Zambia Agribusiness Society

Question : How can one make 5 sows come into heat at the same time to cut costs of transporting semen and AI technician from one location to another?  Answer : You need to take control over your pigs’ oestrus cycles. Remember your female pigs are either gilts or sows. A gilt is a young female that has never given birth. A sow is a reproductively active female pig on a farm. Gilts They come into puberty on average at around 24 weeks! To take control over their cycles, carry out " Boar Exposure ." Boar exposure is creating contact between your gilts and a mature boar for purposes of inducing heat. Procedure 1. Introduce a boar to your gilts (one or in a group of not more than seven) every day. 2. Make sure every gilt in the group smells the boar. Ensure contact between each gilt and the boar. 3. Check for signs of heat each day before introducing the boar to the gilt pen. Don't introduce a boar into gilts on standing heat because they may end up mated by the

In this piece of article, we’ll get to know the role of Pest Management and why there is a need to know about it. Rodents and insects spread disease, infest your kitchens and bedrooms, and bite you or your pets, making pest treatment important. Your safety and health are put first by getting rid of any form of pest from your house, garage, or yard. Rodents, for instance, may urinate on or next to the food they locate in your kitchen. You may get seriously ill if you unintentionally eat that tainted food. All types of pests transmit virulent germs and viruses that need long-term treatment. For Example, Asthma is one example of a medical condition that others can exacerbate. In the US , pest management is a major challenge. Pest management offers a defense against dangerous insects that could endanger public health and result in expensive property damages. When people hear the terms " pest management " or " pest control " they frequently picture eliminating f

Vaccination plays an important part in the health management of the poultry flock. There are numerous diseases that are prevented by vaccinating the birds against them. A vaccine helps to prevent a particular disease by triggering or boosting the bird’s immune system to produce antibodies that in turn fight the invading causal organisms. A natural invasion that actually causes the disease will have the same result as the bird will produce antibodies that fights the current invasion as well as to prevent future invasions by the same causal organisms. Unfortunately birds that become diseased usually become unthrifty, non-productive or even die. An infection caused by natural invasion will be uncontrolled and therefore has the possibility of causing severe damage, however vaccination provides a way of controlling the result with minimal harm to the birds. Vaccines are generally fragile products, some of which are live but in a state of suspended animation. Others are dead. All have

Rabbits are fast growing animals that take 4 to 5 months to mature for slaughter. They reproduce very fast, kindling (giving birth) four times a year to an average of 8 kits per kindle. There are different breeds of rabbits available, the California white, Chinchilla, Dutch, New Zealand white, Flemish giant, French lop and the Angora. A male rabbit is called a buck while a female rabbit is a doe and their young ones are called kits. 1. Rabbit Housing Managing rabbits starts with constructing a proper house. A rabbit house is called a hutch and may be constructed with wood, concrete or iron sheets depending on the materials available to you. Each adult rabbit should occupy its own hutch that measures 2.5ft long x 2.5ft wide x 2ft high. The weaned kits may be placed in hutches 4.5ft x 2.5ft x 2ft. Every doe’s hutch should have a nesting box, where she will give birth and care for her litter. The floor of the rabbit hutch should be made of chicken mesh reinforced with a wire m

To those who've been visiting my inbox asking me on how to raise a successful cabbage nursery, below are the easy steps to follow. 1. Always use certified seeds with special attributes, such as tolerance/resistance to pests (DBM) and diseases (black rot) and high yielding. 2. The seed rate is about 250 to 300g/ha. Mind you, this will depend on the type of cabbage you intend to grow such as small, medium & large size heads. 3. Do not set up the nursery in fields previously grown with a cabbage crop. 4. Seedbed preparations should be of 1m in width, 15 to 20cm in height and of a convenient length. Can be 15m, 20m or 30m long. Length varies from farm to farm depending on management preferences. 5. After the beds have been made, broadcast a handful of D or MAP fertilizer plus 3 handfuls of well decomposed farmyard manure or compost per square meter. After broadcasting, work the manure/compost & fertilizer in the soil with a rake or hole at a depth of 5cm. 6.

An active is a component of a product that is designed to address the skin condition that the product is intended to treat. An active ingredient is what makes a skincare product successful because it is supported by scientific evidence and is known to induce a particular change in the skin. In addition to the concentration and type of product consumers use, their skin's capacity to endure an ingredient's application is affected by the strength and composition of the product. Many active components are available in both prescription and over-the-counter dosages, but consumers should not assume that over-the-counter drugs cannot induce an adverse reaction. How are active ingredients synthesized? Due to the stringent criteria and certifications necessary for the manufacture and distribution of agrochemicals, every step of the chemical formulation process must be strictly regulated. The active components must be manufactured in chemical batch processing facilities equipped to handl

Deficiency symptoms of various macro and micro nutrients Symptoms of nutrient deficiency are common to fruit farmers. However, multiple nutrition disorders can occur simultaneously which makes it complicated for farmers to diagnose production problems. To determine the nutrients that are deficient in the soil,  farmers should have their soil analysed by experts.   Protein is an important element required by living organisms for growth and development. One of the elements present in proteins is Nitrogen, which is a component of chlorophyll, DNA, RNA, amino acids, alkaloids, and enzymes. In fruit farming, various nutrients play an important role in enhancing the growth and quality of fruits. Commercial fruit farming is being embraced in various parts of the country due to its high returns. Watermelon , for instance, is a fruit with a short maturity period, high yields, high demand, and ready market. The fruit is composed of 92% water, making watermelon a suitable fruit when it is hot.

For sweet potatoes, crop rotation is a must if you want a healthy harvest and more yield. Crop rotation is the practice of growing a different plant after the growing season of a particular crop. For example, you can grow sweet potatoes on your field this year, and then grow cabbage next year. Crop rotation is vital for several reasons. Different plants have different nutrient needs. The nutrient requirements of sweet potatoes are different from that of other plants. If you continue to grow sweet potatoes in a particular place continuously, the soil will be quickly depleted of the nutrients that sweet potatoes consume the most. If you rotate sweet potatoes with vegetables that have a different nutritional need like cabbage, the soil will have enough nutrients for sweet potatoes when you plant them again. Sweet potatoes are semi-heavy feeders. To retain nutrients in the soil, you should grow vegetables that are light or medium. Plants in the family legumes, which are also can f

Being able to rank for your target keywords without spending a lot of time and money on SEO is vital for a successful eCommerce website. This article talks about 5 important reasons why you should be extremely careful with your eCommerce SEO strategies. Why Your Ecommerce SEO Matters If you're running an eCommerce business, you need to be meticulous with your SEO strategies. SEO is the process of improving a website's ranking on search engines. This means that your customers can find you more easily when they're looking for products or services that you offer. There are many online agencies such as Incrementors strategic SEO campaigns that benefit you, as it brings high-quality traffic to your website and at the same time reduce your customer acquisition cost. There are several ways that SEO can help your business expand. First, it can increase traffic to your website. This traffic will likely be interested in the products or services that you offer, which means that you&#