Abstract:
The study was conducted with the aim of assessing the husbandry practices, reproductive and productive performances of crossbred dairy cows in urban and peri-urban areas of Debre Tabor town, Amhara region, Ethiopia. The study had two parts survey and monitoring study. A total of 180 respondents which had crossbred dairy cows were selected for the survey study. The survey sample included 180 individuals who owned crossbred dairy cows. A total of 28 dairy producers participated in the monitoring study, and 40 crossbred dairy cows (20 cows from urban and 20 cows from peri-urban) with various genotypes (25%, 50%, 75%, and >75%) and parity were purposefully selected. The findings revealed that high cost of feed, shortage of animal feed, and water scarcity were the main problems in the area. Natural mating and AI service were practiced in the study area. Financial constraint and low milk yield were the major reason why farmers culled their dairy animal. Average ages at first service of crossbred dairy cows in urban and per-urban were 20.28±4.35and 26.05±8.85 months, respectively. The mean number of services per conception of crossbred dairy cows in urban and per-urban was 1.54±0.54 and 1.85±1.05, respectively. The average days open of crossbreed dairy cows in urban and per-urban were 154.02±65.33 and 218.22±82.74 days and the average calving intervals in the urban and per-urban were 14.80±3.25 and 18.83±5.27months, respectively.The monitoring results showed that, average daily milk yield for 25%, 50%, 75% and >75%, genotypes of crossbred dairy cows in urban were 5.85 ± 2.15, 9.55 ± 3.32, 10.32± 3.50 and 13.05 ±3.70 liters per day with an overall 10.14 ± 3.96 liters of milk per day per cows. In per-urban area the average daily milk yield for 25%, 50%, 75% and >75% were 4.14 ± 1.29, 7.27± 2.63, 7.74 ± 3.19 and 9.95± 3.56 liters per day with an overall 7.10±3.44 liters of milk per day per cows. The overall average lactation lengths of crossbred dairy cows in urban and per-urban were 294.66±54.63 and 277.00±59.50 days, respectively with overall 285.83±57.64 days. It is concluded that the crossbred cows' reproductive performance is longer, and the milk yield also does not match to their milking potential. Therefore, it is recommended that crossbred dairy cows' reproductive and productive performances be improved by improving the overall husbandry practices.