Studies on milk production and growth of friesian x Bunaji crosses: II. Growth to yearling age

Abstract

SummaryThe data analysed consisted of body weight records at birth, and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age of 549 half Friesian x Bunaii crossbred heifers collected over a twenty-five year period . Least squares means ± s.e. of body veights at birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age were 26.7 ± 1.3, 72.4 ± 4.5, 112.9 ± 6.9, 147.2 ± 9.2 and 182.1 ± 11.1 .g, respectively. Year of birth was highly significant (p < 0.01) in affecting body weights at all ages, while the effect of nonth of birth was not Seasonal influence on birth weight and body weights at 3 and 6 months of age was significant (p (0.05). Phenotypic correlations between body weights at all ages were positive and highly significant (p < 0.01), anging from 0.30 to 0.79. The results of this study showed that the beneficial effect of crossbreeding Friesian with sunaii cattle was reflected in the growth performance of the F 1 crosses, since they grew faster than the indigenous Bunaii rom birth to yearling age. The study also indicated that heifer selection for yearling body weight can be done early on he basis of weights at 3 and 6 months of age.

Comparative study of milk compositions of cattle, sheep and goats in Nigeria

“…The newborn calves, lambs and kids were allowed to suckle their dams for approximately 1 week to ensure they got all the colostrum and thereafter, the milk samples were collected. Ehoche and Buvanendran (1983) and Malau‐Aduli et al . (1996a,b) have described the animal management practices in NAPRI, and in the laboratory, standard procedures adopted by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (1993) were followed in the determination of the percentages of total solids (TS), solids‐not‐fat (SNF), fat (Gerber's method) and protein (Kjeldahl's method).…”

Effect of Year of Calving on the Reproductive Performance of Holstein Friesian Cows in Vom Plateau State Nigeria

“…This production has been found to be inadequate to satisfy the dairy demands of Nigerians [7]. This is because the genotype of the African breeds of cattle can only produce an average milk of 1.27 litres per cow per day during the wet season and less than 0.36 litres during the dry season [8], whereas their counterparts in the European and American produce an average of 25 litres per day [9]. Consequently, protein deficiencies become a common phenomenon in Nigeria, especially among the poor segment of the society, which constituted majority of the populace [10].…”

Socio-cultural, Herd Structure and Reproductive Practices of Pastoral Cattle Producers in Adamawa State, Nigeria

“…The reproductive performances of a herd have been shown to be one of the most important starting points in any animal production package (Mukasa-Mugerwa et al, 1992). Malau-Aduli et al (1993) and Mukasa-Mugerwa et al (1992), defined fertility as the ability of male and female animals to produce viable germ cells, mate, conceive and deliver normal living young ones. Thus, the lifetime productivity of a cow is influenced by age at puberty, age at first calving, calving interval and number of services per conception and calving to conception interval.…”