Abstract:
There was a lack of detailed information of factors affecting the performance of dairy cattle kept in smallholder farms in Temeke municipal. Two approaches were employed to identify factors that affect the productivity and reproductive performance of dairy cattle kept in the study area. The first approach used structured questionnaire which were administered to 84 dairy farmers using a cross sectional survey technique to collect data from 12 villages. The second approach was a longitudinal monitoring where 16 lactating dairy cattle from four streets owned by dairy farmers that filled the questionnaire were monitored for thirty days where feed intakes and milk yield were measured and recorded. Feed samples were collected for quality evaluation. The daily milk yield of lactating cows under cross sectional survey and longitudinal monitoring was 8 litres with range of 4- 13 litres and 9 litres with range of 5-13 litres per cow per day, respectively. The major limitations to improved production identified by farmers were diseases and erratic extension services. The overall percentage of crude protein (CP), calcium (Ca), Phosphorus (P), In vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and Metabolisable energy (ME) contents of mixed forages fed to the animals were 6.38, 0.2, 0.17, 44.77 and 7.14, respectively. IVDMD and ME contents of mixed forages fed to cattle in Mbutu village were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those from Kizani, Kidagaa and Kwachale villages. The overall daily nutrient intakes of ME, CP, Ca and P for a cow weighing 420kgs in the study area were 87.5, 758g, 22.9g, and 18.5g per cow per day, respectively which did not meet the requirement for the production of 12 litres of milk per day. According to NRC (2001) a cow weighing 420kg requires 108 ME, 1357gCP, 46.2gCa and 34gP. Therefore supplementary ration of 20.5ME, 599gCP, 23.3g Ca, and 15.5gP per day will be required to cover the shortfall of 3 litres of milk per day.
