Effects of pre partum supplementation on milk yield, reproduction and milk quality of crossbred dairy cows raised in a peri urban farm of Morogoro town Tanzania

K A Gillah, G C Kifaro* and J Madsen**

Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries, P.O. Box 9152, Dar es Salaam Tanzania
kagillah@yahoo.com
* Sokoine University of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science and Production, P.O. Box 3004, Morogoro Tanzania
** Department of Large Animal Sciences University of Copenhagen, Groennegardsvej 2, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of pre and post-partum concentrate supplementation on milk yield, milk composition and reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cows. Forty eight cows were involved in the study, and were divided into three groups according to concentrate supplementation. The first treatment (HMR-PPP) was fed 4 kg/day home-made ration during pre-and post-partum period. Treatment HMR-PP and MB-PP were fed 4 kg/day home-made ration and maize bran, respectively during the first 24 weeks of lactation. Pasture samples were collected from the grazing area for chemical and digestibility tests. A total of 288 milk samples were collected at monthly intervals and analysed for butter fat, solids not fat and total solid. Days from calving to first insemination (CFSI), calving to conception interval (CCI), number of services per conception (NSC) and calving interval (CI) were calculated based on farm records. General Linear Models were used to analyse the data.  

The overall crude protein (CP), in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD0 percentages of the pasture were 5.7±0.30, 41.9±0.22 and 44.4±0.27, respectively and varied between seasons. The overall mean milk yield was 6.5±0.10 litres/day. Cows supplemented with home-made ration during pre and post-partum had the highest (p<0.05) milk yield followed by post-partum supplemented cows with home-made ration. The overall mean CFSI, CCI, NSC and CI were 96.1±0.02 days, 129.8±6.92days, 1.74 ±0.01and 410.2±0.00 days, respectively. Concentrate supplementation before calving increased milk yield but did not affect milk composition and reproductive performance of lactating cows.  

Key words: concentrate supplementation, milk quality, peri urban

Introduction

In Tanzania dairying is one of the fast growing enterprises in the livestock sector (URT 2006) and is expanding rapidly around urban and peri urban centres. People from different socio-economic and cultural groups are involved in urban and peri urban dairy farming as it provides regular income and food (Kassa 2003) and employment opportunities (Mlozi 2005).  

The urban population in Tanzania is increasing fast and the proportion of people living in urban areas in 2012 was 27 percent (URT 2013). The increase in population creates demand for milk and milk products (Kurwijila 2001). Despite the high demand, good marketing opportunities and high price for milk and milk products, milk yield from crossbred dairy cows is low (Mlozi 2005, Gillah et al 2012). Various factors contribute to the low performance of the dairy cattle in urban and peri urban areas of Tanzania. Among the management factors, poor quality feeds and feeding are the most important limiting factors to dairy cattle production (Urassa et al 1999, Mlay et al 2001). Dairy farmers in urban and peri urban areas depend mostly on natural pasture which has low crude protein and digestibility and cannot meet the minimum requirements for maintenance and milk production (Kavana and Msangi 2005, Mlay et al 2005). Therefore, for dairy cattle dependent on natural pastures, supplementary feeding with additional protein sources is essential especially during the dry season. Supplementary concentrates like cereal brans and oil seed cakes are easily available in urban and peri urban areas of Tanzania (Mlay et al 2005). These can be used to alleviate the problem of inadequate nutrition and boost the productivity of dairy cattle.  

Some attempts have been made in Tanzania to improve milk production and reproduction performance of dairy cows and some authors came up with different findings. For example, Msangi et al (2004) concluded by saying that short-term increases in post-partum supplementation were unlikely to be an attractive means of reducing calving intervals, while Urassa et al (1999) and Mlay et al (2005) had shown non-significant effect of post-partum concentrate supplementation on reproduction but caused considerable improvement in milk yield.  

Proper nutrition in the late stage of pregnancy is very crucial since nutrient demands for foetal growth, body reserve replenishment and initiation of milk synthesis are increased. However, improvement of the late pregnancy feeding is seldom practiced in most production systems in tropical Africa (Sidibé-Anago 2008, Gillah et al 2013). For instance, a study carried out by Mellau et al (2009) in peri urban dairy units of Dar es Salaam reported few (22.9 percent) dairy farmers who dried off their cows at the recommended 60 days but none supplemented dry cows with concentrates in the late stage of pregnancy. Furthermore, dairy farmers hardly use plant protein sources (oil seed cakes) and energy concentrates at the recommended levels (Mlay et al 2005, Gillah et al 2012) because of fearing high prices (Urassa et al 1999). Information on farm feed supplementation during the late stage of pregnancy on milk yield, milk chemical composition, reproduction performance and its cost implication is scarce in Tanzania. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding a formulated concentrate to crossbred dairy cows during the late stage of pregnancy on milk production, reproduction and milk quality.

Materials and methods

Location of the study and herd management

The study was conducted at Kingolwira dairy farm located 20 km east of Morogoro municipality. The dairy farm is one of the medium scale units raising crossbred dairy cows between Zebu and Friesian and Ayrshire. The area receives bimodal rainfall: March –May (wet), July-Oct (dry) and November –February (wet). Artificial insemination service was mostly used for mating and to a lesser extent breeding bulls. Animals were grazed on 5500 ha grazing land of natural pasture and supplemented with hay or maize stovers especially during the dry season. Lactating cows were hand milked twice a day and were given maize bran 4 kg per day during milking time. Farm records were kept and the majority of pregnant cows were dried at two months before calving but were never steamed up. 

Experimental animals and treatments

Dairy cows were pregnancy tested and forty eight pregnant crossbred (Bos taurus x Bos indicus) cows with seven months of pregnancy were used in the study. The cows were equally divided into three treatments and randomly allocated after being balanced for parity and breed. The first treatment (HMR-PPP) was fed 4.0 kg of home-made ration (HMR) per cow per day for an average of 56 days pre partum and the same amount during 24 weeks postpartum. The second group of cows (HMR-PP) was given 4 kg/day HMR after calving (postpartum) for 24 weeks. The home-made ration was composed of maize bran (72.5%), sunflower seed cake (14.5%), cotton seed cake (12.0%), bone meal (0.5%), lime (0.5%) and supplied 150g/kg CP. The third group (MB-PP) was a control group fed 4 kg/day of maize bran for 24 weeks postpartum which supplied 91.9g/kg CP. The control group simulated the farm’s concentrate feeding practice. During pre-partum period, cows in HMR-PPP were given HMR individually, once per day, during the morning before grazing. All experimental cows were identified for ease of record keeping. Apart from supplementation, the experimental animals received similar management practices as the rest of the cows.  

Sample collection, laboratory analysis and derived reproductive performance

Monthly representative pasture samples were collected from the grazing area for chemical and digestibility tests. Milk yield was recorded (litres/cow) in milk record book every day. A total of 288 milk samples (200 ml each) were collected in bottles on monthly intervals for 24 week period, kept in the cool box and thereafter deep frozen in the laboratory at the Animal Science Department of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). Milk samples were analysed for butter fat (BF), solids not fat SNF) and total solids (TS) contents. Milk butterfat percent was determined by Gerber method and Total solids were calculated by using O'Mahony (1988) standard formula (TS =CLR/4+ (1.22 x BF %) + 0.72), where by CLR is the corrected lactometer reading and BF is the butter fat content. The SNF content was estimated by subtracting BF from TS percentages. Pasture and concentrate feed samples were analysed for dry matter, crude protein, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD). In vitro digestibility was conducted according to Tilley and Terry (1963). Days from calving to first insemination/service (CFSI), calving to conception interval (CCI), number of services per conception (NSC) and calving interval (CI) were calculated based on records kept by the farm.  

Cost of concentrate supplementation

The cost and income as a result of concentrate supplementation of using either maize bran alone or home-made formulated ration were analysed. No attempt was made to estimate the overall profitability of the dairy enterprises. 

Data analysis

Data on milk yield, reproductive parameters and milk qualities as a result of pre-and postpartum supplementations of dairy cows were analysed by General Linear Models procedure (SAS 2002). The dependent variables were weekly average milk production for 24 weeks, reproductive parameters (CFSI, CCI, NSC and CI) and milk qualities (BF, SNF, TS) while the fixed variables were breed, parity and supplementation levels (treatments). The initial milk yield during the first week of lactation was used as a covariate. The cost of the supplementary feeds consumed by the cows throughout the feeding trial was computed in order to quantify the net income of the feeding interventions.

Results

Chemical composition and digestibility of the pasture

Table 1 shows the results on chemical composition and in vitro dry matter digestibility of the grazing pasture. The overall crude protein content and digestibility of the pasture were low and varied significantly between wet and dry seasons. Monthly variations in crude protein, in vitro dry matter digestibility and in vitro organic matter digestibility were observed, where by the highest and minimum percentages were found in March and June, respectively (Figure 1).

Average daily milk yield

Results on the effects of concentrate supplementation, breed and parity on daily milk yields are presented in Table 2. Pre-partum supplementation significantly (p<0.05) increased milk yields by 2.3 kg/day as compared to those which received home-made ration during post-partum period and by 4.0 kg/day compared to the control group.  

Breed of cows had no effect on milk yield but there was a tendency for the Friesian crossbreeds to consistently produce more daily milk yield over the entire experimental period and displayed a slightly better lactation curve than Ayrshire crossbred (Figure 2). Cows in the third parity produced more (p<0.05) daily milk yield while cows in second parity produced similar daily milk yield as those in parity four and five.

Milk composition

Supplementation with home-made ration during pre-partum (T1) or post-partum (T2) had similar but higher total solids (TS) than post-partum supplementation with maize bran (T3). There were no significant differences in butter fat and total solids not-fat contents between treatments (Table 3).  

Ayrshire crossbred cows had higher (p=0.32) butter fat and total solids contents than Friesian crossbred cows. Effect of parity was significant (p=0.044) on total solids but had no effect on butter fat and solids non-fat. Total solids decreased from parity 1 up to parity 4 and then increased in parity 5. Butter fat and solids not-fat contents were similar in the different parities.

Reproductive performance

Results shown in Table 4 indicate that reproduction parameters of crossbred cows were not influenced by concentrate supplementation and breeds. However, cows in T2 had a relatively better reproductive performance (except for CI) than cows in T1and T3.

Supplementary feed cost

The cost of home-made formulated ration and maize bran was estimated to be 295.25 and 170.00Tsh/kg, respectively. The additional cost to the farmers for feeding 4 kg of either home-made ration or maize bran per cow per day was calculated to be 1,181.00 and 680.00Tsh, respectively (Table 5).

Table 6 shows the estimated income from milk sales from cows in the three treatment groups. The net income as a result of pre partum home-made ration supplementation of cows in T1 relative to control group (951,497.23 - 506,446.00 = 445,051.23 Tsh) was higher than post-partum supplementation relative to control group (667,945.02 - 506,446.00= 161,499.02 Tsh).

Discussion

The overall crude protein content of the grazing natural pasture was lower than the minimum of 7% CP required for maintenance and milk production. This also, tends to lower feed intake. On overall, the digestibility of the pasture was poor as it has digestible organic matter less than 55% (Meissner et al 2000). The lower digestibility of the natural pasture was due to increasing proportion of stem in respect to the leaves as the plants mature. The implication of the results is that concentrate supplementation of lactating dairy cows that rely on natural pasture as basal diet is necessary for realization of optimum milk yields. The current results on CP, IVDMD and IVOMD were similar to 6.5, 43.0 and 44.1 percent, respectively reported in Tanga peri urban areas of Tanzania (Kavana et al 2007). The similarities could possibly be due to the fact that the two sites are located in the same agro ecological zone. However, the result on pasture CP content was higher than 5.4% CP reported in Dodoma municipal Tanzania communal grazing land (Njau et al 2013). 

The overall mean daily milk yield of 6.5±0.10 litres/day obtained from this study was comparable to 6.54 ± 0.15 litres/day reported for crossbred cows in large scale dairy farm at Debre Zeit dairy herd Ethiopia (Tadesse and Dessie 2003). But, the overall mean milk yield was lower and higher than 8.45±1.23 litres/day (Duguma et al 2011) and 5.7±2.21 litres/day (Lyimo et al 2004), reported in Jimma town Ethiopia and Tanga municipality in Tanzania, respectively. Lactating dairy cows which received home-made concentrate supplementation during pre-and post-partum periods produced more milk yield than those which were fed during lactation period. This is a reflection that dairy cows had accumulated enough body reserves to mobilize for synthesis of milk (Soto et al 2001). The finding is in agreement with Sidibé-Anago (2008). However, according to Keady et al (2001) concentrates supplementation in the late stage of gestation did not alter milk yield. The fact that supplementation with home-made ration during pre or post-partum increased milk yield than supplementation with maize bran alone means that the former had caused higher ammonia levels in the rumen that was available to rumen microbes which in turn were digested in the small intestines for milk production.  

Dairy breed had no effect on milk yield, although Friesian crossbred produced consistently more daily milk yield than Ayrshire crosses. Lack of significant difference in milk yield between the two crossbreds could possibly be caused by having similar blood levels (Mlay et al 2001). The dairy farm had no controlled breeding programme as it used both artificial insemination and bulls. Availability and supply semen of a particular breed is erratic and hence the inseminator might be tempted to use whatever type of semen available to inseminate any cow regardless of its breed. This non-significant effect of breed on milk yield was also reported in Korogwe, Tanga and Kibaha peri urban dairy farms in Tanzania (Bee et al 2006). Contrary to this observation, Tadesse and Dessie (2003) reported breed differences in daily milk yield in which crossbred Friesian x Barca had higher (7.15±0.28 litres/day) milk yield than 6.92 ±0.25 litres/day observed in Friesian x Boran. 

The significant effect of parity on milk yield observed could partly be due to increase in body size, which results in larger mass of digestive system and mammary glands for synthesis of milk (Bath et al 1985). The result is supported by earlier findings by Tadesse and Dessie (2003) and Tadesse et al (2007) who conducted studies in large scale urban and peri urban dairy farms in Addis Ababa.  

The non-significant effect of supplementation on SNF agrees with Mushtaq and Qureshi (2009) who stated that the quality of the ration changes the SNF content of milk to a lesser extent. The fact that milk composition (butter fat and solids not-fat) did not vary with the current levels of concentrate supplementation is supported by Sidibé-Anago (2008). The current result on non-significant effect of supplementation on butter fat content differed to Keady et al (2001) who defended their results by stating that the higher milk fat concentration in cows fed concentrate in late stage of gestation was probably due to greater fat mobilization, as they had a higher condition score. Furthermore, the variations in butter fat content could be attributed to the fact Keady et al (2001) fed their dairy cows higher levels of crude protein of 174g/kg and 218g/kg during pre-and post-partum periods, respectively compared to 150 g/kg CP used in this study. The significant differences in BF and TS contents with breed confirmed the finding that Ayrshire breed produces more concentrated milk than Friesian (O'Mahony 1988). Effect of parity was not significant on butter fat and solids not-fat with exception of total solids (p=0.0437). In the same way, Gurmessa and Melaku (2012) and Mushtaq and Qureshi (2009) did not observe the effect of parity on various milk constituents.  

Pre partum supplementation and breed of dairy cows had no effect on reproductive traits studied. The non-significant effect of breed on reproductive traits is supported by Ahmed (2006) and Hassan and Khan (2013). On the other hand, Keady et al (2001), Soto et al (2001), Msangi et al (2004) and Karikari et al (2008) supported the findings that pre partum supplementation had no effect on reproductive performance of cows.  

The overall mean calving to first service interval of 96.1±0.02 obtained in this study was slightly higher than the ideal interval of  85.6±5.6 days and 87±8.6 days for crossbred dairy cows reported in Asella Ethiopia peri urban dairy farms (Dinka et al 2012) and Tanga Tanzania peri urban dairy units (Lyimo et al 2004), respectively. Nonetheless, the current interval was shorter than the range of 115 - 170 days reported earlier for crossbred dairy cows in Ethiopia (Tadesse et al 2007) and Tanzania (Mwatawala and Kifaro 2009). The relatively lower calving to first service interval in the present study could be attributed to the smaller negative energy balance (Butler and Smith 1989).  

The overall mean calving to conception interval of 129.8±6.9 days is similar to 120 and 123±11 days reported for crossbred dairy cows in Ethiopia (Yifat et al 2009) and Tanga Tanzania (Lyimo et al 2004), respectively. Nevertheless, the interval was shorter than the range of 148±1.72 - 218.5 days reported from various dairy units in East African countries (Tadesse et al 2007, Mwatawala and Kifaro 2009, Lemma and Kebede 2011, Nuraddis et al 2011). The relatively lower calving to conception interval in this study could partly be attributed to fair management and feeding of the lactating dairy cows.  

The overall mean number of services per conception of 1.7 is within the range of 1.6 to 2.6 services per conception reported for crossbred dairy cows kept in urban and peri urban areas of East African cities (Gillah et al 2012). The number of services per conception depends in most cases on the breeding system used (Mwatawala and Kifaro 2009, Lemma and Kebede 2011) and a mean higher than 2 should be considered as poor (Dinka 2012). Taking into consideration the value of 2 services per conception as a bench mark, the results in the present study suggests relatively good insemination services of the herd during the period of study. Nevertheless, Nuraddis et al (2011) reported a value of 1.29 services per conception, less than the minimum value of 1.3 numbers of services per conception (Rahman et al 1998) for crossbred cows in peri urban areas of Gondar town in Ethiopia.  

The overall mean calving interval of 410.2±0.01 days is lower than 433 – 562 days reported for crossbred dairy cows kept in various dairy units in urban and peri urban areas of East African cities (Gillah et al 2012). Likewise, the value is within 365-420 days required for dairy cows to calve down regularly. The relatively short calving interval could be attributed to fairly better management practices especially during the study period.  

The net income obtained as a result of pre-partum home-made ration supplementation was higher than post-partum supplementation with either home-made ration or maize bran. However, the impact of feeding extra days on net income is felt more when the cost of protein sources (seed cakes) is relatively higher. Similarly, some studies reported post-partum supplementation with home-made ration to be cost effective (Mlay et al 2005, Karikari et al 2008). Nevertheless, Mlay et al (2005) gave caution that in case the cost of protein sources is a limiting factor then careful consideration should be done to minimize feed cost at the same time maintaining nutrient and feed intake levels that will support an optimum level of production.

Conclusion

• Feed supplementation with maize bran after calving is common, but the present experiment shows that milk production can be increased and that it is economical to substitute or supplement the maize bran with better concentrate. This of course depends on the prevailing prices. The change in supplementation regime had no effect on reproduction or the composition of the milk. Supplementation of a smaller amount of concentrate distributed both pre- and post-partum increased milk production significantly more than supplementing all the concentrate post-partum.  In most situations the prices on concentrate is low compared to the price on milk and supplementation can be advised. When the prices are high it is recommended to distribute the allocation both pre-and post-partum.

Acknowledgement

We thank the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for funding this study, and the Department of Animal Science and Production of the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) Morogoro for analyzing feed and milk samples. The cooperation rendered to us by Kingolwira dairy farm management team particularly, Mr. Leonard Marandu (Farm manager) and Mr. Nicostratus Magori (Assistant farm manager) is highly appreciated. We also acknowledge the technical support provided by Mr. Yahaya Watuta, Mr. Dominic Alute and A.Haji of the Department of Animal Science and Production laboratory, SUA Morogoro.

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Received 22 November 2013; Accepted 7 December 2013; Published 1 January 2014

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