MAJOR ECONOMIC TRAITS OF CATTLE AND BUFFALO

Prepared By:

Kshtiz Dhakal (Roll No. 01)

Aastha Subedi (Roll No. 02)

Monika Choudhary (Roll No. 03)

Menuka Bhandari (Roll No. 04)

Pratibha Sharma (Roll No. 05)

B.Sc.Ag, 6th Semester

10th Batch IAAS Paklihawa

Status of cattle and buffaloes in Nepal• Cattle/Buffaloes have been raised under farming systems of

Nepal throughout the known history.

• They are the traditional provider of milk, meat, hides,manure, draft power and also the reserve capital for the farmfamilies

• They are mainly raised by the smallholder farmers across allthe physio-graphic agro-ecological zones of the country.

• Due to a key role played by cattle/buffalo in the farmingsystems of the country from the time immemorial to date,interest in these livestock species is ever growing as moresystematic planning is adopted for growth of the country’sagrarian economy.

• A/C MOAD 2012/13 the population of cattle and buffalo inNepal was 7274022 and 5241873 respectively.

• There are 3 main indigenous breeds of buffaloes making upthe buffalo population of Nepal. They are Gaddi, Parkote andLime.

• The Parkote are found in high altitude, Lime in mid the hillsand Gaddi buffaloes in terai.

• Similarly, there are 7 indigenous cattle breeds namely Pahadi,Siri, Acchami, Yak, Terai, Khaila and Lulu.

• Khaila, Lulu and yak are found in high hills, Pahadi, Achchhamiand Siri dominates the hills and mid-hills and Terai cattle arefound in terai.

Economic traits• Selection and judging of the breeding stocks are the first and

foremost steps to start with any breeding programme.

• For this, various phenotypic and behavioral traits are taken intoconsideration.

• From a practical standpoint, traits with a measurable or at leastreadily recognizable economic value are generally to be giventhe most emphasis.

• The economic traits are typically those that affect either theincome obtained or the costs of production.

• Many traits in farm animals are affected by many pairs of genesand there is no sharp distinction among phenotypes but there ismore or less continuous range from one phenotypic expressionto another. These are known as quantitative trait or economictrait.

• Environment has great influence on the expression of mostquantitative traits.

Some of the important traits that need to be included currently for both cattle and buffaloes are listed in Table 1.

Important traits Dairy Cattle/Buffalo Beef Cattle/Buffalo

Production Lactation yield

Lactation period

Persistency of Milk Yield

Concentration of milk solids

Fat content

Efficiency of feed utilization and

conversion into milk

Production lifespan

Body size or weight

Growth rate

Carcass quality

Age and weight at slaughter

Leanness, carcass percentage

Reproduction Age at first calving

Calving interval

Dry period

Age at first collection of semen

Age at first calving

Calving interval

Mothering ability

Scrotal circumference

Health Disease resistance Disease resistance

Management Longevity

Milk let-down

Calving ease

Temperament

Physical

Appearance

Body colour, shape, and dimensions,

udder characteristics, structural

traits and body condition

Body colour, shape, dimensions,

structural traits and body condition

PRODUCTION TRAITS• Traits associated with income are typically called production

traits.

• The sale or home consumption of milk, meat, dung, and skinof the animals and the sale of surplus animals for breedingand meat are the main sources of economic returns of cattleand buffalo farmers.

• In addition, many farmers use themselves or rent out theiranimals for draft purposes, either providing an additionalsource of income or saving the costs of contracting out forthese services.

Traits associated with milk production:

1. Lactation yield The total milk yield in a lactation period is known as lactation

yield. The lactation yield in indigenous breeds is very low compared to

exotic breeds. This is dependent on no. of calving, frequency of milking,

persistency of yield. Normally in dairy cattle 30 - 40 % increase in milk production

from first lactation to maturity is observed. After 3 or 4 lactation the production starts declining. Milk production has medium heritability.

2. Lactation period The length of milk producing period after calving is known as

lactation period. The optimum lactation period is 305 days.

The milk production of dairy animals will be less, if this period isshortened.

Indigenous breeds have less lactation period, but in some breeds thisperiod is more with very little milk production.

3. Persistency of Milk Yield

During lactation period the animal reaches maximum milk yield perday within 2-4 weeks after calving which is called peak yield afterwhich slow decrease in milk yield is observed.

For high level of lactation yield, this peak yield should be maintainedfor longer period as far as possible which is called persistency.

High persistency is necessary to maintain high level of milk production.

4. Concentrations of milk solids

When milk is sold in a formal market, the price paid per kilogram maybe adjusted based on concentration of milk solids.

The milk of buffaloes is priced 1.5 to 2 times than cow milk due to itsgreater concentration of milk solids (17 to 19% versus around 13%)and in certain areas it may be mixed with cow milk to increase thethickness of cow milk and, in turn, improve its market acceptability

5. Fat content Fat content is almost always considered in processing industries, but

payment for protein or solids-not-fat is becoming increasinglycommon.

This trait is 60-65% heritable and hence selection improves theperformance.

6. Efficiency of Feed Utilization and Conversion into Milk The animal which takes in more feed, utilizes it and efficiently converts

it into the milk is considered better during selection.

7. Production life span: It is the total time period for which an animal gives milk in its lifetime.

This trait is 32% heritable.

Traits associated with meat production:

• Killing of cattle species for beef is restricted in Nepal. However,slaughtering of large no. of buffaloes and their consumption is common.

• In contrast to industrialized countries, the sale price is not always basedon formally weighing the animal and paying a certain price per kilogram.Rather, the animal is often priced as a whole.

• Nevertheless, larger animals fetch a higher price, so some measure ofbody weight is of particular importance.

1. Higher growing shortens the fattening period: at slaughtering, with thesame weight, the more conformated animals will get better price.

2. Reaching a mature weight as quickly as possible is advantageous, soweights at different ages, such as weaning, one year-of-age, andslaughter, can be taken to evaluate growth rate.

Weaning weight is 30-35% heritable whereas, feedlot gain andyearling weight is also medium to highly heritable and variation inthese traits is mainly due to environment rather than the additivegenes.

3. Age at slaughter can also be used to account for growth rate; youngeranimals would be favoured.

4. Birth weight is also often considered important for buffaloes, but largelyfor calving difficulty rather than production, so smaller birth weight maybe preferred.

5. Carcass quality traits can be important for some of the countries in theSAP( South Asian Pacific Region), but in most cases this variable is notconsidered in the sale price, so a farmer cannot economically justifyconsidering it in a selection goal.

Traits associated with traction:

1. Animals with long legs, straight barrels and tight skin are generallyassumed to be stronger and thus favoured for draft purposes.

2. The Bos indicus males with large humps and well-developeddewlaps are preferred because of more dissipation of heat due toa larger surface area and more body reserves for drought periods.

3. Beside these measures other dimensions are considered: heightat withers, trunk length, chest girth, evaluation of the size andfront and rear leg-set.

REPRODUCTION TRAITS

• These traits concern calving and birth of the calf.

• The repeatability and heritability of this trait is low and variationwith environment is highly observed.

• Consistent reproduction is important for dairy cattle andbuffaloes because daily yield is highest in the monthsimmediately following parturition and because longer dryperiods (resulting from failure to conceive quickly) result ingreater costs for maintenance without any income.

• Both late age at first calving (AFC) and long intervals betweencalving, especially in Bos indicus cows and riverine buffaloes,have been often cited as constraints to profitability in livestockfarming.

• Besides, for buff animals, the number of offspring produceddetermines the number of animals available for sale.

Table 2:The international calving scale ICAR has 5 values

• The outcome of the calving is influenced by the size of the calf andby the cow aptitude due to her pelvic area and to her capacity toprepare to calve.

• The co-presence of these two biological effects referred to oneevent makes the calving as the output of two traits: birth ease andcalving ease.

• The birth ease is the aptitude to generate calves that can be borneasily; calving ease is the aptitude to generate heifer-calves that cancalve easily.

Code Expression

1 Not assisted

2 Easy with assistance

3 Difficult with pulling

4 Caesarian

5 Still born

Traits associated with reproduction:1. Age at first calving

The age of the animal at first calving is very important for high lifetime production.

The desirable age at first calving in Indian cattle breeds is 3 years, 2years in cross breed cattle and 3 1/2 years in Buffaloes.

Prolonged age at first calving will have high production in the firstlactation, but the life time production will be decreased due to lessno. of calving.

If the age at first calving is below optimum, the calves born are weak,difficulty in calving and less milk production in first lactation.

2. Service period

It is the period between - date of calving and date of successfulconception.

The optimum service period helps the animal to recover from thestress of calving and also to get the reproductive organs back tonormal.

For cattle the optimum service period is 60-90 days.

If the service period is too prolonged the calving interval is alsoprolonged, less no. of calving will be obtained in her life time

And if the service period is too short, the animal will become weakand persistency of milk production is poor due to immediatepregnancy.

3. Dry Period

It is the period from the date of drying (stop of milk production) tonext calving.

A minimum of 2 – 2 ½ months dry period should be allowed tocompensate for growth of fetus.

If the dry period is too short, the animals suffer from stress and in nextlactation, the milk production drops substantially and also gives weakcalves.

On the other hand if the dry period is too long, it may not have thatmuch effect on increasing milk yield in the next lactation, but itdecrease the production in the present lactation.

4. Calving Interval

This is the period between two successive calving.

It is more, profitable to have one calf at yearly interval in cattle and atleast one calf for every 15 months in buffaloes.

If the calving interval is more, the total no. of calvings in her life timewill be decreased and also total life production of milk decrease.

5. Reproductive Efficiency

The reproductive efficiency means the more number of calves duringlife time, so that total life time production is increased.

The reproduction or breeding efficiency is determined by thecombined effect of hereditary and environment.

Reproductive efficiency has generally a low heritability value indicatingthat most of the variations in this trait are due to non-genetic factors.

In adverse environmental conditions, the poor milk producing animalsmay not be much affected compared to high milk yielders.

ANIMAL HEALTH• Animal health is important for a number of reasons.• First, sick animals require costs for treatment.• Healthy animals also tend to produce more meat and milk and

reproduce more regularly.• The climatic conditions of the country can be demanding,

with high temperatures, both extremes in precipitation andhigh risk for disease, so animals that are naturally resistant toproblems associated with these adverse conditions are of highvalue.

Traits associated with animal health:1. Disease Resistance

Indigenous breeds are more resistant to majority of diseasecompared to exotic cattle/buffaloes.

Cross breeding with high yielding exotic breeds will help toproduce high yielding and disease resistant hybrid animals.

MANAGEMENTTraits Associated with management:

1. Increased longevityIncreased longevity of an animal is important for a number ofreasons.

If their animals live longer, farmers can have the opportunityto sell excess animals or expand their herds, both of whichwould increase the potential for income.

Increased longevity also allows for more opportunities forgenetic selection. Because disease often leads to death orculling, the animals that live the longest are often those mostresistant to health problems.

2. Milk let-down For many indigenous cattle breeds, the presence of or

suckling by a calf is necessary to ensure milk let-down.

The milk consumed by the calf can obviously not be sold. But, this maynot result in much waste, in as much as the milk consumed canimprove both the health and growth rate of the calf.

However, selecting for milk let-down without this source ofstimulation would at least allow farmers to choose between selling themilk and feeding it to the calf.

3. Calving difficulty

Calving difficulty can cause losses to both the calf and the cow, so thistrait may be important, especially when crossing with exotic breedswith larger body sizes than indigenous breeds or with known dystociaproblems.

4. Temperament:

Temperament is important in any situation where interaction withhumans is critical, especially when animals are used for draft purposesor when animals must be milked regularly.

So, docile breeds are always preferred to the aggressive ones.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

• ‘Consumers buy with their eyes.’

• Thus, the physical appearance of an animal plays an importantrole in appealing the customers.

Traits associated with physical appearance:1. Body size is important for both Meat and draft purposes. This trait is 25-

35% heritable.

2. Coat colour or traits of the horns may be of importance for traditional orcultural reasons and thus may affect the market value of an animal.

3. Udder traits may be associated with milk production, resistance tomastitis or ease of milking which is effective for selection.

For this development of mammary glands and proper placement ofteats are considered.

Teats placement has 20% heritability.

• Different traits are associated with different breeds.

• The relative importance of these traits will also be different in different areas and is important in determining the final breeding objective.

• However, breeding plans for cattle and buffalo should aim to meet the quantitative and qualitative demands of milk and meat.

• Generally, the indigenous breeds of cattle/buffaloes are hardy in nature, can resist various diseases, climb steep hills and mountains for grazing, better utilize the coarse roughage and thrive well in harsh conditions.

• But, the productivity of native breeds are less as compared to exotic breeds.

• So, there is necessity of employing appropriate breeding strategy for upgrading local breeds with exotic breeds suitable for local production environment.

• However, the indigenous breeds might be in danger of extinction due to injudicious use of crossbreeding program and superiority of cross breed cattle compared to local breeds drawing attention towards keeping those cross bred animals.

• Hence, preservation of germplasm should also be given prime attention.

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