Status of Dairy Cattle Production in Borena and Guji Zone, Ethiopia

This survey was aimed to ascertain the status of dairy cattle production from selected towns of Borena and Guji Zone, Ethiopia. A purposive survey of households was conducted from selected towns during the study period. Overall mean cattle herd size of the study area was (16.4), and of this (63%) are female. Natural pastures, crop residue, concentrate feed (wheat bran), Non conventional feeds and hay was the major feed sources in the area respectively. About 98.6% of surveyed households use bull as natural sources of services and 1.4% uses Artificial Insemination. Majority of dairy cow owners (77.8%) select best dairy cow from available stock; based on family back ground (79.2%), Breed of animal (61.7%), Physical appearance (38.9%) and Tail length (27.8%). Overall average daily milk yield per cow was 2.08 Litre/day and (55.6%) female are responsible for milking operation. 98.6% of households sell milk informally, with average price ranges from 1.83 to 2.75, 7 to 9.5 and 14.92 to 16 ETB per Liter; ten years back, five years back and at 2014 G.C, respectively. Majority (90.3%) of households use open burn while 9.7% uses traditional free stall type of house. Only 65.3% of farmers; vaccinate their livestock within six months interval. Majority of respondents (68.1%) have interest and potential to buy and adopt dairy technology in the area. And because of feed shortage, lack of training, less access to AI, lack of formal milk market structure and lack of improved forage cultivation practices livestock production in the study area was majorly constrained. Therefore, appropriate technical support and capacity enhancement require instantaneous action.