Use of Feed Resources in Intensive Urban Ruminant Production Systems of West Africa: A Case Study from Burkina Faso

A longitudinal study was conducted in the built-up area of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) to assess the resource use efficiency in zero-grazing beef cattle production enterprises, determine the animals’ liveweight (LW) changes; and evaluate whether the feeding regime was able to meet the animals’ energy requirements for maintenance and growth. Five representative farms were purposively selected out of a total of 133 farms surveyed in a previous study. The average number of cattle per farm was 3.6±2.01. Measurements were carried out in bi-weekly intervals for ten months. LW of animals averaged 270±128.8 kg and LW gain (LWG) ranged from 162 to 423g/day with an average of 290±161 g/day. The average daily supplies of crude protein (CP_offer) and metabolizable energy (ME_offer) of 25±12.7g/kg^0.75 and 1.3±0.67 MJ/kg^0.75 (dry season) and 33±9.6 g/kg^0.75 and 1.8±0.63 MJ/kg^0.75 (rainy season), respectively, clearly exceeded the animals’ requirements for maintenance plus growth. Hence, the calculated conversion ratios for offered feed and protein as well as energy use efficiency were very low. With the current management, part of the offered feeds ends up at the dung heap. Monthly manure mass collected per farm and tropical livestock unit averaged 93±30.9 kg dry matter; if well recycled, it could contribute substantially to crop production and yield high revenue, especially, in urban vegetable production.