Three-way approach

Three-way approach

Greetings!

I am writing to you from Tanzania where I’ve been since late January.

Thankfully, the recent severe drought is finally coming to an end. Those conditions focused more of our attention on our work with the Maasai herders.

While there have always been droughts here, the recent severity leads us to believe that we may be seeing the effects of global warming. That would mean less predictable wet and dry seasons and extreme shortages of grass for grazing, causing weakness and death in livestock and wildlife alike.

If intense droughts are becoming a worsening problem, then we and the Maasai have work to do. We must analyze and develop our approaches to stabilizing this rain-based, cattle-based economy.

And we've been doing just that. This newsletter edition shares our thinking as well as initial results on a range of possible actions.

Read below for more about what is becoming a three-way approach.

With deep appreciation,

Twende!

Robert Lange

February 2022

ICSEE Hay Farm

Essentially, a hay farm is a piece of viable grassland devoted to the future instead of the present.

Grass is mowed, baled, and stored for future use, rather than eaten during its growing season by grazing domestic and wild animals.

We started a hay farm while seeking low-priced hay for the ICSEE feedlot (described below). We acted as soon as an opportunity to produce our own hay came along.

The ICSEE Hay Farm is a 42-acre rented plot previously used for growing corn. We fenced the entire area, preventing cows and wildlife like zebras and wildebeest from entering and eating the grass. We built and are maintaining the fence in exchange for the first five years of rent. The fence now also belongs to the property owner.

By keeping grazing animals out, and with some clearing and cleaning the entire area has quickly returned to grassland.

During the drought, the hunger of the zebras and giraffes was stronger than the fence. In their desperate search for food, many entered the hay farm. They damaged a long stretch of fence that we are repairing now.

The cattle feedlot

We’ve operated a well-staffed and stocked 13-acre cattle feedlot for a few years now. In the quest for necessary diversity of solutions, it is the second of the three ICSEE innovations that invite adaptation and promote resiliency.

A feedlot is a place to feed and care for cattle in a controlled setting, rather than as a grazing herd in the grasslands.

Even before any long-term concern for the pastoralist economy, there were good reasons why a herder might want to have some cows in a feedlot.

For example, at the end of the normal dry seasons, cattle are thin, even if perfectly healthy. This results in lower sale prices in the cattle market.

A herd owner might have some special cows that could bring great prices if they were fat and strong.

The increase in selling price is much more than enough to pay for keeping these cattle in the feedlot for three months, in our care. Here they are well fed and receive veterinary attention.

We're finding that the ICSEE feedlot stimulates thought and imagination in the Maasai cattlemen who come to know it. In particular, the Nature Conservancy has created an organization of cattlemen dedicated to becoming better businessmen and increasing their adaptability.

The Conservancy funded the ICSEE feedlot enlargement, and helped the men in their program keep cattle in the feedlot.

All this goes to freer thinking and more imagination, both required to create the resilience needed to build a brighter future.

Cow Fodder Factory

As we’ve shared before, residue from human food production and consumption can provide the basis for high-quality food for cattle.

This residue provides a wonderful organic link in sustaining ourselves and our livestock. In particular, maize bran, left over from white cornflour production, is highly nourishing.

The production of sunflower oil leaves a cake also full of calories and good nutrition.

We buy these ingredients and grind them together with corncobs at our fully- equipped factory. The corncobs add fiber and more nourishment and all together the result is an excellent cow fodder.

Standing on three legs

To address these issues, we recognize the need for a range of possible actions and things to try.

The indications for the best choices will become clear as we analyze and evaluate work in the field. We think of it as a menu of ways to enhance resilience.

We are not suggesting we have found the " one and only way," but we do feel we have a set of good entries in the menu of adaptations, facilities, and actions.

Our contribution, the things we suggest and attempt, fit together and are our suggestions for an harmonious three-way approach, as described above:

Hay to store
Supplementary food when needed.
A place to bring food and water to cattle instead of the reverse

Rain-based rural economies are exposed and vulnerable. Survival and health depend on creativity, flexibility, and freedom from dogma.

Most important, it is the image in our minds of how ranching is done that needs to shift. By observing and experimenting, and having several avenues of action, the pastoralists will not be stopped by serious obstructions or difficulties along any one.

Creating and sustaining successful approaches is our challenge.

The challenges are large, and with your help, we face them together. Thank you!

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