Performance of Mahintha chinthan's dairy village cattle breeds compare to local cattle breeds in Batticaloa district

Abstract

Dairy sector is the most important of all livestock sub sectors and it has great impact on the rural economy. The domestic milk production only constitutes about 26 percent of the country's requirement. A field survey was conducted to find out the performance of Mahintha Chinthana's dairy village cattle breeds compare to local cattle breeds in Batticaloa District Hundred and fifty dairy village farmers were selected from IS dairy villages in the Batticaloa district. Data were collected through a pre-tested structured questionnaire on socio economic condition, details of dairy cattle, management practices, problems faced by the dairy farmers and extension services. Fifty six percent of the dairy village farmers were small holders and 35% were medium size holders. Almost 42% of the respondents practiced fully intensive rearing system while 39% were adopting tethering system for improved cattle breeds; in case of local breeds those were 5% and 29% respectively. But 62% were adopting semi intensive system. Enough concentrates were given for improved breeds and local breeds were only 49% and 5% respectively. Average milk production was 1.29 1/animal/day from improved breeds and 4.25 1/animal/day from local breeds. Nearly 12% of the farmers have been newly adopted to pasture and fodder production. Constraints reported by the farmers were high cost for concentrate feeds, low price for milk, lack of grasses and grass land, and lack of credit facilities. The study concluded that the management systems were very poor for Mahintha Chinthana's improved breeds in some aspects such as rearing system and feeding practices. The Mahintha Chinthana's improved cattle breeds would perform better if the management aspects could be improved.