scholarly journals Study on Functional Traits of Arsi Cattle Reared in the East Shoa and West Arsi Zones of Oromia, Ethiopia

Author(s):  
Aman Gudeto ◽  

The study was conducted in the East Shoa and West Arsi Zones of Oromia Region with the objective to assess the functional traits of Arsi cattle in their native areas. Two hundred forty cattle keepers were identified using random sampling techniques. The study was conducted in five districts, namely Adami Tullu Jidokombolcha (ATJK), Bora, Dodola, Shala and Negele-Arsi. The survey revealed that the age at first mating, age at first calving, and calving interval of Arsi cattle at on-farm level were 43.5, 55.9 and 19.1 months, respectively. The lactation length and milk yield of Arsi cattle were 9.6 months and 1.66 liters per day, respectively. The working life of oxen was 7.7 years. The observed results on reproduction and production of Arsi cattle at on-farm level are good indicators of information for further evaluation of their performances.

1968 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Pearson ◽  
R. K. Waugh ◽  
Bernardo Salazar ◽  
F. M. Botero ◽  
O. Acosta

SUMMARYSamples of a Colombian criollo breed of cattle, the Blanco Orejinegro, and contemporary onequarter Jersey crossbreds were kept on a farm in the Andes. Records were included of all calvings which occurred over an 8-year period, giving totals of 1357 lactations from 514 purebreds and 424 lactations from 137 crossbreds.Age at first calving was about 41 months for both breed groups. Cattle were milked twice daily by hand without calf at foot. Mean lactation yields were 220 kg (purebreds) and 612 kg (crossbreds). The repeatability and heritability of milk yield are estimated. Statistics are also given for lactation length, daily yield, calving interval and butterfat percentage. The effects on yield of age at first calving and calving year were negligible, but month of calving was important.It is concluded that the low level of performance was partly due to failure to eject milk without calf at foot, at least in the case of the purebreds, and that this was itself mainly due to genetic causes. The improvement in yield due to crossbreeding was not accompanied by a loss of other desirable traits. The development of the local cattle industry is discussed in the light of these results and the general characteristics of the region.


2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 445-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M.-A. Musa ◽  
M.-K. A. Ahmed ◽  
K. J. Peters ◽  
B. Zumbach ◽  
K. E. A. Gubartalla

Abstract. Data from the Butana herd of Atbara Livestock Research Station were analyzed for the period 1949–1999. The least squares means for age at first calving, calving interval, milk yield per lactation, daily milk yield, lactation length and dry period were 45.05 ± 3.56 months, 382.38 ± 8.30 days, 1662.57 ± 108.96 kg, 6.10 ± 0.40 kg, 268.17 ± 5.56 days and 119.10 ± 8.30 days, respectively. The analysis of variance revealed that the sire and parity number influenced the studied traits, while year-season of calving influenced the milk yield per lactation, daily milk yield and lactation length. Linear and quadratic regressions on lactation length significantly influenced milk yield per lactation and daily milk yield. Heritability estimates for age at first calving, calving interval, milk yield per lactation, daily milk yield, lactation length and dry period were 0.19 ± 0.07, 0.09 ± 0.03, 0.26 ± 0.06, 0.27 ± 0.07, 0.04 ± 0.02, and 0.09 ± 0.03, respectively. This study highlighted the importance of conserving the indigenous dairy cattle breeds for future generations. The presence of significant variation and the corresponding heritability estimates give promise of reasonable genetic improvement under selective breeding with respect to milk yield characters.


2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. z. Abdel Gader ◽  
M.-K. A. Ahmed ◽  
L. M.-A. Musa ◽  
K. J. Peters

Abstract. The data obtained from the dairy herd of the Arab Company for Agricultural Production and Processing (ACAPP) in a semi arid area 40 km south of Khartoum involved 337 cows with a total of 1049 records from 16 years between 1986 and 2002. The least squares means for age at first calving, calving interval, days open, lactation milk yield, daily milk yield, lactation length and dry period were 29.76±0.40 months, 433.12 ± 6.70 days, 167.79±7.08 days, 3475.53±78.89 kg, 12.29±0.28 kg, 294.10±3.62 days and 164.08 ± 6.70 days, respectively. The analysis of variance showed that the parity number had significant (p<0.05) influences on all studied traits, while year-season of calving influenced (p<0.05) age at first calving, milk yield per lactation and daily milk yield. The sire of cow influenced (p<0.05) lactation yield, daily yield, lactation length and days open. The effects of linear and quadratic regressions of both lactation yield and daily yield on length of lactation were also highly significant (p<0.01). Heritability estimates of age at first calving, calving interval, milk yield per lactation, daily milk yield, lactation length and dry period were generally low (0.098±0.104, 0.047±0.046, 0.130±0.042, 0.123±0.041, 0.172±0.062 and 0.044±0.031, respectively) except the heritability of days open which was 0.51±0.37. The productivity of the herd in this study which averaged 12.3 kg/cow/day was much lower than the expected productivity of Holstein Friesian cows, which reflects the negative impact of the prevalent environment in the Sudan. More records and economic data are required to examine the economic feasibility of raising pure Friesians under Sudan conditions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
MR Karim ◽  
MZ Hossain ◽  
MR Islam ◽  
MS Parvin ◽  
MA Matin

Twenty five buffalo cows of Mothbaria Upazila of Pirojpur district and another twenty five indigenous buffalo cows of Pathorghata Upazila of Borguna district of Bangladesh were randomly selected and interviewed to collect data on reproductivity (gestation length, birth weight, age of first calving, post partum heat and calving interval), productivity (lactation length and daily milk yield) and management system (general management, housing, feeding, calf rearing and treatment facilities) of indigenous buffalo cows using pre-tested questionnaire during the period from January to June 2010. The reproductive parameters including gestation length, birth weight, age of first calving, post partum heat and calving interval of Mothbaria Upazila of Pirojpur district were 319.56 ± 5.93 days, 24.28 ± 4 kilograms, 50.88 ± 1.71 months, 153.6 ± 6.13 days, 547.92 ± 10.88 days respectively whereas in case of Pathorghata Upazila of Borguna district these parameters were 319.12 ± 4.69 days, 24.12 ± 3.6 kilograms, 51 ± 1.8 months, 153.44 ± 6.78 days, 547.24 ± 14.32 days respectively. The productive parameters including lactation length and daily milk yield of Mothbaria Upazila of Pirojpur district were 286.12 ± 11.27 days and 3.33 ± 0.68 liters/day respectively while in case of Pathorghata Upazila of Borguna district these parameters 290.44 ± 10.92 days and 3.43 ± 0.744 liters/day respectively. So, reproduction and production are almost regular comparing with other published reports with the exception of age of first calving which is almost 12 months later than the buffaloes of other countries. It could be concluded that the buffalo owners of these areas do not follow any scientific method of buffalo husbandry; they just follow traditional rearing system. The farmers mostly use buffaloes for draught purpose in these costal areas.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v24i1-2.19113 Progress. Agric. 24(1&2): 117 - 122, 2013


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
M. Ruhul Amin ◽  
Bhuiyan A.K.F.H ◽  
Habib M.A Habib ◽  
Khan M.A.S

The study was aimed to observe reproductive pattern and efficiency of Red Chittagong Cattle (RCC) including reproductive history taken from two different herds; nucleus herd (on-station) and community herd (on-farm) in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. A total of 184 calving parity records from 66 RCC cows that included 317 estrous, 164 conception and 178 calving history covering a period from 2005 to 2011 were considered for analyses. The highest frequencies of estrous, conception and calving occurred in May (13%, 15% and 14%, respectively), while the lowest in September for estrous (4%) and conception (4%) and April and June for calving (5%). The month of the year had significant (p<0.001 to p<0.05) effect on both estrous and calving but not for conception (p>0.05). There was no significant effect of season with estrous or conception or calving, but numerically highest incidence of estrous and conception in summer (36% and 38%, respectively) and calving in winter (36%) are noted. The seasonal indexes of calving in the on-station and on-farm herds were 0.73 and 0.78 respectively, with an overall mean of 0.68. The breeding or reproductive efficiency of the nucleus herd was estimated based on calving interval and age at first calving along with calving interval and the calculated results were 79 % and 82%, respectively for those two methods of estimation. The result obtained in this study indicates the reproductive behavior of RCC did not differ significantly by season, but varied with month of the year. In addition, reproductive efficiency of RCC in this study was slightly lower than that of expected.


Author(s):  
S. Senthilkumar ◽  
S. Prathaban ◽  
V. Thanaseelaan ◽  
C. Manivannan

Ten villages of Tirunelveli district were selected purposively for the study wherein NABARD Farmers culb functioning successfully. From each village 50 NABARD Farmers club members were selected by simple random sampling techniques. Thirty percent of the respondents were involved among 500 beneficiaris of the project to study the impact of TANUVAS - mineral mixture on the productive performance. Accordingly, 15 respondents from each village were included for this study and constituted a sample size of 150. Milk sample were collected before supplementation of TANUVAS - mineral mixture and after two weeks period of supplementation of TANUVAS - mineral mixture in dairy cattle. Fat and SNF percentage of samples were analysed in the laboratory and milk yield also estimated. The study concluded that, supplementation with TANUVAS - mineral mixture increased milk yield by one litre, fat percentage increased by 1.77 per cent and SNF increased by 0.77 per cent.


Author(s):  
Poonam Ratwan ◽  
Ajoy Mandal ◽  
Manoj Kumar ◽  
A. K. Chakravarty

Present study was carried out with the aim to determine the effect of genetic and non-genetic factors on milk production efficiency traits and their genetic control. Data on milk production efficiency traits i.e. total milk yield per day of lactation length and total milk yield per day of calving interval in Jersey crossbred animals maintained at organized herd of ICARNational Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal spread over 29 years (1986-2014) were analyzed in the study. The overall least-squares means of total milk yield per day of lactation length and total milk yield per day of calving interval were estimated as 6.97±0.21 and 6.02±0.23 kg/day, respectively. The data was grouped into different sub-classes of season of calving, period of calving, parity and genetic group of animals. The random effect of sire had shown significant (p<0.01) influence on milk production efficiency traits. Various environment factors significantly affected the milk production efficiency traits indicating the scope of improvement in management of these crossbred animals. The heritability estimates of 0.54 for TMY/LL and 0.63 for TMY/CI were high in magnitude which suggests that fast genetic progress can be made, if these animals are selected based on the milk production efficiency traits.


1961 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Mahadevan ◽  
H. J. S. Marples

In the herd of Nganda cattle at the Government Livestock Experiment Station, Entebbe, Uganda, it was found that of the known environmental factors affecting milk production, the more important ones were age (in lactations) and length of the calving interval preceding the second and third lactations. The correlations between performance in different lactations of the same animal were high for lactation milk yield (0·73) and average daily milk yield (0·62) and low for calving interval (0·21) and dry period (0·15). The repeatability of lactation length was intermediate (0·42). The heritability values were around 0·3 for the weight measurements, around 0·2 for yield characteristics and around 0·1 for length of lactation and age at first calving.The sires used in the breeding programme at Entebbe made little impact on production performance in the herd. The estimated genetic improvement in milk yield through selection of dams of cows was also low. It is argued from comparison with results from other parts of the tropics that superior genotypes for milk production are difficult to come by among indigenous cattle in these areas and that we should therefore look for other opportunities and methods to move ahead faster in the future.


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