Abstract

Nigusu Fekade and Yoseph Mekasha

The study was conducted at Adama milk shed, Oromia regional state of Ethiopia, in March 1-30, 2012. The objective of the study was; to evaluate milk production and reproductive performances of crossbred dairy cows in urban and secondary town dairy production systems. A total of 145 farms having crossbreed cows, 62 from urban farms and 83 from secondary town farms were considered. Total herd size, number of milking cows in the farm and the specialized inputs that farms use, were used to stratify farms into small (less than 3), medium (3 to 10) and large farms (more than 10 cattle). Farm owners were interviewed using structured questionnaires. The results indicated overall mean daily milk yield (14.1±4.3L) and lactation length (10.9±0.1months). While, age at first mating, age at first calving, calving interval and days open were 20.4±0.3 months, 30.7±0.3months, 13.6±0.1months, and 101.6±2.3days, respectively. Mean daily milk yield was significantly (P< 0.001) varied between production systems, genotype, herd size and parity. Moreover, genotype exerted significant (P< 0.001) effect on the respective reproductive parameters. Further improvement of routine management activities and applying breed improvement strategies could be addressed to exploit the optimum level of milk production and reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cows.