Here is the cost of setting up pasture

There are two ways of propagating seedlings for brachiaria.

You can get just two 100kg sacks of the mature rooted grass and plant it in an area of around a quarter of an acre. Each sack costs sh20,000. This grass, after four months, will be able to give you enough seeds to expand your grass area, even if it means planting on 10 acres.

Likewise, for napier grass, you can buy a sack of cuttings, plant it and, after four to six months, it should be able to provide you with enough more cuttings to expand the shamba.

Grasses can be got from the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), Namulonge, Kamenyamigo in Masaka, NARO-Ngetta and NARO-Mbarara, among others.

Distinguishing between sick and healthy cattle

There are several obvious differences between sick or unwell cattle and the healthy ones. You look at the facial expression of the animal and it has to be bright, calm and alert for a healthy cattle and dull for the unwell one.

The skin of a healthy cattle is clean and shiny, compared to dirty and showing signs of hair loss for sick cattle. Healthy cattle have a balanced and steady posture when standing.

You can also take a further look at the animal's digestive systems. For healthy cattle, the abdomen is normal and balanced, whereas it is distended or reduced for unwell cattle.

Healthy cattle have a normal appetite, while sick cattle may not easily feed. Dung for normal cattle is soft and well-formed, but it is watery, bloody or hard for sick cattle. You must also look for signs of deadly blood suckers, like ticks on the cow's body. Ticks cause some of the deadliest illnesses for cattle.

Once delivered on the farm, you need to have an isolation area for the new animals, where you keep them for a few days as you study them, before letting them to join the old herd.

Of course, for successful fattening, just like any other livestock venture, you will need the services of a qualified veterinary officer, to regularly visit and take a look at your cattle. In the absence of any diseases, the officer can visit at least once every month.

What type of cattle is ideal for fattening?

Ideally, breeds that give a good feeds-to-weight conversion ratio should be fattened. Feed-to-weight conversion means the speed at which an animal turns feeds it has eaten into weight on the body.

Such include breeds, like borans or borans mixed with local indigenous cows, brahmans or sahiwal mixed with indigenous breeds. A boran can grow to 200kg after just one year of good feeding, compared to an indigenous cow that may take five years to attain the same weight.

The only challenge is that borans or mixed borans are slightly more expensive than the local breeds. If you are to fatten local breeds, go for young bulls of around one to two years, because they gain weight faster than the cows.

The market can be the local slaughter market; there are many in Mbarara, Kiruhura, Ngoma, Kyankwanzi, Soroti, Kumi, etc, but in most cases, buyers directly pick the fattened bulls from the farm and take them to slaughter houses in Kampala or the nearest city.

Compiled by Joshua Kato (editor, Harvest Money), Dr Swidiq Mugerwa & Dr Jolly Kabirizi