Survival Rate of Calves and Assessment Reproductive Performance of Heifers and Cows in Dida Tuyura Ranch, Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia.
Ethiopia, with its 52 million heads of cattle has the largest cattle population in Africa. Cattle production plays an important role in the economies of farmers and pastoralists and the country at large. The agricultural sector in Ethiopia, engaging 80% of the population, contributes 52% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 90% of the foreign exchange. The livestock sub-sector
contributes an estimated 12% total GDP and over 45% to agricultural GDP. Cattle produce a total of 1.5 million tones of milk and 0.331 million tones of meat annually. In addition, 14 million tones
of manure are used annually primarily for fuel, and six million oxen provide the draught power required for the cultivation of cropland in the crop-livestock mixed production system.
The Ethiopian Boran breed originally descended from the first introduction of Zebu into Africa from West Asia. The breed established its presence first in semi-arid and arid pastoral Borana
plateau of southern Ethiopia. The Borana pastoralist community maintains it. Pastoral movements and migrations led to spread of the Ethiopian Boran to the eastern rangelands in Ethiopia as well
as into northern Kenya and southwestern Somalia. The Orma Boran, the Ethiopian Boran, and the Kenya Boran have evolved from these migrations, whereby only the Orma and the Ethiopian Boran
are existing on the Borana plateau.
From the result of this study, it could be concluded that calf survival rate and reproductive performance of Ethiopian Boran cattle are within the range of values reported for other tropical and particularly Ethiopian cattle breeds.
Vet Med Open J. 2019; 4(1): 1-8. doi: 10.17140/VMOJ-4-130
