Cattle Farming (Fattening) in Nigeria

Cattle Farming Business – Agriculture is a very lucrative sector. Provided you have the right agricultural products at the right place you’ll make your profits in no time.

Agriculture is a vast area,  while some tend to be engaged in more than one at a time, others focus on just one area and specialize in it. There is cattle rearing (livestock),  poultry, crop production, etc.

This article is focused on cattle farming business. Just like most businesses, cattle farming business requires that you have adequate knowledge about what you are going into so that you don’t loose your money. You have to consider the equipment, space, funding, expertise, staff amongst other necessary factors in a Cattle farming business plan that will be required for the success of your cattle farming business.

We are quite sure that you won’t have the question of whether cattle farming is a lucrative area of agriculture because it is.  Cow meat is consumed in very large quantities in the country and there is rarely any part of the country where cow meat is a taboo or abomination so there is a ready market for cow meat. Apart from the meat, cheese and milk are derived from cow and are equally consumed in large quantities.  The hide and skin is a raw material for leather which is a major material used in the manufacturing of shoes, belts, bags and other clothing items.  The hoof, horns and bones are not useless but are also used in the manufacturing of a lot of household and industrial products.

Now that we have settled the issue of how lucrative cattle farming business can be let’s now get into how you can start the business and how you will make the most of it, maximize profit and expand your business.

First off you have to decide whether you want to ranch or to herd. This is very important. You have to know whether you will build a ranch and do all your cattle rearing in it that is transporting the cattle fodder to a particular place  or whether you want to hire herdsmen that will move the cattle from one place to the other in search of pasture.

At a time, herding was considered to be the best for cattle farming business because of obvious reasons. There would be no need to spend money in building the ranch, money won’t be spent in purchasing and transporting their fodder,  and money won’t be spent in hiring staff to run and maintain the ranch. However a lot of things have changed since then and some people just opt for ranching so as to have peace of mind. A major reason for this is the “herdsmen” problem in the country and the government’s failure to properly address this leading to more tension. Infant the tension has become so high that there has been several calls and petition made to the federal government to ban cattle herding in Nigeria.

Nevertheless, we will discuss the pros and cons of both the ranching method and the herding method of cattle rearing so that you can make an informed choice.

  Let us consider cost. Ranching is obviously more costly because you will have to build the ranch, purchase and transport the cattle fodder to the ranch, hire staff for general running and maintenance of the ranch. Herding on the other hand does not need all these expenses, all you need are herdsmen to move the cattle from one place to the other to get pasture.  However, it is not a closed case yet as there are still more factors to consider cost wise before making your final decision on which method of cattle rearing to adopt. Ranching though more expensive than herding is actually more investor-friendly that is, it is easier to convince investors to invest in your business if you are involved in the ranching method than it is for herding.

The next important factor to put into consideration is the issue of security. Of course security is very important for any business whatsoever and cattle farming business is not an exception.  Those involved in the ranching method often make complaints of robbery attacks. These robbers always make away with some if not most of their cattle and other important equipments.  It is easy for them to execute this because the ranch is in a particular place and they could take weeks to make their plan knowing fully well that the ranch is not moving anywhere. Cases of such thefts were rampant at a time that the Federal Government had to step in and made available insurance for farmers using the ranch method. So you have to make sure that if you are opting for the ranch method then you have the issue of security adequately covered.

Now let us look into Politics and public sentiments. This factor is so prominent that it cannot be neglected.  If the ‘Fulani herdsmen’ problem persists, the government will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to it and will decide to take action which is most likely to ban herding activities in Nigeria and if this is the case then anyone involved in cattle farming business will have no choice but to build their ranches.

Most businesses at one time or the other would be in need of investors. Now of you have a ranch you stand a better chance of convincing investors to invest in your business. On the other hand it is rare for investors to be be convinced if you adopted the herding method of cattle farming.

All these factors listed and talked about above are necessary factors you have to put into consideration before making your decision on whether you want to be involved in ranching or herding. Whichever choice you make at least you made an informed and we wish you all  the best.

Cattle farming is a capital intensive business.  There is an option of starting small but to make reasonable profit and have a good turnover over a short period of time, you’ll need huge capital.  Even if you don’t personally have the capital to start up there are a lot of loan packages and grants that can be gotten from the government because the federal government encourages Agriculture and would want as many people as possible to go into agriculture and bring out produces in a commercial quantity. Hence acquisition of loans and grants for cattle farming can be gotten quite easily.

Assuming you insist on starting on your own, with the little capital that you have, that you means you are going into small scale cattle farming.  This is also achievable.  For this what you’ll have to do is to go into partnership or agreement of some sorts with an already established farmer who is involved in cattle rearing.  Then you purchase as many calves as you can afford with your capital and keep them in the care of the farmer that you have made a deal with. The farmer will then feed and take care of the calves alongside his own until they are mature and ready to be sold. When they have been sold you’ll take out your initial investment and then proceed to share the gain gotten from the sale with the farmer using a profit sharing formula that was agreed upon at the commencement of the deal.

You have to make sure that you are dealing with an honest and trustworthy farmer, hence you have to conduct your investigation diligently and ask questions before you go into this sort of partnership with any farmer.

An advantage of this type of cattle farming is that it avails you the opportunity to gain experience about the business you are going into so that when you have gotten enough capital to start off your own farming you won’t make certain mistakes and you’ll be better informed and aware of what you should and should not do and how to go about the business in such a way that profit is maximised.

However if you have enough capital to start off your own large-scale cattle farming business, then that is very good provided that you are aware of what to do and how to go about it.

You also have to decide on which aspect of cattle rearing you want to focus on. If you decide to specialize and focus on one,  that is good and fine. If on the other hand you decide to go into all the areas that also fantastic provided you can handle it properly.

There are three major areas of cattle rearing and they are Beef Brand, Dairy Brand and Mixed Brand. The beef brand just as the name implies is cattle farming for the sole purpose of meat production, diary brand is cattle rearing for the production of milk and milk products, and the mixed brand is for the production of beef,  milk and milk products.  So make your pick on whether you want to engage in one area or all the areas.  However you have to make sure that you have the capability and technical know how to be effective in any area you choose so that you don’t end up wasting your money and incurring losses.

If you want to go into the ranching method.  Here are a few helpful tips for you.

First, you have to get a good farmland. You can lease a farm land if you do not have enough money to buy. However make sure that a lease agreement was duly prepared by a lawyer and adequately signed by both parties and their witnesses. You can also purchase one outright if you have the funds available to you.

The farmland you intend to make use of have needs to be in an area where the weather is conducive for the animals. You also have to see to it that the farm is located in an area where it will be easy to get fodder for the cattle.

You also have to put the topography of the farm land into consideration as you wouldn’t want the land to be subject to flooding or any other type of land degradation.

Another very important factor to consider before settling for a farm land is the government policy on cattle farming in that region. If the government is not in support of it or has certain limitations you have to know all about it before you settle for any farm land.

Cattle Farming / Fattening Business Plan and Feasibility Study

For the animals to be healthy and produce in large quantities whatever you are rearing them for, you have to ensure that they eat right. So you have to go the extra mile if that is what it takes to ensure that you get the right feed from the right place so that your cattle can do well and your business will thrive. On the other hand,  if you care less about what they eat,  you are doing yourself more harm than good and being penny wise pound foolish.  This is because the animals will obviously not produce as much as they should and whatever is produced might also be of low quality thereby driving your customers away as they would rather go to farms where the animals are doing great.

Also ensure that you have the right equipments needed for cattle rearing or farming. Actually,  this is dependent on the area of cattle farming you are into. But the basic equipments include the feeding equipment and the watering equipment. Having the equipments is one thing but handling them properly to ensure that they are in good working condition is another factor that you should take cognizance of.

General running and maintenance of the farm is very crucial to the success of your cattle farming business.  That is why we pointed out earlier that you need to acquire adequate knowledge about what you are going into otherwise you will make a lot of mistakes and end up loosing your money. You cannot just purchase cattle,  throw them into a place and lock them up.  You need to be aware of the various diseases that might affect cattle proper growth, as well as the symptoms to see and know that something is not right with them. That said you need a veterinary doctor that you can always call to check up on and to treat the animals.

No man is an Island hence you have to join the right organizations and associations. You can also ask farmers who have been in the business before you questions about things that are confusing you so that they can show you the ropes.

Of course you’ll  have to hire staff and helps for the effective and smooth running of your farm. But train your staff on your business values and orientation, as well as in how to do things around the farm so that they don’t end up incurring loses for you.

All said and done, you have to register your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission.  This will mean that your business is fully recognized under the law and it makes it easier for you to get funding through grants and loans.  Investors are also more comfortable with a business that is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission because it shows seriousness. Customers will also trust you more and those who were referred to you will be very confident to do business with you.