Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

used in Level 1, but also the adoption of improved grasses such as
Brachiaria spp.
In the case of Costa Rica, this level of adoption required, in addition to
the investment of Level 1 and the 7.2 ha of improved grasses already
existing, that another 19.3 ha of Brachiaria spp. be established. This
investment cost US$5,730/farm (US$249/cow) and allowed up to 18.8 ha of
land, equivalent to 39.2% of the area allocated to livestock production, to be
released for alternative uses. As a result, the stocking rate was increased
from 0.75 AU/ha to 1.23 AU/ha. The adoption of improved forages reduced
milk production costs even more than in Level 1 and increased net income
(Table 5).
The additional investment to reach this level of adoption in Honduras
was lower than that required in Costa Rica: US$1,830/farm (US$44/cow)
because the farms surveyed reported, on average, the existence of 27.1 ha of
improved grasses. Thus, to achieve the objectives of this level of adoption,
an investment similar to that of Level 1 was required, and producers also
had to invest in the establishment of an additional 6.2 ha of Brachiaria spp.
Because the stocking rate in Honduras was relatively high
(approximately 1.44 AU/ha) as a result of the adoption of improved grasses
and cut-and-carry forages, the area that could be released without affecting
herd size and production/farm was low compared with Costa Rica and
Nicaragua. The area that could have been released in Honduras was about
4.1 ha, which represented 9.3% of the total farm area allocated to livestock
production (Table 6). This level of adoption led to additional reduction in
production cost/kg milk (US$0.11/kg) and an increase in net income/cow
per year.
Level 2 required a higher level of investment in Nicaragua than in Costa
Rica and Nicaragua because the areas to be established with improved
forages were larger in view of the precarious situation of farms at that time.
To achieve Level 2 of adoption, an investment of US$7,410/farm, equivalent
to US$168/cow, was necessary to establish 4.4 ha of sugarcane, 2.2 ha of
Cratylia, and 37.3 ha of Brachiaria spp. (Table 7). This investment
increased the stocking rate from 1 AU/ha to 1.80 AU/ha, and released
about 35.8 ha of land for other alternative uses (44.8% of area allocated to
livestock production). With this level of adoption, it was possible to reduce
even more the milk production costs and increase net income/cow per year.
Level 3. This level attempts to show the potential of adopting new
forage germplasm in the entire farm area allocated to livestock production.
This level of adoption required the largest amount of capital investment
because not only were improved forages established in larger areas, but also
more animals had to be purchased a result of increased stocking rate. This
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