Productive and reproductive performance and management practices of crossbreed dairy cows at jimma college of agriculture and veterinary medicine dairy farm, Ethiopia

The aim of this study was to investigate management system and productive and reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cows reared at Jimma College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine dairy farm. The main focus was on identification of reproductive and milk yield performance of crossbred dairy cows including age at first calving, calving-interval, days open, daily and total lactation milk yield, mortality, general management and major constraints to milk production. The study was based on data compiled for 10 years (1996-2005). A total of 63 records out of which 45 data records were used to evaluate reproductive performances. All considered performance traits (age at first calving, calving interval, days open till conception, daily and total lactation yield and lactation length) were analyzed. For the estimation of days open till conception, records with no service date were excluded. Results from the study show that average age at first calving, calving interval and days open till conception were 46.8±1.9, 15.6±0.6 and 6.65±0.11 months, respectively. The mean daily and lactation milk yield were 5.6±0.8 and 1748.9±228.9 litres per cow, respectively. The average lactation length was 302 days. The major sources of feed were natural pasture, green feed, hay, silage, commercial and on farm formulated concentrate, agro-industrial by-products and milling by-products. Cows are hand milked with twice milking frequency a day. Mortality rate of calves over ten years was 34.26%. The major constraints were feed shortage, disease and parasites, low milk yield of cows, lack of artificial insemination and lack of adequate budget. Prospects for improvement of the performance of the farm include improved management in terms of feeding, disease and parasite control, proper breeding management, improved genotypes and artificial insemination services, as well as allocation of adequate budget.