Some factors associated with poor reproductive performance in smallholder dairy cows: the case of Hai and Meru districts, northern Tanzania

摘要

Anon-farmobservationandquestionnairebasedstudywasconducted,duringtheperiodofJanuarytoMarch2009,toassessthereproductiveperformanceofdairycowsintwosmallholderdairyingdistrictsofnorthernTanzania.Atotalof100(50Merudistrictand50Haidistrict)smallholderdairyfarmsowning1-4pureandcrossbreddairycowswerevisitedandthereproductiveperformanceof191(94Meruand97Hai)dairycowswereanalysed.nbsp;Overall,landholdingsaveraged2.26±1.99(mean±standarddeviation)acres,withanaverageof0.55±0.67acresbeingreservedforpastureproduction.Landholdingandreservedlandforfodderproductionwas,onaverage,higherinHai(2.62and0.65versus1.81and0.45acres)comparedtoMerudistrict(P0.05).Themean(mean±standarddeviation)numberoflactatingcowsperfarmwas1.79±0.87andrangedfrom1to5.Surveyresultsrevealedthat40%ofthesmallholderdairyfarmsreporteddairyingtobetheirmostimportantsourceofhouseholdincome.Otherreportedsourcesofincomewerecropfarming(32%)andofffarmactivitiessuchastrading(12%),employment(9%)andtraditionallivestockkeeping(6%).Perceivedandreporteddairyfarmingconstraintsincludedavailabilityoffeeds(quantityandquality)(81.8%),lackofmoneytobuyfarminputs(77%)andinsufficientland(53.0%).Othersweremilkmarketing(31%),diseases(28%),availabilityofbreedingbulls(27%)andhighcostsofinputs(18%).Thebirthratewas39%andoverallmean(mean±SE)estimatedcalvinginterval(CI)was525±18days.MeanCIwassignificantlyhigherinMeru(530±28)thaninHai(518±22)(P0.05).HypothesizedfactorsassociatedwithlongCIbasedonlogisticregressionmodelswerebodyconditionscore(BSC)andlowbodyweight.Cowswithbodycondition(3BSC)werethreefold(OR=3.8,P=0.048)timesmorelikelytohaveareducedCIandcowswithlowbodyweightwereassociatedwithextendedlongCI(#946;forage=0.01,P=0.044).Despitetheherdsmenhavingextensivedairyingexperienceandcompetencyinheatdetection,theCIwastoolongandpossiblyassociatedwithinadequatefeedingasreflectedbythelowbodyscorecondition(average2.6),lowleveloflandholdinganddailyfreshmatterintakepercowinmostsurveyedfarms.nbsp;Thepresentstudyrevealedthatthereproductiveperformanceofthedairycows,underthesmallholdermanagementconditionsinthetwogivendistricts,wassub-standardwhichpreventedattainingacalfcropeveryyearandexpectedlevelsofmilkproduction.Interventionsshouldincludeaneffectiveextensionservicetoadviseonimproveddairycowandfeedresourcesmanagementtogetherwithappliedresearchintothefactorscausingextendedcalvingintervals.