Reproductive and Productive Performance of Indigenous Dairy Cows under Smallholder Farmers Management System in North

Abstract

Evaluations of the productive and reproductive performances of indigenous dairy cows were carried out in Alefa and Quara districts under smallholder farmers management system. To collect data from 376 households, a crosssectional study were employed via structured questionnaires. To assess the reproductive performance of the dairy cows, age at first services (AFS), age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI), days open (DO) and number of service per conception (NSPC) were utilized as an indicator traits. In addition, milk yield per day (MY/D), lactation milk yield (LMY) and lactation length (LL) were considered as an indicator of the performance productive traits. To study the variation on the measured traits the collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20. As reported by the respondents, the overall mean of AFS, AFC, CI, DO and NSPC were (43.4 ± 0.47 and 32.8 ± 0.46 months), (52.4 ± 0.81 and 41.8 ± 0.50 months), (26.64 ± 0.60 and 18.72 ± 0.50 months), (17.64 ± 0.70 and 9.72 ± 0.40 months), (1.54 ± 0.55 and 1.82 ± 0.65 times), respectively in Alefa and Quara districts. All of the considered traits for reproductive performances were significantly (p<0.001) differ between the districts. The over mean of MY/D, LMY and LL were reported as (1.30 ± 0.05 and 1.50 ± 0.04 litres), (329.6 and 348.8 litters) and (8.45 ± 0.18 and 7.75 ± 0.15 months), respectively in Alefa and Quara districts. Thus, it could be concluded that the results reported for AFS, AFC, CI, LL and LMY in both districts were below optimum value of dairy cattle production. By and large, management differences (proper feeding, housing, selection of local breeds, adequate health care) are the major limitations for the declining of the reproductive and productive performance of indigenous dairy cattle under smallholder farmer’s management system in the sample areas.