A three- year study was conducted at the Kokstad Research Station to investigate the effect of three lambing seasons, year, sex and birth status on the growth performance of Merino ewe and lambs. Data was collected over 3 years (2017-2019)…
Beef production is a natural possibility in dairy herds through culled cows and rearing bull calves for veal or beef production. This potential is not always exploited fully, probably because of its relatively small contribution to overall farm income. Studies…
The use of browse plants as livestock feed during the dry season can improve deficiency of certain nutrients and sustain livestock production under small-scale farming system. This study was conducted to investigate the seasonal variation of nutrients of four browse…
The present study was conducted in other to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of indigenous pig farmers in Cameroon, as well as the management techniques of their pig herds. A total of 127 indigenous pig farmers were randomly selected from four…
The study evaluated the socio-economic, production parameters and challenges facing Cameroon taurine cattle farmers in ten regions of Cameroon. A single-visit using the multiple-subject survey method was carried out by face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires. A total of 175 farmers…
A common feature of South African agriculture is its dualistic nature showing wide differences in production levels. For the purpose of land redistribution, existing studies do not provide much detail, because they compare smallholders in general, but not the commercially…
Rangeland condition is defined as the state of health of rangeland in terms of species diversity and the potential for producing good quality forage for livestock. However, these rangelands are gradually declining due to poor resource management, land degradation and…
The objective of the study was to identify and quantify available agro-industrial by-products (AIB) that can be used by the resource-poor livestock farmers (RPLF) residing in the three Cape provinces of South Africa; the provinces are the Western Cape, Eastern…
The study was conducted to predict body weight from linear body measurements of indigenous non-descript chickens using principal component analysis (PCA). Linear body measurements for body weight (BW), body length (BoL), back length (BaL), neck length (NL), breast circumference (BrC),…
A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess incidences of lamb mortality in low input farming systems in the Eastern Cape province. Four villages (Ndakana, Kwa-Masele, Qhugqwala and Ndindwa) and 18 households were selected. Data was collected from 399 lambing records…
The possibility of shortening the test length of beef bulls will be of great benefit. Not only will it save costs since collecting feed intake data is expensive, but more animals can be tested, enabling higher selection pressure on efficiency…
Communal cattle farming experience high mortality levels, general low reproduction rates and low calf weaning percentages. This result in a low beef off-take of less than 12% which is much lower in comparison to 25% in the commercial sector. The…
Ticks are widely distributed throughout the world, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Globally, costs associated with ticks and tick-transmitted pathogens in cattle range between US$ 22-30 billion. This study was carried out from April 2016 to March 2017 to…
The study was conducted in Gwaba village, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. The study provides information that can be utilized to track change over time with respect to the livelihood status, livestock asset ownership and the production and…
A study was designed to assess factors affecting response to oestrus synchronization, conception and calving rate of communal cows following timed artificial insemination (AI) in Limpopo province, South Africa. A total of 140 cows were selected from communal villages based…
This study investigated indigenous goat production on Kikuyu at Cedara Research Station, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Three stocking rates were used (30, 45 and 60 goats/ha) to evaluate goat production on kikuyu. Does with kids grazed kikuyu for a total of…
Animal feeds, cafeteria diet, free-choice feeding, ration
Dairy ranching can be defined as the practice of keeping cows of relatively low milk yield, being parted from their calves in the evening, milked out in the morning, and spend the day with their calves at foot. These cows…
Estimation of animal weight is critical in cattle production to assist in herd management and to estimate the value chain prices of the animals. There is a lack of tools for small-scale farmers and stakeholders to readily estimate cattle weight…
The study was conducted in Gwaba village, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. The study provides information that can be utilized to track change over time with respect to the livelihood status, livestock asset ownership and the production and…
