Leite Seridó provides improvements in the nutritional management of dairy herds in RN

Executed by the Instituto BioSistêmico, the project has resources from the Zoetis Foundation and Sebrae/RN

Ensuring a supply of food for dairy herds throughout the year is one of the main challenges for dairy farmers in Seridó, a region of Rio Grande do Norte that encompasses the Caatinga Biome. Prolonged droughts are among the obstacles for farmers to ensure good nutrition for cows in this region.

To help address this challenge, the Instituto Biosisêmico (IBS) has been providing nutritional management services since 2023 for producers supported by the Seridó Milk project, in the municipalities of Serra Negra do Norte, Caicó, São Fernando, São João do Sabugi, Cruzeta, Acari, Currais Novos, Lagoa Nova, Cerro Corá, Carnaúba dos Dantas, Parelhas, Santana do Seridó, Jardim do Seridó and Timbaúba dos Batistas.

In the last round of nutritional management carried out between March and April of this year, the focus of the services was adjusting the diet for different animal categories, in addition to adjusting forage planning.

“By adjusting concentrated diets, we aim to increase daily milk production, increase weight gain of calves, reduce expenses with the inadequate use of concentrate supply, improve reproductive results, increasing the conception rate and reducing the interval between births”, explains IBS consultant Gilmara Maria dos Santos, who provides nutritional management services for the Leite Seridó project.

Gilmara reports that, in the first project visits in 2023, a forage plan was drawn up for each property, identifying the amount of bulky feed needed to feed the existing herd during the eight months of the dry season. She adds that the adjustments applied to these plans in the last round seek to increase the bulky support for the herds during the dry season, making the activity profitable and lucrative.

During the technical visits, the consultant checked the areas where forage was planted, providing guidance on how to control weeds and pests, as well as soil correction and fertilization to maintain the crops. She monitored the development of the areas of forage palm and BRS Capiaçu Elephant Grass, which were planted using seedlings distributed by the Leite Seridó project during the first consultations this year, held in January and February.

According to the IBS consultant, on all visits, she has reinforced the importance of adequate mineralization of the herd, according to each animal category, which helps to avoid many productive and reproductive problems on the property.

“At the beginning of the project, many producers did not provide any type of mineral to their herd. Today, the introduction of mineralization is one of the improvements observed on the properties. Among the advances, we also highlight the increase in milk production and improvement in feed conversion,” says Gilmara.

The next nutritional management services are scheduled to begin in August and should continue throughout the month of September, covering the 100 properties that are part of the project in the Seridó region.

About the Leite Seridó Project

Conceived and executed by the Instituto BioSistêmico, the Leite Seridó project has the support of resources from Fundação Zoetis and Sebrae/RN. The initiative seeks to promote the development of dairy farming on a total of 100 properties, with a family farming profile, in the Seridó region, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Northeast region of Brazil.

It proposes a set of activities and resources for technological assistance, structured and modulated into four thematic axes aimed at improving the production process: good practices, reproductive management, nutritional management and health management.

The project uses the CheckMilk methodology, which has a platform with a management system and application for technical teams and producers. The system facilitates project management and the application helps the producer on a daily basis, as a support, an extension of the IBS consultancy that can be accessed at any time in the palm of the hand.