Carcass and Meat Characteristics of Bulls from Arsi, Boran, Harar and Holstein Frisian Crosses Cattle Breeds Finished under Similar Level of Concentrate Supplementation

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of age and breeds (Arsi, Borana, HF-Cross and Harar) on carcass and meat characteristics of bulls finished under similar feeding conditions. The feeding experiment was conducted for 90 days at Beef farm of Haramaya University. In this experiment, 24 bulls were fed with roughage (60%) which contained grass hay and wheat straw and concentrate (40%) which contained wheat bran, noug (gucia abysica) cake, maize grain, limestone, salt and ruminant premix. The bulls were transported to Bishoftu ELFORA export abattoir for slaughter following the procedure of the abattoir. The result of the study revealed that the average slaughter weight, hot carcass weight, cold carcass weight, shrink loss, commercial dressing and true dressing percentage were 179.1 kg, 86.8 kg, 82.7 kg 4.7%, 48.8% and 78.3%, respectively. Total edible and nonedible offal were significantly (P < 0.01) influenced by breed and age. Pelvic fat was significantly (P < 0.01) influenced by breeds. Meat yield percentages of Arsi, Boran, Harar, and HF-crossbred were 78.1%, 77%, 72.8% and 77.2% respectively. Meat yield was predicted from fat thickness and ribeye area with 61% accuracy. Arsi bulls attained the highest (78%) meat yield at early age but decreased by 0.713 rate as age of animals advanced by one digit whereas the meat yield from other breeds showed increment in meat yield percentage with the rate of 1.98, 1.1 and 0.1 for cross, Borana and Harar breed bulls, respectively as age advanced. Yield from fore shank, sirloin, top and bottom sirloin primal cuts were affected by breed. Arsi breed had higher meat bone ration than cross breed. Retailed meat yield was significantly (P < 0.001) predicted from rib area and subcutaneous fat thickness (P < 0.001) with a coefficient of determination 61%, from live animal trait and primal cuts with a coefficient of determination 89.56% and 94.78% respectively. Arsi bulls can be used for beef purpose at 2 - 3 years, as the meat percentage decreases thereafter;while bulls from Boran, cross breed and Harar breeds can be used up to 5 years of age. Meat to bone ratio indicated that HF-Crossbred was less appropriate for beef purpose than other breed bulls in this study. The rate of pH decline was not influence (P > 0.05) by age and breed in the current study.

Carcass Traits, Meat Yield and Primal Meat Cuts from Arsi, Harar, Ogaden and F1 Jersey*Horro Crossbred Bulls Fed Corn Silage Based Similar Finishing Diet

This study was conducted with the objective to determine carcass traits, meat yield, and primal meat cuts of Arsi, Harar, Jersey*Horro crossbred, and Ogaden cattle breeds at Haramaya University, Ethiopia. A total of 12 bulls of four cattle breeds (3 Arsi, 3 Harar, 3 F1 Jersey*Horro crossbred and 3 Ogaden) with almost similar ages were randomly assigned to four treatments in a completely randomised design (CRD). Data on carcass traits, meat yield, and primal meat cuts were analyzed using the General Linear Model (GLM) of the Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) 9.4 version. The overall averages of live body weight, hot carcass weight, chilled carcass weight, dressing percentages based on hot carcass weight, and rib eye area of experimental cattle breeds were 215.58 kg, 102.93 kg, 99.56 kg, 47.61%, and 8.13 inch2, respectively. The hot carcass weight and chilled carcass weight of the Ogaden (136.57;133.30 kg, resp.) breed were higher (p < 0.01) compared to other experimental cattle breeds. Dressing percentages based on hot carcass weight were higher (p < 0.05) for the Ogaden (49.61%) and Arsi (49.82%) cattle breeds compared to Harar and Jersey*Horro crossbred (45.73%, 45.27%, resp.) cattle breeds. The average meat yield and proportion of meat yield of cattle breeds were 77.52 kg and 77.46%, respectively. With a linear regression coefficient of prediction (R2) ranging from 52.26% to 93.58%, primal meat cuts significantly (p dicted meat yield. In conclusion, the breed of cattle had a significant (p 0.05) influence on live body weight, hot and chilled carcass weight, dressing percentage, rib eye area, subcutaneous fat thickness, meat yield, and the weights of most primal meat cuts. The Ogaden cattle breed had a higher and better meat yield, carcass traits, and most primal meat cuts compared to other experimental cattle breeds. Furthermore, the inclusion of corn silage in the diet of fattening bulls improved the carcass and meat yield. Therefore, the performance of Ogaden cattle compared to other and previous studies suggests the possibility of using this breed for export purposes in addition to Borana and Harar cattle breeds in the future.

Growth Performance of Arsi, Borana, Harar and HF-Crossbred Bulls Finished under Similar Feeding Condition

The study was conducted to evaluate the fattening performance of Arsi, Borana, Harar and Holstein Friesian crossbred bulls finished under a similar feeding condition at the beef farm in Haramaya University. The average daily weight gain of the four breeds ranges from 0.49 to 0.71 kg. Feed conversion efficiency also ranges from 0.11 - 0.15. Simple linear regression models were used to explore the relationship between live body weight change and change in body condition score as well as seven linear body measurements for all age groups. An average change for a unite of body condition score was equivalent to 20.3, 20.61, 22.42 and 27.78 kg for Borana, Arsi, Harar and Holstein Friesian crossbred bulls respectively. Body condition score was significantly influenced by breeds. There was a significant breed by age interaction effect on the initial body condition score of the four breeds. There was a significant and positive strong association between change in body weight and body condition score. There was a significant and strong correlation between change in body weight and change in Total topline, neck length, heart girth, flank circumference and rump length having correlation coefficients ranges from 0.57 to 0.97. A higher net profit of 7380.47 ETB per head was recorded by Borana bulls followed by Harar bulls, Arsi and Holstein Friesian crossbred with net profit of 5406.86, 5193.29 and 3384.98 ETB per head respectively. Borana bulls are more superior in weight gain and net profit. Bodyweight change could be predicted based on body condition score change during the fattening period.

Milk Production Performance, Challenges and Opportunities of Dairy Cattle Production in West Hararghe, Oromiya Regional State

The study was conducted in West Hararge Zone Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia with the objective to describing the dairy production and reproduction performance, identifying and prioritizing researchable issues which make an impact on the development of dairy sector, identifying factors influencing dairy production, constraints and opportunities and forwarding suggestions for the development of dairy sector. Two districts from midland and lowland agroecology were purposively selected. Moreover, two kebeles were also selected purposively from each district based on dairy cattle population and accessibility. A total of 120 households were selected for survey data collection from the three agroecologies. For the monitoring study, 4 lactating cows in each lactation stage for each rural kebeles as well as for each breed were used. A total of 112 lactating cows were used. The result of the study indicates that the majority (85.8%) of respondents use local breed cow for milk production and the remaining 14.2% of respondents are used cross breed. Average daily milk production was 2.98 litters/day/cow and the average price of one liter milk in the study area at the study period was 23.63 birr. There was a significant difference between the two breeds on the mean age at first calving. Local zebu cow has significantly (P < 0.05) higher mean age at first calving 46.73 ± 0.30 than cross breed cows 31.41 ± 0.53 at the study area. Cross breed cows had significantly shorter (14.44 ± 0.43) months of CI than that of local zebu cow (16.02 ± 0.29). Majority of the respondents ranked feed shortage as the first constraint and also mastitis as the first economically important disease problem.

Contribution of Livestock Production to Global Greenhouse Gas Emission and Mitigation Strategies

Understanding the interaction of livestock production and climate change is currently the main issue in global warming.This paper reviews the contribution of livestock production in greenhouse gas emission and its mitigation strategies.The potential contribution of individual large ruminants are 200-500 litters of methane per day while small ruminants produces 20-40 litters of methane per day.The major greenhouse gas related to livestock production are methane and nitrous oxide which contribute approximately about 14.5%global GHG emissions.Limiting emissions from livestock,without compromising food security,is an important limit greenhouse gas emissions.The main choices for reducing greenhouse gas emission in livestock production are more related to improving animal production.Mitigating emission of CH4 by means of improved management of biogas and manure,reducing CH4 emission from enteric fermentation through improved efficiency and diet,husbandry as well as genetic management are some of strategies used in mitigating enteric emission of methane from livestock.The other one is mitigating emission of nitrous oxide through more efficient use of nitrous fertilizer,proper manure management and by using different feed additives.