Reproductive performance and herd growth potentials of cattle in the Borana pastoral system, southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The pastoral communities in the Borana rangelands of southern Ethiopia mainly rely on cattle (Bos indicus) for their livelihoods. The reproductive performance of cattle is affected by environmental variability and mobility practices that affect fodder availability. This study was conducted to investigate the reproductive performances and herd growth potentials of cattle reared in three ecologically varied zones of Golbo, Malbe and Dirre in the Borana rangelands with different levels of mobility constraints. Using the progeny history technique we gathered life histories of 95, 44, and 138 breeding females and their 411, 203, and 448 calves from the pastoral zones of Golbo, Malbe and Dirre, respectively. The average number of breeding females per household showed a declining trend over the past 10 years. The age at first calving was 53 ± 1 (mean ± s.e.), 52 ± 2 and 56 ± 1 months for the cows from Golbo, Malbe and Dirre, respectively. The mean calving interval was 18. ± 0 for Golbo, 17 ± 0 for Malbe and 19 ± 0 for Dirre. The average number of calves per cow was 3.8 ± 0.1 and was highest in Golbo. Dirre had the lowest calving rate and higher calf mortality than Malbe and Golbo. A simulation of herd growth showed that in Golbo and Malbe the average number of females were 100% higher after 20 years than in Dirre. It is concluded that reduced pastoral mobility that affected resource access across ecological zones can compromise the reproductive performance and hence the growth potential of cattle populations. These findings underscore the importance of policy frameworks such as those by the African Union that call for upholding of pastoral land rights and enabling of mobility practices.

Responding to mobility constraints: Recent shifts in resource use practices and herding strategies in the Borana pastoral system, southern Ethiopia

“…Currently three aspects in the Borana pastoral production context e settlement density, concentration of livestock around settlements and increased year round use areas e are likely to contribute to reduced feed availability and resource degradation. It has been shown that the cattle reared in the Dirre zone of the Borana rangelands with lowest mobility have significantly lower reproductive performances and reduced lifetime performance (Wario et al 2015b).…”

Reproductive Performance of Beef Cattle Raised Under SPR Program in Tegal Regency

“…Several studies have reported that the parameters of the S/C at the smallholder in Indonesia more than 12 months (Agus and Widi, 2018;Priyanti et al, 2015;Rohyan et al, 2016). Some factors that can cause the length of CI include; production system (Gebrekidan et al, 2016), lack of feed availability in the dry period phase (Wario et al, 2017), the length of postpartum estrus (Manzi et al, 2018), number of services per conception (Vinothraj et al, 2016).…”