Effects of work on reproductive and productive performance of crossbred dairy cows in the Ethiopian highlands

An investigation was made at the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) into the possibility of using cows in land cultivation as a means of reducing the dependency of smallholder farmers in the Ethiopian highlands on draught oxen power, a resource which is in short supply during the peak of the cultivation season and usually leads to late planting and poor harvest. A total of 32 crossbred cows (1/2 Boran-1/2 Friesian) were used in an experiment to determine whether cows could be used to cultivate an average smallholder farm of 2.5 ha and to assess the effects of work on reproductive and productive performance; 16 served as a control group and were milked but not worked while the other 16 were milked in addition to providing draught power for cultivation. Draught cows were provided with extra feed and consumed 7% and 21% more hay and concentrate respectively than non-draught cows during a two-lactation cycle. After the end of the second lactation there were no significant differences between draught and non-draught animals for milk production (1,713 +/- 57.4 compared with [vs] 1,857 +/- 48.1 kg), lactation length (291 +/- 20.4 vs 277 +/- 18.0 days), calf birth weight (29.6 +/- 1.0 vs 29.3 +/- 1.0 kg), number of days open (77 +/- 14.1 vs 83 +/- 12.9), calving interval (355 +/- 14.5 vs 358 +/- 13.2 days), gestation length (278 +/- 1.6 vs 274 +/- 1.4 days) and number of services per conception (1.21 vs 1.64). The number of hours worked by each pair of crossbred cows was sufficient to cultivate the average smallholder farm of 2.5ha.