Thai people grow elephant grass to improve the quality of their cattle herds.
(Baonghean.vn) - Coming to Chau Cuong (Quy Hop) these days, it is not difficult to see dozens of hectares of green elephant grass hills. That is the food source that the Thai people here grow to provide for the local buffalo and cow herd.
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Chau Cuong commune has more than 95% of Thai ethnic people living with the long-standing practice of grazing livestock. This situation leads to the degradation of herd quality due to inbreeding and the impact of disease and natural disasters. However, in the past 2 years, since people switched to semi-grazing, the above problems have been significantly overcome. |
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To serve livestock farming, people no longer depend entirely on natural food. Now, in each of their home gardens, people have planted elephant grass to supplement the source of nutrition for livestock. After 2 years of implementing the project of planting grass to raise cows, the quality and quantity of local livestock have made significant progress. |
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Many families not only grow them in their home gardens but also in the forest or in the valleys for cultivation. The photo shows an area of 1,000 m2Elephant grass is grown in Coc valley by Mr. Le Van Ca's family (Ha Dong hamlet, Chau Cuong). |
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| It is estimated that each cow consumes an average of 25 kg of grass per day, so providing them with adequate food in recent times has significantly improved the quality of the herd. |
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After being chopped by hand or ground by machine, the grass can be fed directly to cattle or mixed with rice bran or corn bran to supplement nutrients for livestock. Muong Ham, Ha Dong, and Tham villages are the places where the most elephant grass is grown in Chau Cuong. On average, each village has about 15 households participating, with some households even growing up to 4,000m.2grass. |
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According to the locals, in the past, when the free-range custom was still maintained, the weight of a local cow after a year of care was about 1.2 quintals, but now it only takes 8 to 9 months to reach this weight. In addition, thanks to semi-free-range farming, vaccination is also fully complied with, ensuring the healthy growth of the livestock. |
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| After cutting grass for cows, from the cut grass roots, people will proceed to mound the roots, fertilize to promote the growth of seedlings. After a few weeks, they can continue to harvest. Therefore, when planting elephant grass, people plant in alternating seasons to rotate the harvest, ensuring timely food for livestock. |
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Recently, Chau Cuong commune received 18 tons of grass seeds distributed by the district. This amount can be provided for 35 hectares of planting area. Mr. Luu Xuan Diem - Chairman of Chau Cuong commune, also a pioneer in the grass planting project for raising cows in the locality shared: "In the near future, the grass planting area will be expanded to reach the goal of500 m2 of grass land for each cow. Within the next 5 years, we will reach 100 hectares of this crop. |
Thanh Quynh
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