Assessment of productive and reproductive performance of dairy cows in Enderta district and Mekelle city

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess dairy cow performance in rural and urban dairy cow production. 120 dairy cow owners’(60 from each production systems were randomly selected using multistage sampling techniques from February to March 2023. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent t-tests, while the qualitative data were analyzed using problem ranking techniques to understand dairy cow owners' perceptions and recommend appropriate solutions. The mean number of dairy cows per respondents was similar in rural (3.54 heads) and urban dairy cow production (3.69 heads). The dairy cow breeds were crossbred Holstein-Friesian and local breed dairy cow in urban and rural dairy cow production respectively. In rural dairy cow production, 88.3% of the respondents used natural mating while 78.3% of the respondents from urban dairy cow production used artificial insemination. The mean age at first service, age at first calving and calving interval were significantly shorter (p<0.05) in urban (23.3 months, 31.33 months and 12.21 months respectively) than in rural dairy cow production (30.2 months, 39.95 months and 15 months respectively). Mean daily milk yield, total milk yield per lactation and lactation length were significantly higher in urban (9.14 liters, 2193.33 liters and 240 days respectively) than in rural (3.15 liters, 565.93 liters and 156.63 days respectively) dairy cow production. In addition, service per conception and days open were significantly lower in urban (1.4 and 96.21 days) than in rural (2.07 and 180 days) dairy cow production. Feed shortage, animal diseases and shortage of grazing land were ranked as major problems in rural dairy cow production, while feed shortage, access to grazing land and inefficient artificial insemination services were ranked as major problems in urban dairy cow production. In general, this study indicated that better performance of dairy cows had observed in urban than in rural dairy cow production.