Pasture production
Pasture production is the single most important factor in determining livestock stocking rates. Knowing how much pasture you can produce on a given area of land and how much feed your animals need to maintain their health and performance will help you determine how many heads of livestock to keep. If a farm’s annual rainfall is less than 500mm, it cannot support grazing all year round and therefore some form of supplementary feeding needs to be used. In addition, seasonal conditions such as cool or hot spells during which plants grow slowly or die back altogether can affect production rates significantly.
It has been established that good-quality grass should provide between 2:1 (grass:hay) and 1:0 (grass:hay) in terms of DM intake by cattle under grazing management systems. In Namibia, most farms are overstocked with cattle because they do not have enough feed available for them all at one time in order to maintain this ratio
The most common domestic livestock species in Namibia
The most common domestic livestock species in Namibia include cattle, small stock and camelids.
Cattle are found throughout the country and two of the most important breeds are Nguni and Afrikander. Small stock includes sheep and goats, while camelids include alpacas, llamas, and camels. You can buy livestock in Namibia within the price range of N 500 – N 50,000.
Livestock marketing in Namibia
Livestock marketing in Namibia is unregulated, and market prices are determined by supply and demand. The market price is not regulated by the government but rather influenced by factors such as land, climate and water availability, carrying capacity and disease prevalence. Consumer preferences and consumer demand for meat products also affected livestock marketing activities.
The performance of livestock in Namibia
The performance of livestock in Namibia is strongly influenced by factors such as land, climate and water availability, carrying capacity and disease prevalence.
Land availability is an important factor in determining the performance of livestock. In Namibia, only 10% of land use is dedicated to animal production and most of this area is used for grazing.
Climate also plays a role in determining livestock productivity because it affects feed supply and quality as well as animal health and nutrition status. Besides these variables affecting the output per animal unit (e.g., kilograms live weight or litres milk), other factors influencing productivity include feed availability and quality, genetics management practices (including disease control) animal welfare and health status.