Reproductive Traits in Culled Native Cows from Three Herds in Huambo Province, Angola

Abstract

A reproductive characterization of culled native cows was performed to three herds in Huambo province, Angola. The study made in June revealed that 54 of all the cows evaluated (331) in the three herds were culled animals (24, 17, and 3 per herd, respectively). Age, body condition (BC), total calving (TC), and calving interval (CI) were determined. General descriptive statistics was performed, and the factor studied was the herd. Age was distributed normally and the herds were compared through ANOVA, and Tukey for multiple comparison of means. The other variables (BC, TC, and CI) were evaluated through the Krustall Wallis method and U-Mann-Whitney statistics. The general age mean was 8.15±1.80, and the medians for BC, TC, and CI were, 2.5, 3.0, and 730.0, respectively. Overall, the results were distant from the optimal values of reproduction. The BC (P <0.05), TC, (P<0.01), and CI (P<0.01) were significantly influenced by the herd. Regardless of the herd effect, the poor utilization of the productive potential was caused by early culling, with insufficient excessively prolonged TC and CI periods, in addition to nutritional problems expressed in low BC.

Keywords

• age of sacrifice
• total birth
• interval of birth
• body condition
• cows slaughtered