start hay making earlier, whenever there is a suitable window of weather. If you leave it until later, you may not get another chance until the grass has grown too long, and fallen over, when it will take far more effort to cut. In some alpine areas they take a number of cuts from the same meadow, cutting the grass whilst it is much shorter. This would take far less effort than a single cut, the grass should dry more quickly, and would help to prevent the loss of a whole crop of hay if the weather changed suddenly.

Experiment

Even if you’ve already got your hay in, why not give this a try? There is normally a late flush of growth in September/October, and if there’s a dry spell during this period, why not take a small second cut and see how you get on. If you do, why not see which hay your stock prefers? For those of you with ruined, or poor quality hay, perhaps this would give you a small supply of better hay to supplement what you’ve got put by.
I hope that this article will encourage some of you to try making hay by hand. Good Luck

Pengalaman sendiri - Siri 1

Saya memulakan ternakan kambing tahun 2005, bermula dengan empat lima ekor kambing kampung. Diharapkan kambing-kambing ini cepat membiak. Bila ternakan nampak ramai sikit pleh pegi pejabat haiwan minta bantuan kambing pawah pula untuk besarkan projek. Nak minta bantuan mesti ada asas dulu. Itu kata orang pejabat haiwan. Mesti ada bangsal, mesti ada sebeilangan kambing dan mesti ada rumput untuk beri kambing makan.

Kambing kampung takda masalah. Sihat dan segar. membiak. Makan rumput dan daun kayu yang dipungut sekitar kawasan rumah. Hari terus berlalu. Ternakan terus membiak.

Gagalkah Projek ternakan kambing di Malaysia.

Tahun 2004 hingga 2008 ternakan kambing cukup popular. Kandang dibina merata-rata tempat di seluruh negara. Ada yang dapat bantuan kerajaan ada yang tidak. Ada yang mulakan projek secara besar-besaran ada yang secara kecil-kecilan. Usaha ternakan yang cukup popular dan ditambah dengan sikap orang kita yang cukup suka meniru. Mungkin sekarang musim ternakan kambing dah berlalu. Mungkin tidak menguntungkan atau mungkin juga kambing tak mahu hidup. Malap dan merana. Kandang-kandang mula ditutup. Kandang-kandang ditinggalkan kosong sebagaimana kosongnya projek tanaman secara fertigasi. Soalnya kenapa kita gagal. Projek ternakan kambing gagal, projek tanaman secara fertigasi gagal dan yang bakal kecundang sekali lagi agaknya projek ternak burung walet.

Memang kerajaan membantu tetapi sekerat jalan sahaja. Pelancaran cukup gah. Masing-masing negeri mengistiharkan negeri berkenaan akan jadi pembekal daging kambing terbesar negara. Terengganu misalnya meletakkan target tahun 2012 akan capai target berkenaan. Cuba buat bancian sekarang nih berapa kandang masih beroperasi, berapa kandang yang sudah lingkupp, dan cuba bilang masih ada berapa ekor kambing di Terengganu sekarang la ning.

Ahli-ahli akademik dari fakulti yang berkaitan dengan veterinar patut buat kajian kenapa projek yang menggunakan dana kerajaan yang sebegini besar boleh gagal. Dimana kelemahannya. Bagaimana cara nak bantu penternak yang kerugian beribu-ribu ringgit ni.
Ada antara kekawan yang buat loan untuk ternak kambing sedang menunggu untuk diistihar muflis kerna tak dapat bayar loan. Kesian, nak cari rezeki halal tapi muflis yang dapat.