Reproductive and Productive Performance of Crossbred Dairy Cows (Zebu × HF) Under Small and Medium Scale Dairy Farmers Management System in Amanuel Town, Ethiopia

Evaluations of the productive and reproductive performances of crossbred dairy cows were carried out in Amanuel town Ethiopia under small scale and medium scale dairy farms. To collect data from 102 (60 small and 42 medium) dairy scale farms, a cross- sectional 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), days open (DO), calving interval (CI), number of service per conception (NSPC) were utilized as an indicator traits. In addition, lactation milk yield (LMY) and lactation length (LL) were considered as an indicator of the productive performance 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 value of AFS, AFC, DO, CI and NSC were 16.46 ± 0.35 months, 25.43 ± 0.36 months, 81.62 ± 0.26 days, 12.95 ± 0.20 months and 1.81 ± 0.048, respectively and their LL and LMY were 7.49 ± 0.13 months, 1685.95 ± 8.50 litres, respectively. There was significant difference (p<0.1) between small and medium scale dairy farm in AFS and LMY. Managemental differences (shortage of feed, inadequate health care, weak AI service, poor market linkage) are the major limitations for low productivity of both small and medium scale dairy farms in the sample area. Keywords: Crossbred, Reproductive and productive traits, Small and medium scale dairy farms DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-19-07 Publication date:October 31st 201