Reproductive and milk production performance of White Fulani and Red Fulani cows in traditional small scale farms in the Northern Region of Cameroon

Abstract

The present study was carried out on 150 White Fulani (WF) and Red Fulani (RF) zebu cows of small traditional farms in the North region of Cameroon in order to determine their reproductive performance and dairy production. Reproductive performance was assessed by determining the age at first calving and calving interval. Dairy production performance was assessed by obtaining the daily quantity of milk produced by manual milking. The mean age at first calving was 3.59 ± 0.49 years and the calving interval was 1.27 ± 0.33 years. Only teat placement and cow weight had a significant influence on age at first calving while the calving interval was significantly longer in WF cows but short in heavy cows (> 350 kg). The average quantity of milk produced was 1.89 ± 0.59 liters/day and only the width of the ischium had a significant influence on this production.

Keywords

• Cow zebu
• calving
• milk
• traditional husbandry
• North Cameroon