Pastures were important for this

New Guinea cattle man

By Bruce Sutherland

Beef cattle can be raised very successfully in a tropical environment with a 200 inch plus ainfall —provided the right type of cattle are selected and an appropriate system of pasture aanagement is followed.

>R the last two years I managed i copra plantation on the coast New Guinea, 20 miles east of where we ran a herd of Zebu s cattle on land which was almost for half of the year, i 1964 the herd numbered about head and included: 30 pure bred “Javanese” Zebu 5 and one “Javanese” bull; 35 imported registered Drought ;er cows; About 50 crossbred Zebu cows; About 80 crossbred heifers in About 80 calves; One |th Brahman bull and n fth Brahman crossbred bulls, bout 10 years ago the “Javanese” e were brought to this plantation i the Madang district where they proved themselves extremely suit to the excessively wet conditions, [though they are very fine boned, in appearance usually somewhat nble a Jersey cow, they have the rent ability, when crossed with rahman bull, to produce a steer an extremely high growth rate to two years of age, when >ed weight averaged 550 lb to 600

Javanese adapt

iis compares more than favour with the rest of the herd, where bought ourselves lucky to get an age of more than 85 per cent, drop. ie “Javanese” stock are thought ave come from Java but no one vs just when they entered New lea. They have been known to aent the low-lying swampy areas ie Madang district for more than ears. tieir wonderful adaption to the tally inaccessible swamp country Madang allowed many to survive lapanese occupation during World 11. Relatively large herds were id living unattended after the war. jcause of their obvious advantages ir very wet conditions, we started

a breeding programme aimed at in fusing the “Javanese” blood into our whole herd—which had grown to over 500 in October, 1966.

We found that if the percentage of Zebu blood in the herd fell below 50 per cent, the ability of the animals to cope with the conditions rapidly deteriorated. Their growth rate would become retarded and they rarely de veloped into a desirable type.

Screw worm problem

The only real health problem to the cattle is the screw worm.

It is common throughout the tropics and New Guinea, but it is prevalent around Lae, with its con sistently high rainfall and heavy humidity.

The screw worm is a live maggot which is laid in large numbers by a blowfly on to any open wound or injury on cattle—such as barbed wire cuts and scratches. It screws itself directly into the animal’s muscles and quickly forms a very deep-seated wound, the effect of which can, under some conditions, kill a cow in a couple of weeks if left untreated.

Newly-born calves are most susceptible to the worm and are in the greatest danger.

Unless they are treated within hours of birth, nine times out of 10 they are attacked by the worm in their navel cord. The worm gains access to the abdomen from the navel cord and the animal is often beyond help in a couple of days.

About five years ago a veterinary drughouse developed a substance to treat these “strikes”. The preparation resembles grease in appearance and is known as Screw Worm Smear.

When applied to the animal’s wound, it kills the maggots present, promotes healing, and is an excellent fly re pellent.

This process has completely revolutionised the treatment of the wounds—previously the usual practice was to remove each screw worm in dividually and prevent reinfection by use of some kind of fly repellant, none

of them being very suitable for this particular application.

We ran the herd among the coco nut palms on natural pastures based on an indigenous paspalum into which was introduced the legumes, Calipo and Peuaria.

The legumes were harvested and planted into new areas throughout the year by hand.

We added Para grass in swampy areas. This proved very successful.

With year-round rain the pastures were always green and a constant growth rate was assured. However, this also created a problem as where heavy stocking rates applied and there was no adequate subdivision, the cattle seriously damaged the pasture by trampling.

Consequently we undertook a pro gramme of extensive subdivision and commenced a system of rotational grazing. We felt the extra work and expense involved was economically sound, as the stocking rate, even in the very wet months of June, July, August, when 30 in. of rain per month is usual, was maintained at one head per acre.

As our stock increased toward the 600 head mark and the total amount of land available for grazing (600 acres) grew limited, it was obvious to me we would have to increase the carrying capacity of the land or limit the size of the herd.

Leuceana helps

The solution seemed to be the in troduction of Leuceana glauca to the existing pasture. The best way to do this is to plant the Leuceana densely in rows about 15 ft apart.

When the Leuceana trees reached a height of about 10 ft we cut them back to about 3 ft, and maintained them at this height.

By doing this a prolific re-growth of foliage was quickly produced. It had a very high protein content and was very palatable. Cattle ate it in

Practical Planter

preference to anything else in the paddock and it was obvious manage ment would play a vital role in the successful use of this legume.

In this locality I prefer the Peruvian strain of Leuceana glauca, as it gave a better ratio of leaf to wood, and did not tend to run to seed so quickly as the local varieties.

The rotational grazing system is essential to allow for re-growth of the Leuceana and prevent excessive damage to the grass pasture by trampling.

The two drawbacks of Leuceana are that it can get out of control because of its prolific seeding and it can cause temporary loss of hair if eaten by horses, but these drawbacks can be controlled by efficient manage ment.