Cow

1. Manger

The manger must be designed in a way to reduce, as much as possible, feed losses and to make it easily transformable, if need be.

In case of local cattle sheds, a manger made of wood, metal or half of barrel is acceptable. Dimensions of a manger are as follows:

– Width: 60-80 cm

– Length equals to the whole width of the cattle shed

– Inside length 10-40cm

– Height from soil level to the manger: 80 cm

– Depth: 20 cm

2.  Feeding

• The cow is herbivorous. It is fed on grass from pastures, fodder crops, agro-industry by-products, or concentrates;
• Fodder crops for cows include: “Tripsacum, Setaria, Pennisetum, Desmodium and Alfalfa
• In case of zero grazing, one cow requires 30-40 Ares of fodder crops , graminae and associated legume plants per cow and per year according to whether fields are in marshland or on hillside;
• While fertilising fodder plantations, apply 10 tons of organic manure and 300 kg of inorganic fertilizer/Ha;
• Fodder must be partly put aside and preserved for bad season in form of silage or hay;
• Additional feed in form of concentrated feed must be provided for pregnant cows as of the seventh month of gestation, and for those in lactation period. This additional feed shall be either individual or collective. If milk production is more than 6 litres/day, just provide 0.5kg of concentrates per additional litre.

4. Production

According to breeding mode, traditional or modern, milk production per local cow and per lactation is 325 to 2,280 l/year

• 180 days of lactation: (traditional breeding): 325 l of milk ( minus calf consumption);
• 300 days of lactation (modern Breeding): 2,280 l, the calf consuming 350 L;
• The output of one slaughtered local breed cow (meat production) is 48 -50% of its total weight.

Production from other breeds available in Rwanda

	Sahiwal	Jersey	Brown Swiss	Friesian Holstein	Jersey Sahiwal Ankolé
Milk production( l) Duration of lactation (days) Output ( meat production)	2300 359 50%	2500 330 45%	4000 330 50%	5000 305 50%	3757 333 50%

Animal health: diseases and control measures

Most common parasitic bovine affections include: gastro-intestinal worms, East Coast Fever, Trypanosomiasis. Cattle infectious diseases include: contagious Bovine peri-pneumonia, contagious smut, foot-and-mouth disease, brucellosis, tuberculosis, and mammary affections.

Note Various actions are taken to protect bovines health: annual general vaccination against smut disease and the Bovine Contagious Peri-pneumonia , anti-tick spray at least once to twice a week , and systematic wormicide treatment twice a year.

Pathologies in bovines and control measures

Affections	Category of animal	Symptoms	Control mesures
1.Worms	Young and adult	– Swollen stomach – stunt growth, diarrhiea, loss of weight, cough, hair standing	– Administer wormicides such as Nilzan twice per year – Practice zero grazing
2.East Cost Fever	Young and adult	High temperature 39.5-41°C, Anorexia , lymph nodes, running nose, breathing problem, swollen eyes	Anti tick spray as prevention measure. Treat affected animals with oxytetracycline or Butalex
3. Anaplasmosis	Young and adult	High temperature, anorexia , loss of weight, anaemia	– Anti tick spray as prevention measure. Treat affected animals with oxytetracycline

 

4. Trypanosomiasis	Young and adult	High temperature39-40°C anorexia, loss of weight	– Tse tse fly control – Administer Samorin, Berenil, Trypamidium
5.Foot and mouth disease	Young and adult	High temperature 40-41°C, mouth ulcer and aphtae at tongue and teat level	– Treatment with disinfectants – Treatment with antibiotics and sulfamides – Practice zero grazing
6. Contagious Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia	Young and adult	Hyperthermia 42°C, secretions running out of nose breathing problem, tachycardia, slow and difficult step, pectoral pains, oedema of dewlap, cough, loss of weight, mortality rate 30-50% of affected animals	– Vaccination – Practice zero grazing
7. Bacterial smut (Anthrax)	Young and adult	Often, sudden death without symptoms Hypertherma 40-41°C, shivering , anorexia , tacchycardia , problems of breathing, cyanosis of muscles, bloody diarrhoea, bloody urine	Vaccination antibiotics Incinerate carcasses
8. Symptomatic smut	Young and adult	High temperature41-42°C, tumors in neck, chest, shoulder, thigh, lymph node tumor.	Vaccination antibiotic treatment
9. Brucellosis (contagious for human being)	Adult	Abortion in the 6th month of gestation, arthritis synovitis, swelling of testicles	Vaccinate with B 19 Slaughter all affected animal
10.Tuberculosis (may infect human being)	Adult	Irregular fiver rise, loss of weight, cough, breathing problems, hypertrophy of lung lymph nodes, Purulent nodules on mammaries and reproduction organs, greenish milk	Slaughter all affected animal
11. mammary inflammation	Adult	Fiver, local pain, mammary glands affected, swelling of teats, milk containing pus.	Ensure milking hygiene Administer antibiotics
12. Piroplasmosis	Adult	High temperature, yellowish urine and swelling	Anti-tick spray, administer berenil

Cattle breeds

In Rwanda, we have the local cow with long horns commonly called ” Ankole” and pure exotic breeds ( Horstein, Brown Swiss, Friesiand and Sahiwal) and cross breeds( made through crossing of the local cow and exotic breeds at various level: F1, F2 and F3).

– Local Ankole

The Ankole cattle are kept in East African countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

The purer Ankole cattle have a medium-long head, a short neck with a deep dewlap and a narrow chest. Although the small-uddered Ankole cows yield meager amounts of milk, milking is an important ritual in some tribes. Bloodletting is a common practice. A few tribes use the cattle for work, none use them for meat. In general the animals are highly prized as status symbols, for ceremonial functions and not for their productivity.

– Horstein- Friesian

Holsteins are most quickly recognized by their distinctive color markings and outstanding milk production. Holsteins are large, stylish animals with color patterns of black and white or red and white.

A healthy Holstein calf weighs 90 pounds or more at birth. A mature Holstein cow weighs about 1500 pounds and stand 58 inches tall at the shoulder. Holstein heifers can be bred at 15 months of age, when they weigh about 800 pounds. It is desirable to have Holstein females calve for the first time between 24 and 27 months of age. Holstein gestation is approximately nine months. While some cows may live considerably longer, the normal productive life of a Holstein is six years.

In Rwanda, pure Holsteins are kept for their dairy production ( around 40 liters per day).

Brown Swiss

Sahiwal

The Sahiwal originated in the dry Punjab region which lies along the Indian-Pakistani border.

Today the Sahiwal is one of the best dairy breeds in India and Pakistan. Due to their heat tolerance and high milk production they have been exported to other Asian countries as well as Africa and the Caribbean.

Their color can range from reddish brown through to the more predominant red, with varying amounts of white on the neck, and the underline. In males the color darkens towards the extremities, such as the head, legs and tail.

It is tick-resistant, heat-tolerant and noted for its high resistance to parasites, both internal and external. Cows average 2270kg of milk during a lactation while suckling a calf and much higher milk yields have been recorded.

– Jersey

Jersey cattle are a small breed of dairy cattle. Originally bred in the Channel Island of Jersey. The breed is popular for the high butterfat content of its milk and the lower maintenance costs attending its lower bodyweight, as well as its genial disposition.

The Jersey cow is quite small ranging from only 400–500 kilograms. The main factor contributing to the popularity of the breed has been their greater economy of production, due to:

• The ability to carry a larger number of effective milking cows per unit area due to lower body weight, hence lower maintenance requirements, and superior grazing ability.
• Calving ease and a relatively lower rate of dystocia, leading to their popularity in crossbreeding with other dairy and even beef breeds to reduce calving related injuries.
• High fertility.

Cow Reproduction

According to the cattle race (improved breed or traditional), fertility rate is 50% to 80%. The first covering takes place at 24 months in a modern breeding and at 36 months for traditional

breeding. One bull is enough to cover 50 cows. Interval between two calvings is 14 to 21 months according to breed type. Reform age of is 10 to 13years.

The gestation lasts for 9 months and you stop milking 2 months before calving.

Artificial insemination is preferred to covering. In Rwanda, available exotic breeds that can be crossed with local race ‘’ Ankole “ for productive crosses include: Jersey. Swiss Brown, Sahiwal, Friesian.

Record Keeping

Record keeping in cattle production is an important practice, because it helps to plan the cattle development and calculate investment, cost and profit of the business.  Patterson, a beef specialist suggested the  10 most important records to keep as follows:

1. Inventory. “Inventory is important because it provides all the numbers needed to calculate benchmark information,” Patterson says. Inventory to track includes:

• Number of cows exposed to bulls, which is important because it is a denominator in many calculations;
• Number of cows at calving time, to determine calving rate per cow exposed; and
• Number of calves weaned, to determine weaning rater per cow exposed.
• Other inventory includes number of cattle sold or dead/and the date; number of head purchased and the date; number of replacement females; and number of bulls.

2. Individual animal identification.

Individual animal ID records should document the calf’s place of origin, date of birth and health, vaccination and BQA treatment records (i.e. what treatments given and when.)

Once you have individual animal information, Patterson points out that a producer can also use that to track production and performance data for making replacement heifer decisions, culling animals that have a history of dysctocia or other problems, and tracking cow herd longevity.

3. Market Weights. Patterson advocates having weights on calves, cows and bulls, at minimum by group, with individual weights being even better.

4. Pregnancy Data. Patterson advises pregnancy checking the herd annually as a record keeping tool. He says, “Consider if 5% of the herd is open. That is costing you to keep those females in the herd. So it makes sense to preg-check and then sort and market the open cattle.”

5. Calving Data. this should include both the calf and dam ID, a calving/dystocia score for making future culling decisions, and the birth date, birth weight, and deaths. Again, this allows for documentation of age and birth origin of the animals in the herd, and the data can also be used as criteria to cull late calvers, says Patterson.

6. Pasture usage. This is a record you may not think of keeping, but it can be a valuable tool for drought management. Patterson suggests documenting when a pasture is used each year, precipitation levels, and the stocking rate. Having this information can help you plan when and how to use pastures the following year and avoid negatively impacting range condition by using pastures at the same time every year. It also gives a record of historical stocking rates.

7. Feed Purchase Records. Given the current BSE situation and ban on particular feedstuffs, Patterson says, “I’d want this in my file. That way if you ever have a BSE incidence you can prove that you didn’t feed high risk materials.” For these records he says to keep dates, supplier and feed tags, and document that the feed was legal at that time. Patterson says to keep past feed records for at least 10 years.

8. Sire Information. Again, this is information all seedstock breeders keep, but commercial producers would do well to track it also. Patterson says by documenting what bulls were with each group of cows producers can better follow genetic goals and who is producing quality progeny, or if ever there is a problem bull, you know who it was.

9. Enterprise costs. To really understand the costs that go into your business, Patterson recommends breaking costs down by enterprise (i.e. cow/calf, feeders, crop or hayland, etc). He says costs such as feed, maintenance, depreciation, interest, labor, etc. should be calculated for each enterprise.

10. Enterprise Revenues. Income for each enterprise should also be tracked. This includes cull cows, bulls, steers, heifers, feed, etc.