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XXI International Grassland Congress / VIII International Grassland Congress Proceedings International Rangeland Congress

An Economic Assessment of Cattle Raising Enterprises in the Red Soils Region of

Neil D. MacLeod CSIRO, Australia

Shilin Wen Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China

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Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/22-1/8 The XXI International Grassland Congress / VIII International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House

This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 瞯1 066瞯 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World Volume Ⅱ ]

An economic assessment of cattle raising enterprises in the Red Soils Region of China

Neil M acLeod , CS IRO Sustainable Ecosystems , 306 Carmody Rd , St L ucia Q 4067 , A ustralia . W en Shilin , CA A S , Red Soils Ex periment Station , W enf ushi , County , H unan Prov ince , PRC , 426182

Key words : smallholders , forages , cattle , economics , Red Soils Introduction ２０ Chinese cattle numbers have greatly expanded in the past years ; largely carried on small farms that have traditionally grown food crops . Limited use of specialised forages and poor knowledge of cattle feeding and husbandry is challenging the establishment of sustainable beef enterprises . Economic results are presented from an Australian Centre for International A２ g６ricultural Re２search ( ACIAR) project that explored new forage options for the Red Soils Region of China , which covers . million km . An economic model is applied to a smallholder farm located in Province , to identify the potential for these options to increase the economic welfare of smallholder households . Materials and methods The potential economic impact of the forage production and cattle feeding strategies identified by the ACIAR project was explored with２０a０n６ economic model of a smallholder １farm located in Chunqiutang Village , , Hunan Province ( MacLeod et２a０l０４. ) . The model is calibrated ( Table ) using census data collected by Hunan Agr‐icultura‐l University students ( CSIRO ) , and the３impact o１f００the forage‐１s is examined by comparing the whole farm crop forages livestock system１ , including the purchase of steers kg steer fed a traditional baseline diet of low quality straws ２and residues ( Case ) with a diet of planted forages and straws ( astragulus , napier gr１as５s０) recommended ‐b１ y the project ( Case ) . T０he６liveweight g‐a１in of the steers is the mean value , respectively , of the control ( gram s２te０e０r４day ) and improved forages ( . kg steer day ) treatments of feeding trials at the Red Soils Experiment Station ( CSIRO ) . Table 1 A ssumptions used f or smallholder model . １ ２ Baseline ( Case ) Forages ( Case ) ４ No . of persons comprising household Same 吵 ２ ７５ Number of labour units ( adult labour equivalent) . per annum Same 悙 ‐ ０ ８ Maximum available off farm labour ( adult labour equivalents) . per annum Same Ё ２ ３ ８ ＋ ２ Paddy land ( rice X crops , fallow ) . mu mu astragulus 9 １ ３ ０ ＋ １ Dryland cultivation ( peanuts X crop , fallow ) . mu mu napier grass 9 １０ Native grassland mu Same １ Cows ( draught) head Same １００ ３ Feeder steers purchased at kgs/ liveweight .steer head Same ３ Pigs head Same Results and discussion ２２５３ T２he option of feeding forages offers clear economic advantages with an increase in total household income ２of Y Rmb ( Table ) . While crops fail to return their full economic value for both cases , the positive value of １forages ( Case ) reduces the loss . Both cattle and２pigs make ne‐t economic losses under the low quality feeding regime ( Case ) , but make positive returns with forages ( Case ) . While off farm income remains important for household income under both cases , the dependency is significantly reduced by the profitable cattle activity with forages . Table 2 Economic p ro f it‐baseline (Case1) c f . f eeding f orages (Case2) . ‐ Farm activities Livestock Total farm Off farm Total Crops/ forages Livestock Cattle Pigs household Y Rmb Y Rmb Y Rmb Y Rmb Y Rmb Y Rmb Y Rmb １ ‐６６５ ‐１ ２１４ ‐１ １８７ ‐２６ ‐１ ８８０ ３ １２０ １ ２４０ Case ( baseline) , , , , , @w鼢摀�拻/ ２ ‐６３２ １ ００４ ９７９ ２５ ３７３ ３ １２０ ３ ４９３ Case ( forages) , , , V鼢1�拻: References ２００４ ‐ ９３ ３５ CSIRO ( ) . Final Report ACIAR Project２０A０S７/ / , CSIRO Livestock Industries , Rockhampton . MacLeod , N .D . , Wen , S . , and Hu , M . ( ) . An economic assessment of forage options ４t７o i１m２p８４ro‐９v６e the profitability of smallholder beef cattle enterprises in the Red Soils Region of China . Aust . J . Expt . Agric . : . Acknowledgement ９８ ３５‐ This work was funded by ACIAR as project AS/ / Ruminant production in the Red Soils Region of southern China and northern Australia .

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