🐄 Section 1 — Animal Setup
🌾 Section 2 — Feed Ingredients
Locally available Tanzanian feeds are pre-checked. Uncheck feeds you cannot source, or add others.
💰 Section 3 — Budget (Optional)
Formulate balanced feed rations for Tanzania Zebu, Mpwapwa cattle, Small East African goats and sheep using Napier grass, maize bran, sunflower cake and locally available feeds. Prices in TZS.
Locally available Tanzanian feeds are pre-checked. Uncheck feeds you cannot source, or add others.
Tanzania has one of East Africa's largest livestock populations, with over 30 million cattle (primarily Zebu breeds in traditional pastoral systems), 18 million goats, 5 million sheep, and a growing commercial poultry sector. The livestock sector contributes approximately 7% of GDP, with pastoral communities in the Maasai Steppe, Sukumaland, and other semi-arid zones managing the majority of cattle. The dairy industry, centered in the Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tanga, and Iringa regions, is growing with the expansion of smallholder dairy farming using crossbred cattle. The commercial feed industry is developing, with feed mills in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Iringa producing poultry, dairy, and pig feeds. Companies including Tanfeed, Silverlands Tanzania, and several smaller operators serve the commercial market. The Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (TALIRI) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) provide research and extension support for improved animal nutrition.
Tanzania's diverse agro-climatic zones offer varied feed ingredients. Maize bran and broken maize from the country's milling industry provide the primary energy base for commercial feeds and smallholder supplementation. Sunflower cake from the expanding sunflower production in the Singida, Dodoma, and Iringa regions is an important and increasingly available protein source for both ruminants and monogastric animals. Cottonseed cake from the cotton ginneries of the Lake Zone (Mwanza, Shinyanga) provides affordable protein for cattle and small ruminants. Soybean meal production is growing, with soybean cultivation expanding in the Southern Highlands. Rice bran from the Mbeya, Morogoro, and Shinyanga rice mills is a cheap energy supplement. Copra cake from coconut processing in the Pwani and Tanga coastal regions provides an economical ingredient. For ruminants, Brachiaria and Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) are promoted as improved forages, while natural miombo woodland and savanna grasslands provide the extensive grazing base. Leucaena and Gliricidia fodder trees are promoted for the dairy sector. Sisal waste (from the Tanga sisal industry) has been explored as a roughage source. Molasses from the Kilombero and Mtibwa sugar estates serves as an energy supplement and silage additive.
Feed costs represent the major bottleneck for Tanzania's livestock sector development, with most commercial operations spending 60 to 70% of their operational budget on feed. Seasonal price variations for maize and other ingredients can be extreme, with prices in the Dar es Salaam market rising by 40 to 60% between the post-harvest period (July to September) and the pre-harvest lean season (January to March). Sunflower cake prices are generally more stable and represent a cost-effective protein option compared to imported soybean meal. For dairy farmers in the highlands, establishing improved pastures of Brachiaria, Chloris gayana (Rhodes grass), and forage legumes can reduce the need for expensive purchased concentrates. Smallholder dairy farmers in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions benefit from established supply chains for dairy concentrates through cooperative networks like TDCU and KNCU. Pastoral and agro-pastoral livestock keepers can improve dry-season feeding economics by conserving hay during the wet season and strategically supplementing with cottonseed cake and mineral licks from June to October. Major feed ingredient markets operate in Dar es Salaam (Kariakoo and Tandale markets), Arusha, Mwanza, and Mbeya. Cooperative purchasing through livestock keeper associations and dairy cooperatives helps reduce per-unit costs, and the Tanzanian livestock ministry promotes village-level feed processing centers equipped with simple chopping and mixing equipment.