Characteristics of production system of Australian Brahman under Uthai Thani small farm conditions
1996
Sornthep Tumwasorn | Wallop Nakphum | Kanchana Markvichitr (Kasetsart Univ., Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Dept. of Animal Science)
Production system of Australian Brahman cattle was studied from 3 districts of Uthai Thani province for the farmers' structure and cows' performance. It was found that farmers keep animals as supplementary income of the household with minimal input on concentrate and pasture production. Inspite of the larger area of arable land per household, cattle were raised in a large group and graze in the natural grassland throughout the dry season. Majority of farmers had at least 5 years of cattle production under conventional production system of Uthai Thani province. Eighty four percent of farmers involved in the project finished less than grade 7 and were in the range of 25 to 55 years old. After the modification of project in 1994 more than 90 percent of farm size was found to be less than 15 heads of cattle. Farmers still joined the project simply because they love cattle (82 percent) other than low crop production. American Brahman was the breed of cattle that farmers favored most with only 10 percent each preferred Charolais and Simmental breeds. Farmers tended to preferred having both artificial and natural breeding with 70 percent of breeding service was employed by the project staffs. The overall conception rate was found to be 74 percent per year from the analysis of 230 beef cows exposed to breeding service. The results of the study showed great adaptability of Australian Brahman cows that the calving interval of these cattle was reduced from 524 days to 382 days in the second and the third calves. Future production of Australian Brahman cow under Uthai Thani province should not have serious difficulties especially after the delivery of their second calves.
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