Abstract:
Dairy production in Gondar town is dominated by rearing crossbred cows, but the
productivity of crossbred dairy cows in the town is relatively low because feeding
practices and management systems contribute to poor performances of dairy cattle
owned by farmers. There was a concern that farmers are not aware of the feed quality,
feeding practice, and impact of nutrient imbalances on the performances of animals. This may
induce very high or very poor body conditions which both affect milk yield. The study was
therefore conducted with the general objective of Milk yield performance and its
relationship with body condition score and nutrient intake of crossbred dairy Cows in Gondar
town. A structured questionnaire was employed to generate data from a total of 90 dairy
farms followed by 21 days of monitoring of selected farms. For the monitoring study, 9 farms
and 4 lactating cows from each farm were randomly selected. The common dairy cow feeds
identified in the study area were: pasture, crop residues, agro-industrial by-products, and
non-conventional feed. Based on laboratory analysis, the overall mean of home-mixed
concentrates nutrient contents, was 156.8±18.2 g/kg DM of crude protein, 772.2±56.4 TDN%
/kg DM, 4.7±1.7 g/kg DM calcium, and 6.8±16 g/kg DM of phosphorus were differed
significantly (P<0.05)across the production subsystems. The overall mean nutrient supply per
TDMI per day of milk yield through home-mixed concentrates were 1093.8±376.9 g/kg DMI
of crude protein, 4472.11±1499 TDN g/kg DMI, 37.5±1.7 g/kg DMI calcium, and 38.19±16
g/kg DMI of phosphorus and varied significantly (P<0.05)across the selected farm of the
study area. The monitoring results showed that the average daily milk yield was
13.09±4.05liters/day more than the data got from survey data the average daily milk yield,
10.17±3.43 liters/day obtained from survey data. Moreover, the results showed homemade
feed preparation affected the productivity of cows in the study area and feeding practice
variability based on feed availability and season of the study area. Conclusions were made on
milk yield affected by body condition scores and nutrients available in homemade feed
preparation and to increase dairy cows' milk yields there needs to be an urgent intervention
on feeding system, feed preparation, fodder conservation, and silage making for a dairy cow
in the study area
