Development of dairy calf rearing strategy for smallholder farmers in Turiani division, Mvomero District -Tanzania
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Date
2006
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Three studies were conducted to characterise and develop appropriate feeding strategy for
the smallholder dairy farmers (SI1DF) in Turiani division that will allow optimal
performance of calves. Study 1 involved participatory group discussions and formal
survey. These were conducted in order to identify the existing rearing systems, constraints
and opportunities for improving calf rearing in the area using the available resources. In
study 2. two least cost calf concentrates, concentrate A (CA) and B (CB) were formulated
and compounded using different feed resources that were available in the area to
supplement the milk fed to calves.
The two concentrates were tested on station by feeding them to 30 Zebu x Exotic
crossbred male calves reared in six different starategies in a factorial arrangement, The
levels were three diets (DI, D2 and D3) x two weaning ages (9 and 12 weeks). Diet 1 was
hay, CA and whole milk. Diet 2 was hay, CB and whole milk, while diet 3 was hay and
whole milk only. The performance of the calves in terms of feed intake, digestibility of
the diets and growth rate were followed from birth to 28 weeks of age. In Study 3, one
strategy among those tested on station was selected by the farmers and tested on their
farms against their common practices. Twenty seven crossbred calves were randomly
allocated to three strategies. Strategy 1 (SI) was that selected by farmers from those
tested on station, which involved feeding CA and wean at 12 weeks. SI was tested against
Strategy two (S2), that was feeding the common dairy cow concentrate of the area and
wean at 12 weeks and Strategy three (S3), that was allowing the fanners to rear their
calves as they normally do without intervention. Feed intake by the calves including milk,
forage and concentrate and growth performance of the calves were followed for 28
weeks.iii
The surveys in study 1 revealed that restricted suckling was the common calf rearing
method practiced by 97% of the interviewed farmers and 80% of let the calves to suckle
milk left in the dam's udder after hand milking (residual milk). The residual milk supplied
only 56 and 41% of the required milk during the first and second month of age.
respectively. Concentrate feeding to calves started late, at the age of 4-6 weeks by 73% of
the respondents. Major identified constraints in calf rearing were labour deficit, poor calf
growth, diseases and low milk production from the dams. Improvement options from the
farmer’s perspective included strategic feeding of calves by combining milk, concentrate
and forage and appropriate management and supervision on the calf rearing. A proposed
intervention was to leave one teat un-milked for the calf to suckle together with the
residual milk and start feeding calf concentrate from the 2nd week of age.
On station study showed that total dry matter intake was significantly higher (P<0.05) for
supplemented than unsupplemented calves at the ages of 9, 12 and 28 weeks.
Supplemented calves had similar concentrate dry matter intake (P>0.05) and significantly
(P<0.05) higher growth rate (0.33 kg) compared to 0.27 kg/day for unsupplemented
calves at 12 weeks. At 28 weeks, the growth rates were 0.29 and 0.31 kg/day for calves
on DI and D2 and were higher (P<0.01) than those of unsupplemented (0.18 kg/day)
counterparts. Early weaning (at 9 weeks) resulted into significantly (P<0.05) lower
growth rates (0.28 and 0.25 kg/day) compared to late weaning (0.34 and 0.28 g/day) at the
age of 12 and 28 weeks, respectively. There were no significant difference (P>0.05) in
dry matter digestibility and nitrogen retention between the two diets (DI and D2) and
weaning ages.iv
The on farm results showed that pre-wcaning growth rate of the calves under SI was 0.4
kg/day and was significantly (P<0.05) higher than 0.35 and 0.32 kg/day for S2 and S3,
respectively. Post weaning growth rates were 0.46. 0.35 and 0.27 kg/day for SI, S2 and
S3, respectively. The weight of the calves in S3 was higher than that recorded during
surveys from the 12th week of age despite having no intervention.
The study concluded that an appropriate strategy for calf rearing for the SI IDF in Turiani
division would be to practice calf teat system, supplemented with CA from 2 weeks of
age and wean al 12 weeks. In this case, forage should be introduced from the 2nd week of
age and post weaned calves fed a mixture of forages and supplemented with 1 kg of CA.
It was also concluded that, researching with farmers have positive impact on the calf
performance.
Description
PhD Thesis
Keywords
Calf performance, Calf rearing practices, Dairy calf rearing strategy, Smallholder farmers, Turiani division