ASSESSMENT OF LACTATION PERFORMANCE AND RELATED CONSTRAINTS OF DAIRY COWS IN WOLKITE UNIVERSITY DAIRY FARM

Abstract

The study was conducted in wolkite university dairy farm, Guraghe zone, SNNPR , Ethiopia with the objectives of assessing the milk yield, lactation length and relate constraints of dairy cows. In the university, there was only one farm and all the dairy cows which have recorded data wereused for the analysis. We used questionnaires to collect data. The primary aims of the farm were,for research purpose, students’ practical study and income generation. The result of the study showed that, 70.83% of farm workers were males and 29.16% of them were females. The total numbers of local and cross breed cattle in the farm is 10 and 50, respectively. Based on the farm record the overall estimated average daily milk yield of cross breed cows is 12.5 liters and 3.5 liters for local cows. The average lactation length based on the farm record was 250 days, for crossbred cows and 175 days for local cows. The major calf rearing practice in the study area was partial suckling for local breed cows and bucket feeding for crossbred cows. Major constraints that reported for limited lactation performance of dairy cattle in the farm wereawareness problem, lack of improved breed, disease prevalence (mostly tick and mastitis), climate change and poor management are 5%, 10% 15%, 30% and 40%, respectively. In general, this study showed that despite the untapped dairy cattle population and climate change for dairy cattle development, the performance of dairy production in the study area was very low due to many constraints. Therefore, coordinated efforts are required to address the constraints