Linking calving intervals to milk production and household nutrition in Kenya

Abstract

Maternal and child under-nutrition resulting in childhood stunting remains prevalent in east Africa, leading to increased disease risk, limiting cognitive development, and impeding human capital accumulation that constrains individuals, communities, and nations from reaching their full potential. In a western Kenyan population with a high prevalence of childhood stunting, frequency of milk consumption has been shown to increase monthly height gain in children, indicating the potential to improve health through livestock productivity. However, calving rates remain low, constraining the availability of milk to the household. Here we model average herd-level calving intervals and its relation to milk yield and nutrition in the context of an agricultural household production model, applying a dynamic panel econometric approach to household level data. We provide evidence that targeted on-farm specialization leads to significantly higher calving rates and shorter calving intervals, which in turn predictably increase milk production. Importantly, we show that the positive link between calving and household milk nutrition is present across households that primarily consume milk produced on-farm ("producer-consumers") and those that predominantly purchase milk ("milk buyers"), indicating that efforts to improve herd fertility in western Kenya could improve food security on a community scale. Keywords Calving intervals. Calving rates. Milk yield. Agricultural household production model JEL codes Q10 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Use of a cow-side oestrus detection test for fertility management in Kenyan smallholder dairy herds.

“…As well as highlighting the requirement to improve herd fertility in Kenya, positive downstream implications in higher milk productivity from improved calving rates have been observed, and direct links from reduced calving intervals to improved household nutrition derived from milk (DeLay et al, 2020), demonstrating the requirement for investment in improved calving rates in smallholder households.…”

Household production and consumption impacts of foot and mouth disease at the Uganda-Tanzania border

“…Households that reported FMD occurrence in their herds likely saw reduced milk production compared to households not reporting FMD occurrence as this is a primary effect of the FMD virus ( 40 ). This could be due to the endemic nature of the disease, or that that we do not delineate between consumers and producer/consumers ( 41 ). This may further be the byproduct of selling limited milk supplies to finance immediate needs within households that primarily sell milk compared to those that primarily consume or purchase milk ( 41 ).…”

“…This could be due to the endemic nature of the disease, or that that we do not delineate between consumers and producer/consumers ( 41 ). This may further be the byproduct of selling limited milk supplies to finance immediate needs within households that primarily sell milk compared to those that primarily consume or purchase milk ( 41 ). Milk cooperatives also have a strong presence in Uganda and ensure the market availability of milk but may simultaneously be affecting household milk consumption or the decision to sell milk, beef, animals, or consume the byproducts ( 42 ).…”

Exploration of production conditions: a step towards the development of a community-based breeding program for Butana cattle

“…However, a shorter lactation length of 6.7 months (201 days) was reported in our study, which is close to the mean lactation length estimates of 202.5 days and 208.6 days under field condition reported for the indigenous Kenana and Fuga cattle, respectively (Musa et al 2006;Ibrahim et al 2015). Calving interval, the time between two consecutive parturitions, is an important aspect of the reproductive efficiency of dairy cows and associated with economics of milk production (Ayalew and Chanie 2018;DeLay et al 2020). The estimate of the calving interval for Butana cattle (13.7 months) in our study is much shorter than those reported for Butana (20.6 months), Kenana (17 months), and Fuga (15.9 months) cows under field conditions (Musa et al 2006;Ibrahim et al 2015).…”