On-farm Phenotypic Characterization of Ogaden Cattle Breed in Gode District of Somali Regional State in Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Gode District in Somali regional state in Ethiopia to describe phenotypic characterization of the breed on its natural production environment. The interview was addressed to 126 households who keep cattle for multi-purposes. Data on qualitative and quantitative traits collected from 612 cattle for five-month. The majority of body conformation of the breed indicated that the females were dairy type while males were beef type. The major coat color was white for female but white-black shade for male population. Female population has small erect hump largely positioned cervico-thoracic whilst males have medium to large erect hump positioned thoracic. The mean height at wither, heart girth, flank girth and the body length for female were 112.66 cm, 161.20 cm, 162.10 cm and 121.28 cm, respectively while as for male were 123.18 cm, 170.91 cm, 169.20 cm and 125.16 cm, respectively. The mean daily milk yield in the study area was 2.72 kg. The mean age at calving was 53.39 months having good mothering feature. The mean age at which the males were allowed to mate was 54.87 months. Based on the findings, it was concluded that distinct phenotypic characteristics can be observed among individuals of different sex within the breed on its natural production environment. Also, the breed has distinct phenotypic characteristics with a better on-farm performance compared to some other east African zebu type