Further studies

During the course of this study, some important topics for future study to further improve understanding and management of OPIC farming system were identified. These include, among others, investigation of:

(i) A body condition scoring technique to reduce the time cost of assessing liveweight and

growth of the cattle;

(ii) Feed profiles of the OPIC farming system in Sabah with oil palms younger than 9 years old,

for example 3 yr and 6 yr old oil palms (if there are farms with suitable data available for study), and add the results to those obtained in the present study to obtain a more comprehensive herbage productivity trajectory with palm age for the Sabah environment;

(iii) A CSR-type statistic to define optimal stocking rate for each point in the herbage

production-decline trajectory;

(iv) A 12-month measurement cycle for herbage accumulation from cutting data and the

comparison of the results with the modelled feed demand to identify any feed surplus and deficit periods that might have been undetected in this study;

(v) The response of herbage production and nutritive value to N application in oil palm

plantation, considering that the grazing rotation can be scheduled to take advantage of the effect of run-off N fertiliser on herbage growth;

(vi) The relationship between FCE and fertiliser application as well as rainfall in the system and

the approach to improve the FCE;

(vii) The effect of animal manure on herbage non-utilization; and

(viii) A way to improve the reproductive performance of the cow to lift calving percentage.

Although genetic factors contribute to poor calving percentage, it is also not known whether the low calving rate in the system is due to a loss of the calf during pregnancy or a long calving-to-mating interval. To date, the approach used to increase calving rate is a practice of all year round mating. Artificial insemination may be difficult in this system considering that the cattle are farmed semi-wild.

The sequence for the proposed work is as numbered above. Development of a body condition scoring technique to reduce the time cost of assessing liveweight and growth of the cattle is important

to be the first study because a routine weighing of cattle liveweight is difficult to carry out for the system since the cattle are farmed semi-wild and this technique is a key for successful implementation of items (ii) to (vii). Item (viii) is important as a long-term project and can be initiated together with items (i) to (vii).

6.5 Conclusions

Based on the data analyses in this chapter, the following conclusion can be made:

x A 9 yr old oil palm plantation can still supply 2.0–2.4 t DM ha–1 yr–1 of herbage and a 12 yr old

oil palm plantation, 1.4–1.7 t DM ha–1 yr–1, for beef production. These values are higher than

those previously reported in Malaysia for oil palm plantations.

x The production of herbage in the system is aseasonal, although it is expected to decrease

gradually with the age of the oil palms.

x The animal production of the system was also constrained by marginal ME value of herbage

(8.3–8.5 MJ ME kg DM–1), despite the value being higher than values previously reported in

OPIC system. The CP value (15%–16%) of the herbage, however, was considered sufficient to

support higher levels of animal production.

x In current practice, calving in the system is distributed throughout the year, and there was no

seasonal spike of feed demand linked to calving and lactation observed in the data. Even so, the data indicated that FCE was low for a month where more new calves were born but fewer calves from previous year birth were weaned; thus, a study is required to identify the best way to coordinate both calving and weaning events so that stocking rate relative to herbage growth is optimal and percentage of feed translated to weight gain is high.

x It is important to configure the system for optimal FCE to improve beef production, and to use

a CSR-type statistic as a tool to define the optimal stocking rate for each point in the herbage- production-decline trajectory. However, for that to be possible, the time trajectory of the OPIC understorey herbage production needs to be fully understood first.

Chapter 7

General Discussion

7.1 Introduction

The main goal of this study was to explore the patterns of feed demand and supply and performance of current beef cattle farming systems in Sabah using a MEB methodology developed in New Zealand and to recommend from the results the future focus of the systems to support the evolution and expansion of the beef industry. Sabah has permanent grassland (21,698 ha) and oil palm plantation (1.511 million ha of which 1.36 million ha are mature plantations where cattle can be integrated) that could be used for beef cattle farming. There are also government schemes available to assist, especially, rural farmers to start beef cattle farming (Awang Salleh, 1991; DVSAI, 2008, 2009). However, it has been reported that between 1974 and 2012, the sufficiency of beef production in Sabah had decreased from 95% (Awang Salleh, 1991) to only 4% (calculated from the beef production and consumption statistics reported by DVSAI, 2014). With the widening gap between demand and local supply, beef has needed to be imported. In 2012, RM125 million was spent to import beef from India, Australia and New Zealand compared to only RM35 million was spent in 2003 (DVSAI, 2014). Based on the local retail price of

beef in 2012 (RM24 kg–1) and the quantity of beef imported (9,835 t) in the same year, increasing the

local beef production to meet the local beef demand could inject RM236 million into the domestic economy with a corresponding saving in import costs. This earning power would have a great impact on financial status of farmers, especially those participating in the government poverty mitigation projects.

Beef cattle farming is important for food production and socio-economic development in Sabah. However, over the past decades little information has been available on beef cattle farming activities, especially feed profiles of the farming systems for extension personnel to use to assist local farmers to improve the beef production of their farms. This problem is exacerbated also by a lack of analytical tools to capture the system details. Therefore, in this study, after a methodology development phase in New Zealand (Chapter 3), the feed demand and supply patterns and performance of three different beef

production systems in Sabah were analysed: cut-and-carry feedlot cattle farming system (Chapter 4), grazing cattle farming system (Chapter 5), and oil palm integrated cattle (OPIC) farming system

(Chapter 6) – to capture the system characteristics and to identify potential future development of the

systems that could facilitate the improvement of beef production in Sabah.