Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa?
In European dairy herds lactation curves are conventionally described by a gamma function such as that of Wood (1969). High yields in early lactation mean that more frequent calving leads to increased annual milk production (AMP) per cow. Thus, the optimum calving interval in the UK is 365 days (Esslemont et al, 1985) Studies on smallholder dairy farms in E. Africa (e.g. Omore, 1996; Staal et al., 1997) indicate that a large proportion of high-grade exotic dairy cows display lactations which collapse to a prolonged, but stable profile described by a logarithmic function. Extension services in Kenya recommend that farmers shorten their calving interval (CI) from a current average of 590 days (Staal et al., 1997) to a target of 365 days. Given the absence of high early lactation yields what benefits can be gained from the greater investment required to reduce CI on smallholdings?
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Format: | Conference Paper biblioteca |
Language: | English |
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British Society of Animal Science
1998
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Subjects: | small farms, calving interval, lactation, dairy industry, |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51319 |
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dig-cgspace-10568-513192021-08-09T07:57:21Z Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? Tanner, J.C. McCarthy, N.A. Omore, Amos O. small farms calving interval lactation dairy industry In European dairy herds lactation curves are conventionally described by a gamma function such as that of Wood (1969). High yields in early lactation mean that more frequent calving leads to increased annual milk production (AMP) per cow. Thus, the optimum calving interval in the UK is 365 days (Esslemont et al, 1985) Studies on smallholder dairy farms in E. Africa (e.g. Omore, 1996; Staal et al., 1997) indicate that a large proportion of high-grade exotic dairy cows display lactations which collapse to a prolonged, but stable profile described by a logarithmic function. Extension services in Kenya recommend that farmers shorten their calving interval (CI) from a current average of 590 days (Staal et al., 1997) to a target of 365 days. Given the absence of high early lactation yields what benefits can be gained from the greater investment required to reduce CI on smallholdings? 1998 2014-10-31T06:22:24Z 2014-10-31T06:22:24Z Conference Paper 0 906562 24 4 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51319 en BSAS Occasional Publication Limited Access British Society of Animal Science |
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small farms calving interval lactation dairy industry small farms calving interval lactation dairy industry Tanner, J.C. McCarthy, N.A. Omore, Amos O. Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? |
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In European dairy herds lactation curves are conventionally described by a gamma function such as that of Wood (1969). High yields in early lactation mean that more frequent calving leads to increased annual milk production (AMP) per cow. Thus, the optimum calving interval in the UK is 365 days (Esslemont et al, 1985) Studies on smallholder dairy farms in E. Africa (e.g. Omore, 1996; Staal et al., 1997) indicate that a large proportion of high-grade exotic dairy cows display lactations which collapse to a prolonged, but stable profile described by a logarithmic function. Extension services in Kenya recommend that farmers shorten their calving interval (CI) from a current average of 590 days (Staal et al., 1997) to a target of 365 days. Given the absence of high early lactation yields what benefits can be gained from the greater investment required to reduce CI on smallholdings? |
format |
Conference Paper |
topic_facet |
small farms calving interval lactation dairy industry |
author |
Tanner, J.C. McCarthy, N.A. Omore, Amos O. |
author_facet |
Tanner, J.C. McCarthy, N.A. Omore, Amos O. |
author_sort |
Tanner, J.C. |
title |
Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? |
title_short |
Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? |
title_full |
Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? |
title_fullStr |
Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in East Africa? |
title_sort |
why shorten calving intervals on smallholder dairy farms in east africa? |
publisher |
British Society of Animal Science |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51319 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT tannerjc whyshortencalvingintervalsonsmallholderdairyfarmsineastafrica AT mccarthyna whyshortencalvingintervalsonsmallholderdairyfarmsineastafrica AT omoreamoso whyshortencalvingintervalsonsmallholderdairyfarmsineastafrica |
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1779065317900681216 |