Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia

N'Dama heifers, initially weighing 129 kg at approximately 30 months of age, were supplemented with 250, 500 or 1000g/head/day groundnut cake for 3 or 6 months during the dry or dry and wet seasons. Highly significant improvements in rates of liveweight gain and reproductive performance were obtaine...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tanner, J.C., Little, D.A., Holden, S.J., Dampha, K.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer 1995
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/29749
_version_ 1855516064569360384
author Tanner, J.C.
Little, D.A.
Holden, S.J.
Dampha, K.
author_browse Dampha, K.
Holden, S.J.
Little, D.A.
Tanner, J.C.
author_facet Tanner, J.C.
Little, D.A.
Holden, S.J.
Dampha, K.
author_sort Tanner, J.C.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description N'Dama heifers, initially weighing 129 kg at approximately 30 months of age, were supplemented with 250, 500 or 1000g/head/day groundnut cake for 3 or 6 months during the dry or dry and wet seasons. Highly significant improvements in rates of liveweight gain and reproductive performance were obtained. Supplementation during the dry season only, approximately trebled the proportion of animals calving within 2 years of the begining of the trial (6 vs 20 percent, P<0.05), while this increase was around eight-fold in the animals that continued to receive supplement during the wet season (6 vs 50 percent, P<0.05). Conceptions occured at an over-all mean liveweight of 185 kg, and a "target" liveweight of 200 kg for the first conception of N'Dama heifers is proposed at the basis for husbandry recommendations concerning these animals. It is concluded that such intervention can reduce the usually observed age at first calving of village based N'Dama heifers by 12 months, in a fashion that is both practicable and financially advantageous.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace29749
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 1995
publishDateRange 1995
publishDateSort 1995
publisher Springer
publisherStr Springer
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace297492024-04-25T06:00:21Z Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia Tanner, J.C. Little, D.A. Holden, S.J. Dampha, K. heifers ndama cattle supplementary feeding age at first calving oilseed cakes natural pastures arachis hypogaea N'Dama heifers, initially weighing 129 kg at approximately 30 months of age, were supplemented with 250, 500 or 1000g/head/day groundnut cake for 3 or 6 months during the dry or dry and wet seasons. Highly significant improvements in rates of liveweight gain and reproductive performance were obtained. Supplementation during the dry season only, approximately trebled the proportion of animals calving within 2 years of the begining of the trial (6 vs 20 percent, P<0.05), while this increase was around eight-fold in the animals that continued to receive supplement during the wet season (6 vs 50 percent, P<0.05). Conceptions occured at an over-all mean liveweight of 185 kg, and a "target" liveweight of 200 kg for the first conception of N'Dama heifers is proposed at the basis for husbandry recommendations concerning these animals. It is concluded that such intervention can reduce the usually observed age at first calving of village based N'Dama heifers by 12 months, in a fashion that is both practicable and financially advantageous. 1995-06 2013-06-11T09:24:44Z 2013-06-11T09:24:44Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/29749 en Limited Access Springer Tropical Animal Health and Production;27(2): 113-120
spellingShingle heifers
ndama cattle
supplementary feeding
age at first calving
oilseed cakes
natural pastures
arachis hypogaea
Tanner, J.C.
Little, D.A.
Holden, S.J.
Dampha, K.
Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia
title Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia
title_full Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia
title_fullStr Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia
title_full_unstemmed Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia
title_short Reducing age at first calving in N'Dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in The Gambia
title_sort reducing age at first calving in n dama heifers using groundnut cake as a supplement to grazed natural pasture in the gambia
topic heifers
ndama cattle
supplementary feeding
age at first calving
oilseed cakes
natural pastures
arachis hypogaea
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/29749
work_keys_str_mv AT tannerjc reducingageatfirstcalvinginndamaheifersusinggroundnutcakeasasupplementtograzednaturalpastureinthegambia
AT littleda reducingageatfirstcalvinginndamaheifersusinggroundnutcakeasasupplementtograzednaturalpastureinthegambia
AT holdensj reducingageatfirstcalvinginndamaheifersusinggroundnutcakeasasupplementtograzednaturalpastureinthegambia
AT damphak reducingageatfirstcalvinginndamaheifersusinggroundnutcakeasasupplementtograzednaturalpastureinthegambia