Summary:
Swaziland has long had a disparity between the supply and demand of milk. Even at present
milk production continues to be less than the market demand. The quantitative contribution of
smallholder dairy farmers to local milk production remains unknown because of poor record
keeping. This study was aimed at attaining a clear understanding of the dynamics of
smallholder dairying in Swaziland, including the identification and understanding of the
constraints faced by farmers in dairying, with the hope of devising workable solutions to
them.
A sample of 118 smallholder dairy farms were covered in this study, with a total herd of 306
lactating cows, comprising mainly of Jerseys and Holstein Friesians, with some cross breeds.
There were no significant differences in mean milk yield/cow with respect to farmer gender (P
> 0.05) and Agro-ecological zone location (P > 0.05) of the farms. Milking frequency had a
significant effect on milk yield, since cattle milked once a day had lower (P < 0.05) milk yields
than those milked twice a day. The cattle had extensively long calving intervals i.e. 448 ± 166
days, ranging from 292 to 1082 days. Low milk yield and poor reproductive performance of
cattle were found to be mainly due to poor nutrition, breeding practices and stock quality.
These are primarily a result of insufficient farmer training and inadequate technical
assistance, scarce availability of quality stock, lack of investment resources and market
support that includes favourable milk prices for farmers to make money.
This performance of the Swazi smallholder dairy herd was then evaluated by comparing it to
the performance of a larger, well-managed herd of known pedigree. Lactation records from
252 Jersey cows and 108 Holstein Friesian cows were obtained from Cedara Agricultural
Research Institute, covering the periods; July, 2002 to July, 2004 and November, 2002 to
April, 2004, respectively. Cows were grouped by parity and calving season and the gamma
function proposed by Wood (Y = An(b) e(-cn)) was used to fit standard lactation curves on group
data. The curve parameters A and b increased with parity, while that of c and s (persistency
of lactation at peak) decreased, producing standard lactation curves save for the Holstein
Friesian summer calvers, which produced atypical curves. The R(2) values (goodness of fit)
increased with parity. Animal parity and calving season were found to influence the peak and
shape of the lactation curves and their parameter estimates. The performance of the Swazi
smallholder herd showed a mean deviation of the observed daily milk yield of the Holstein
Friesian breed from the expected yield to be - 3.47 (SD 6.052) kg and that of the Jersey
breed was - 16.92 (SD 5.473) kg. The mean proportional deviation of observed milk yield
from the expected yield for the Holstein Friesian breed was - 0.3 (SD 0.37) and that of the
Jersey breed to be - 0.6 (SD 0.19). The proportional milk yield deviation of the Holstein
Friesian breed can be explained using the equation Y = O.1322(SE = 0.1293) x - 2.3581 (SE
= 0.20639), where x = expected milk yield and Y is the proportional deviation of the observed
milk yield deviation from the expected milk yield. With respect to the smallholder Jersey
breed, no relationship was found that could explain the proportional milk yield deviation. The
smallholder herd was shown to be underperforming, considering the potential for higher milk
yields of the two breeds.
In the quest to gain a greater understanding of the dynamics of smallholder dairying, the
sample of 118 farmers was further analysed using multivariate statistics to categorise them
based on their herd sizes, herd structures, management and success perceptions in dairying.
The analysis produced three clusters (categories): cluster 1 had the largest herd sizes and
poor milk production efficiency; cluster 2 had intermediate herd sizes, the highest number of
farmers and more efficient milk production per cow. This cluster, however, had the highest
proportion of calf mortalities. Cluster 3 had the smallest herd size, the lowest calf to cow ratio
and the second highest calf mortality. Record keeping across all clusters was very poor and
the average milk yield per cow was generally low. Most of the farmers do not appreciate the
importance of annual calving of their cows as an integral part of the success of their dairy
projects and winter feed supplementation is very poor across all the clusters. There remains
a great need for the enlightenment of the farmers on the importance of good nutrition,
breeding, calf rearing and record keeping in successful dairying. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/4376 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Malima, Boyce Thabo. |
| Contributors | Nsahlai, Ignatius V. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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