Assessment of feeding adaptative strategies used by dairy farmers in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria

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Date

2017

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Faculty of Science, Bayero University, Kano

Abstract

This study focused on the assessment of dry season cattle feeding adaptation strategies by dairy farmers in Edu local government area of Kwara state, Nigeria. Two hundred dairy farmers were purposively selected for this study in the three agricultural districts (Lafiagi, Shonga and Tsaragi) of Edu local government areas based on predominance of cattle production, in 2016. Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire to elicit information on respondents’ socioeconomics characteristics, health challenges of cattle, the effects of the nutritional challenges and seasonal pattern of feeding cattle during the dry season. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage and mean score. Result shows the farmers’ age number of children and herd size were 40.2 years, 6.0 children and 45 cattle heads, respectively. Majority (70%) had tertiary education and 50.0% kept White Fulani breed. The study also reveals that daily milk output during the rainy season (500 litres) were more than the dry season daily output (300 litres from a total of two hundred animals. Health issues including inflammation of teat and udder (50%), loss of weight (12.5%), reduction in milk production(25%) and sudden death(12.5%) are examples of secondary effects of dry season nutritional challenges. The study recommends the promotion of enlightenment programmes that will adequately expose dairy farmers to improve and adaptable dry season feeding strategies.

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Keywords

Milk production, Dairy farmers, Adaptive feeding, Kwara state

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