Why is livestock an important part of agriculture

Livestock is an important source of monetary income for Timor-Leste rural population. In our study Table 8 , the majority of the households ranked livestock as their most important second and third source of income, with Regarding the 1 th source of income, Tapo-Tas ranked livestock immediately after the first rank, wage work. In the other two sucos, livestock was ranked in first place as second source of income. The livestock species that contribute to livestock monetary income, stated in descending order by households, are pigs, chickens, cattle and goats, being buffalos residual.

Regarding the households that are now involved in livestock rearing, Cash income received from livestock selling and from other economic activities is used to pay the school of children, to buy clothes, tools and food and for The technologies used by subsistence agriculture are traditional ones with low modern input use.

The most important vegetal activities in terms of household in crop production are maize, cassava, temporary fruits, permanent fruits, vegetables, coconuts, coffee and rice. The use of draught animal power for land preparation is mainly confined to rice while the use of animal manure to fertilize the soil is widely used in the different crops. Buffalos and horses are used in the preparation of the soil in rice fields. Desenvolvimento e recursos humanos no sector da orizicultura no distrito de Baucau em Timor-Leste.

In the suco of Tapo-tas, the households only use tools for land preparation, in Tapo-Memo, where the rice is an important culture, around In these two sucos, the majority of the animals are owned by the households. During the Portuguese colonization and Indonesian occupation, several attempts were made for the introduction and reinforce of animal draught power, not only for rice but also for the other agricultural activities such as maize.

Lisboa: A Editora, , p. During the Indonesian occupation, attempts were made, principally through transmigrants, to increase the use of draft animals, while after several programs and projects provided training and support in the use of drafts animals and on plowing OXFAM, OXFAM.

But all the programs were not successful. Vida Rural Timorense. The Timorese horse is one of the greatest richness of Timor-Leste people. From Arab origin, with elegant shape, is small and nervous, tough and of a great resistance. Having hard shell and not using horseshoe, climbs like a goat the highest mountains and the steepest barriers and goes down without hesitation the most rugged slopes, walks the difficult and dangerous paths of rural Timor-Leste. In the past, horses were used not only as transportation and draught animal power, but also in the wars between the different kingdoms and between them and the Portuguese colonial power.

Horses were also used in the hunt of deer. Nowadays, it is still a valuable element for the people of mountainous and remote regions with access and isolation difficulties, facilitating form of social their access to rural and urban areas and markets and to main roads. In some sucos in Baucau district, where there is no accessible road, the priest goes there monthly using the Timorese horse as mean of transport our observations. There has been an increased interest in the role and impact of livestock in the livelihoods of the poor in the last decade and livestock are starting to be viewed as a capital, like other forms of capital natural, financial and so on.

The social functions corresponds to the symbolic values associated to each species and the use of animals for the fulfillment of a set of rituals and social obligations funerals, ritual slaughter, bride wealth of families and communities, either formal and informal, and in this way animals are a mean to strengthen social networks. Livestock also play a social role by giving social and economic status to livestock owners, facilitating the access of the households to, both informal and formals, financial services, i.

They are also considered a common mean of demonstrating wealth. To fully understand the social role of livestock, it is also important to consider the role that gender plays in livestock production. To treat the pigs and chickens is considered a women's work, on the opposite the guard of buffaloes and cows, which are male property, is considered a man's job. In rituals there are animals that have a feminine symbolic value and others with masculine symbolic value, for instance pigs are considered feminine social goods while buffalos and cows are masculine social goods.

Animals have also for Timor-Leste people leisure value once they are used for racing, hunting and fighting games. During Portuguese colonial period horse racing became very pleasing to the Timorese people. The last horse races were integrated in the commemorations of the 10th anniversary of the independence of the country and counted with Australia, Indonesia and Timor-Leste participation.

The deer hunting in Timor-Leste was done in the past and in some zones is still done nowadays. In the past, horses were used in this activity in which animals were hunted with a javelin. The old descriptions tell us about the ability of hunters in handling simultaneously the horse and the javelin when tracking down and killing the deer.

Cock fighting is one of the older traditions of Timor-Leste and one of the games preferred by Timor-Leste people from all regions. Blood and feathers - masculine identity in East Timorese cockfighting, World and I, Cocks are admired in Timor because of their courage and perseverance and the courage of a man is sometimes compared with that of a cock, while a coward is called a hen. The cock fighter is inseparable from his owner and it is common to see men carrying cocks under their arms as precious possessions.

Cockfights are held on any social occasion when men get together, from the spontaneous to more formal occasions and are part of many weekly markets.

In the past, the animals represented always two factions or two villages and not only fight for their owners, but also for the two villages or kingdoms. There were two fights, between the two cocks and between the bets made by people belonging to the two factions. It is a gambling game and a very important leisure activity in Timor-Leste.

It is a fight to first blood, it makes it very quick, seconds from the wind-up to first blood, and there is always someone on site, to stitch up the loser and he can go home to the cooking pot or to stud.

A Terra, a Gente e os Costumes de Timor. Cadernos Coloniais, n. The Portuguese colonial government tried, but was not able to end this practice, and instead implemented a tax to its realization, thus becoming a source of income to the state.

The portuguese poet Ruy Cinatti, also in a tribute to Timor-Leste culture make the following poem about cock fighting. Nowadays there are some handcraft made with animal raw materials such as skins and horns, used to build drums and other artifacts.

Cattle and special buffalos are owned as an index of wealth, outward sign of wealth, often created by mere ostentation, without the intention to extract from it any net income. Cattle ownership largely determines social status in village communities. Owners of large numbers of cattle are important people in society and are always involved in important village events.

The Timorese evaluates the wealth of a chief, boss, or a simple man by jewelry, clothes and animals he has, and the buffalo always enter in this calculation with a significant weight CRUZ, CRUZ, C. For all the reasons, farmers are reluctant to slaughter animals, namely cattle and buffalos, for their own consumption, except during funerals, festivals or wedding celebrations.

Occasionally, a farmer will slaughter an animal but will negotiate with relatives, friends and neighbors beforehand to ensure that the excess can be sold. Cattle are more valuable than goats, sheep and pigs from a social point of view but they are not as easy to sell. Goats, sheep and pigs can be sold easily whenever farmers face economic difficulties. The buffalo is a "multi-task" animal: it works, give prestige and it is used in ceremonies. As a working animal, it is indispensable to prepare the lowland rice fields; it gives prestige as buffalos are used as a measure of wealth and as simple method of save accumulation.

Animistic and superstitions says that the soul of the deceased does not feel quiet if relatives, in funeral ceremonies, not sacrifice a few buffalos. The buffalo meat is of inferior quality but in Timor people makes extensive use of it. Their meat is appreciated in most of the territory. In fact, in terms of meat quality, the buffalo is lower than those of cattle, but in the traditional system, presents an opposite meaning, i.

Another dimension considered important to treat this animal is the size and length of horns. The largest value resides in the length of the horns and not on the size and volume of the body.

One of the social functions is the use of animals for the fulfillment of a set of rituals and social obligations funerals, ritual slaughter, bride wealth of families and communities, either formal and informal. For the three sucos studied, the animals that are more relevant for traditional ceremonies and festivities "estilos" are pigs and cattle followed by chicken and goats. Regarding the households that are involved in livestock rearing, The animals used are cooked, often in a special way, and shared by participants.

Beside the main vegetable production, cattle and buffalos are also subject to worship and these occur mainly in Tapo-Tas which is in the mountain and the most rural of them Table In all districts the communities still perform a set of rituals with a "propitiatory" nature before sowing, after harvest, in the case of pests, to ask for rain or to ask to stop the rain Beyond the prayers, songs, dances and other gifts as gold, money and areca, the people proceed to the sacrifice of animals to offer to the spirits or to see in his bowels how the harvest will be.

This practice highlights the importance of the investment that is made in agriculture, despite the low number of animals that each family has, they do not fail to meet their ritual obligations, providing animals for communal feasts or sacrifices, in order to try to ensure a good harvest. If we compare these findings with the past documents seems that buffalos are losing importance but according our informants the decreased in using Buffalos in ceremonies is not because they are not important and desirable but due to the fact that they are very expensive and only affordable on very rare occasions and for very few families.

Social relations of territorial management in light of Bunaq farming rituals. In sum, we can identify in the literature written about Timor-Leste and in our research that livestock had in the paste and has nowadays different functions for Timor-Leste households.

Nowadays, livestock is seldom used on agricultural works, such as buffalos and horse in rice land preparation, but the manure is often used as organic fertilizer. As a mean of transportation, horses are still used, mainly in mountainous regions, but much less than were in the past. However, when families do not have another mean of transport, use the animals mainly for cargo. Regarding consumption, livestock species are a source of protein for Timorese even though the consumption of meat is not done in a daily basis.

The livestock species used for self-consumption are mainly small animals, chickens, pigs and goats. At present, milk from local production is not drunk, although in past times buffalo milk was consumed, but this use was lost during the independence war. Concerning domestic finances, animals are very important as a mean of asset savings that can be converted into cash when family needs arise.

In many rural regions, livestock stocks are a source of asset accumulation. This source can be mobilized to satisfy some unexpected expenditures such as children school fees, bride wealth, illness, etc. Cattle are owned as an index of wealth, outward sign of wealth, often created by mere ostentation, without the intention to extract from it any net income. This ownership largely determines social status in village communities. Among the social functions, one is the use of animals for the fulfillment of a set of rituals and social obligations funerals, ritual slaughter, bride wealth of families and communities, either formal and informal.

The most relevant animals for traditional ceremonies and festivities "estilos" are pigs and cattle followed by chicken and goats.

From our observations, interviews and talks with local people, it is worthwhile to mention the importance given by households to the livestock social functions. They are providers of income and employment for producers and others working in, sometimes complex, value chains. They are a crucial asset and safety net for the poor, especially for women and pastoralist groups, and they provide an important source of nourishment for billions of rural and urban households.

These socio-economic roles and others are increasing in importance as the sector grows because of increasing human populations, incomes and urbanisation rates.

To provide these benefits, the sector uses a significant amount of land, water, biomass and other resources and emits a considerable quantity of greenhouse gases.

There is concern on how to manage the sector's growth, so that these benefits can be attained at a lower environmental cost. Most dairy farmers sell their bull calves and raise heifers as replacement animals. The advantage of raising heifers on farm is that it helps prevent introduction of diseases when animals are introduced to the milking herd. In a typical herd, mature cows calve every 12 to 14 months, producing a female calf 50 percent of the time.

Milk production per day increases for about 10 weeks and then decreases for the remainder of lactation. Typically, the lactation period lasts about 10 to 12 months.

Some farmers use bovine somatotropin injections in mid-lactation to sustain higher amounts of milk production per day.

Cows are bred artificially when behavioral and physiological signs of ovulation occur about 60 to days after calving. Lactation continues until two months prior to the next predicted calving. Cows are culled from the herd and slaughtered for low-grade meat production because of failure to become pregnant, low milk production, or chronic health issues. Calves, growing heifers, and dry cows are often housed separately from lactating cows. Young calves are frequently housed in separate hutches or grouped together with animals of similar age in pens or pasture.

Replacement heifers are bred, usually by artificial insemination, between 14 and 17 months of age and calve 9 months later. A typical herd with lactating cows may also include 18 dry cows and 86 growing heifers Dunlap et al. Young dairy calves consume casein or soy-based milk replacer until adjusted to grain and eventually forage-based diets as they mature.

Lactating cattle in peak production consume diets with as much as 60 percent of dry material from grains and high-energy by-products and 40 percent from forages whole plant crops such as hay or silage.

Lactating cattle at lower levels of production and mature cattle between lactations consume diets comprised mostly of forages. Most of the cattle in feedlots in the United States are referred to as yearlings. They enter the feedlot weighing to kg and are fed high grain diets for to days.

They are harvested at an average of about kg. There are wide variations on this theme, so these generalizations are less accurate than for other specie production systems. As an example, Holstein steer calves are commonly placed in feedlots on high grain diets when they weigh kg and fed for more than days.

In backgrounding yards, calves enter the feedlot weighing to kg and are usually fed high-roughage diets until they weigh to kg. These cattle may then be sold to another feedlot for finishing, or they may remain in the same feedlot and be fed high-grain diets.

Large feedlots typically have a continual movement of feeder cattle in and finished cattle out. Occupancy will have seasonal highs and lows, but there are always cattle on feed. Many smaller operations feed one group of cattle each year. In these systems, calves pounds or kg enter the feedlot in the fall and are marketed the following summer. During a portion of each year, these operations have no cattle on feed. Many combinations of these production system themes exist in the industry. Feedlot designs vary by region and type of operation.

The most common design is an open pen with percent of the surface paved. The balance of the pen surface is earthen. Space allocations range from 70 to square feet per animal.

The proportion of paving applied to the pen surface increases in regions that receive more rainfall. Typically, area-per-animal allotments decline as more paving is used. Bedding is not generally used in earthen pens with large area allocations per animal. Bedding during winter months and in some instances year-round is used in paved pens. It is common to include housing in colder or higher-precipitation regions. When housing is provided with open pens, the housing is generally paved.

Shedded area allocation is approximately 20 square feet per animal, and bedding is used only in winter months. Feed bunks are usually included in the housed area of these operations. Total-confinement systems refer to pens completely under roof. Some systems use partial or fully slatted floors with either deep storage pits or shallow pits that are flushed or scraped. Other systems have paved floors and use bedding throughout the year. Space allocations will be as low as 25 square feet per animal in total-slat, deep-pit facilities and 40 to 50 square feet in paved floor, bedded, confinement barns.

Almost all pigs are raised in total confinement. Pig farms are organized around three phases of production. Farrowing operations maintain a breeding herd of mature females and produce weaned pigs that are typically 3 or 4 weeks old and weigh 5. Nursery operations receive the weaned pigs and produce feeder pigs that are typically 10 to 11 weeks old and weigh kilograms.

Finishing operations receive feeder pigs and feed them to market. Various combinations of these production phases may be found on a single site. Farrow-to-finish operations include all three phases. Farrow-to-feeder pig operations include farrowing and nursery phases. Wean-to-finish operations include nursery and finishing phases.

Finishing pigs are usually allotted 7 to 8 square feet of space and housed in pens with constant access to feed and water. Nursery pigs also have constant access to feed and water, are housed in pens, but have less space. Sows kept for farrowing have more space and may be fed individually two or more times daily to maintain health.

Recent finishing buildings are designed to house to growing pigs each. An individual finishing farm may have two to six or more finishing buildings. Nursery buildings may have several rooms and house weaned pigs. One full-time person can provide the routine daily labor required by to nursery pigs or growing hogs. Sow farms consist of facilities for gestation and breeding as well as for farrowing. About one-twentieth of the sow herd is bred, farrows, or weans pigs each week.

Large, specialized farrowing operations may house sows or multiples thereof and employ one person for every or sows in inventory. Such operations may average more than nine pigs weaned per litter and 2. Annual production exceeds 20 pigs weaned per sow per year. Pig buildings may be ventilated naturally with ridge vents and fabric curtain sides that can be opened. Other pig buildings are ventilated by fans mounted in the walls. Tunnel ventilation is used in warm climates to cool poultry and livestock by pulling a large volume of air in one end of the building and out the other end with large fans.

Much lower rates of ventilation are used in cooler seasons and in cooler climates. Pig feed consists primarily of ground corn, soybean meal, and supplemental minerals and vitamins.

Feed is often ground, mixed, and pelleted at large centralized feed mills, although some farms still grind their own corn and mix in soybean meal and vitamin-mineral premixes. Diets are tailored to the nutrient requirements of the pigs at various stages of growth and reproduction e. Whole-herd feed conversion rates have fallen steadily and are now well below 3 pounds of feed per pound of live pig produced in some production systems. Broilers and turkeys are raised in similar systems.

A centralized feed mill produces pelleted diets consisting of ground corn, soybean meal, and mineral and vitamin supplements. Specialized farms maintain breeding flocks and produce hatching eggs. Depending on the market being served, some broiler flocks are now marketed at 6 weeks of age or less. Others are raised to much heavier weights at 7 to 8 weeks of age for further processing or for sale as roasters. Turkey hens are generally marketed as whole birds at 12 to 14 weeks 5.

Toms are generally marketed at 35 to 40 pounds at 20 to 22 weeks of age, and almost all toms are now processed further. Broiler houses will handle 20, to 30, birds per house, and farms generally have two to six such houses.

Turkey buildings generally hold to toms or 13, to 17, females. Tunnel ventilation is used in warm climates, while open-sided buildings with lower rates of ventilation are generally used in cooler seasons and climates. Some turkey farms have both brooding and growing facilities generally with one brooder for two growing facilities , but most, due to disease-related problems in multiaged operations, are now moving to all-in, all-out operations.

Turkeys and broilers as well as nursery pigs and finishing pigs are generally raised on an all-in, all-out basis. That is, a flock of day-old birds is placed in an empty building and raised to market weight. The house is then emptied and cleaned prior to the arrival of the next flock a week or two later.

Turkey complexes are similar, although turkeys are generally transported far greater distances. Most table eggs are produced in buildings with the hens in cages. These farms housed million pullets and hens. There were farms with at least , pullets and hens 13 weeks or older that housed 65 percent of the U. Feed is primarily ground corn or other grain and soybean meal with vitamin and mineral supplements. Almost all egg production facilities are enclosed and are power ventilated.

Manure management varies widely across species, region, and farm type. Since manure management can have a significant effect on emissions, attention is given here to some of the common systems.

Manure management systems vary with climate, soil productivity, farm size, and other factors. The systems in use now reflect research, development, education, and regulatory programs over the past 40 years. For example, Humenik provides a history of the evolution of anaerobic lagoon and sprayfield systems corresponding to the development of the Clean Water Act in There are many different systems for handling dairy manure. Tie-stall barns cattle confined in stalls often have gutters that can be cleaned by mechani-.

Most U. Free-stall barns are often cleaned using mechanical scrapers that pass through the alleyway. Most farms with more than cows use this means of cleaning USDA, a. Flush systems are increasingly common on large farms. However, flush systems require greater storage capacity than mechanical scrapers because more liquid is added to the animal manure despite recycling from a storage pond or lagoon. Dry lots or bedded packs can be used to house cattle in dry climates, with manure removed only occasionally with a tractor.

Dairy cattle manure is either stored dry in piles on concrete or earthen pads, stored as a slurry in a concrete or lined lagoon or storage tank, or mixed with flush water in earthen or lined lagoons which may be covered with biological material e.

Manure management in feedlots varies with the range of facilities described previously. Earthen-floor pens are routinely scraped, and the solids are collected into mounds within the pens. The manure mounds are removed on schedules that depend on the climate, region, and class of cattle involved. Solids removal from these systems may occur monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually. Some feedlots do not remove the manure yearly; rather a mound is created in the fall and peeled over winter, allowing the manure to dry in summer and be mounded again.

The one-turn-per-year feedlots typically remove solids only once a year. When there is a continuous flow of cattle and pens are on feed less than days, solids removal likely coincides with the sale of cattle from a pen. Pens with extensive paving require regular weekly, semiweekly removal of solids. Primary factors affecting the frequency of scraping are stocking density in the pen, precipitation, and use of bedding.

Solid-floor, total-confinement barns with bedding are generally cleaned every month. In all of these systems, the disposition of removed solids depends on season and region. It is often necessary to stockpile solids at a location outside the pen until the material is spread onto cropland, perhaps weeks or months later. Some operations compost the solids, but this practice is not prevalent because of climatic conditions, costs, and additional management requirements.

Permitted feedlots with outside pens have runoff controls ranging from vegetative filters to settling basin pond systems to lagoons. Settling basins are handled as solid waste usually when the material is dry. Ponds may be allowed to evaporate or be used as a source of irrigation water.

Lagoons are pumped, usually each spring and fall, with liquid manure applied to cropland. Slatted-floor confinement designs with flush systems typically incorporate some degree of solids separation to allow recycling of flush water. The high solids content effluent fraction would be stored in lagoons or slurry store-type structures. Deep-pit facilities are usually emptied each spring and fall. Local ordinances are having an increasing influence on manure handling and management.

These are highly variable and often specific to an individual feedlot. The result of federal, state, and local regulations and stipulations is a checker-board of manure management strategies. This creates confusion in the permitting process, may accommodate specific optimums by location, and may lead to a real or perceived disparity of requirements.

Manure management for pigs varies widely with climate, geographical characteristics, and size and type of operation. A small proportion of farms in Iowa and other states has adopted a deep-bedded system in the past decade, in which pigs are kept in hoop buildings on deep straw beds.

The bedding material and manure are removed periodically and spread on land. More prevalent systems include slurry handling systems, common in the upper Midwest, and anaerobic lagoon and flushing systems, with land application of liquid lagoon effluent, common in the Southeast.

A variant of the anaerobic lagoon system can be found in the arid West where liquid is evaporated rather than applied to cropland. The slurry handling systems include collection of manure, spilled water and feed, and wash water in under-floor concrete pits or gutters.

The floor of the pig buildings consists partially or totally of concrete gang slats, steel tribar, or woven wire such that manure can fall through gaps in the flooring. The undiluted manure is referred to as slurry and may contain 5 to 10 percent solids. The slurry may be stored in a deep pit beneath the building, or it may be pumped to an outside storage tank usually open topped and made of concrete or glass-lined steel or an earthen slurry basin.

Slurry is pumped out of storage and applied to land with tractor-drawn equipment in either the fall or the spring. The application rate is limited to the amount of manure that will meet the plant available nitrogen requirements of the crop to be produced there.

A recently revised NRCS standard has caused some producers to shift to applying manure to more land, at a lower rate that will not exceed the plant available phosphorus requirements of the crop. The anaerobic lagoon and sprayfield system of manure handling is characterized by an anaerobic treatment and storage lagoon with a flushing or pit recharging system for frequent removal of manure from the buildings.

Concrete slats or other flooring with openings allow manure, spilled water, and feed to fall into a shallow pit or a flush gutter beneath the floor. In the pit recharge system, less than 2 ft of liquid depth is maintained in the shallow pit and a standpipe-plug is pulled on a regular schedule to allow the liquid and accumulated manure to drain to the anaerobic lagoon.

The pit is then recharged with lagoon liquid. The flush system does not maintain liquid in the flush gutter, but a flush tank at the higher end of the building is filled with several hundred gallons of lagoon liquid and released into the flush gutter every few hours. The flush liquid and accumulated manure drain into the anaerobic lagoon.

The anaerobic lagoon is a large earthen structure in which a minimum treatment depth of several feet of liquid must be maintained at all times.

This treatment depth maintains an anaerobic environment that sup-. In addition to the treatment volume, the lagoon is also designed to contain temporary storage volume six months to one year of manure volume and rainfall accumulation , emergency storage a year, hour storm accumulation, plus a chronic rainfall accumulation in some states , sludge accumulation depth, and freeboard. Lagoon effluent generally has less than 1 percent solids and a small fraction of the nutrient content of manure slurry.

Liquid lagoon effluent is land-applied using automated irrigation equipment. Liquid effluent is applied at a rate that meets the plant available nitrogen or phosphorus requirements of the crop.

Annual land application volume is equal to the volume of manure, spilled water and feed, water used to wash the building interior, and rainfall accumulated in open structures, minus evaporation from barns and open structures. A variant of the anaerobic lagoon system uses the high rate of evaporation and low rainfall in some locations to decrease effluent volume. Broilers and Turkeys.

Many broiler and turkey grow-out buildings have earthen floors. The floor is covered with a bedding material such as wood shavings to collect and dry the manure. The relatively low moisture content of poultry manure makes this approach practical. The bedding material and accumulated manure called litter are generally removed from the buildings and replaced once each year. The surface of the litter is generally raked to remove feathers and caked material, and then new shavings are added between flocks.

Once removed, the litter is generally directly land-applied, but it may be stacked and stored in covered piles or in a litter storage shed until it is loaded into a manure spreader a truck- or tractor-drawn implement and land-applied. In arid regions, thin bed drying may be used. A variety of manure management systems are used for layer operations.

Most caged layer buildings have concrete floors. In the high-rise layer system, manure falls onto a concrete floor, accumulates there, and is removed periodically as a dry material that can be spread mechanically on land. Anaerobic lagoon and flushing systems have also been used on layer farms, but are becoming less and less common. There are also cage systems with manure belts that pass beneath the cages and convey the manure to a collection point. The manure is then augured out of the building for storage until it is eventually spread on land.

Farmers generally behave as profit maximizers; that is, they try to use inputs and produce products such that the difference between total revenue and costs is maximized.