Experiences from dairy recording exercise in Wolmera and Ada Liban Weredas

Animal recording is a prerequisite effort to be made in developing livestock production. An organised recording system has been practised in developed countries and is considered as a basis for genetic improvement. However, such practices are not common in developing countries like Ethiopia. Adairy recording project was initiated in early 1996 and stated in 1997 to develop and test a simplified standard dairy recording scheme for smallholder producers in Holetta and Debre-Zeity area. Thirty and 43 farmers from Walmera and Ada-Liban weredas respectively, were selected based on willingness, market oriented milk production, own at least one crossbred cow, basic education to enable him/her record information and with no limit of herd size. The standardised dairy recording formats which consisted milk yield, body wieght, reproduction, feed consumption and health status were tested at the project area with the participation of the selected farmers. From the whole exercise, it was noticed that low level of awareness towards dairy recording was observed at the start of the project. Later on, farmers realised that the recording exercise could help them make better decisions about their dairy farm. Farmers who own less productive and small herd size showed less interest in recording than farmers who owned high productive dairy cows and comparatively large herd size. Farmers were not supplied with adequate feedback information on the records kept due to the limited resource from the project side. The production level of dairy cows as affected by different genetic and management factors in the study area and between herds was highly varied. Despite all the issues that have been encountered, the majority of farmers in the study area are aware of the importance of dairy recording and have started to use the standard formats. However, the prospective opportunities of dairy recording in view of the participating farmers and problems encountered should be discussed, through group meeting, individual interview, and visits of each project farm by group of researchers from different dairy discipline as planned. The final phase of the project may be targeted to evaluate the impacts to plan further activities. The dairy recording exercise, as a basic tool for improving the sub-sector, should be linked to the agricultural extension system for efficient utilisation and sustainablility.