FACTORS AFFECTING CONCEPTION RATES OF DAIRY CATTLE AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Smallholder dairy farmers (SDF) in Uasin Gishu County work hard to get the best out of their farms, but evidence shows that dairy farming faces many challenges. One of the indicators of poor production and reproduction in a dairy farm is low conception rate of the cows. The study sought to determine animal and farm factors influencing conception rates in cows kept by SDF in Uasin Gishu County. 216 cows in the three agro-ecological zones (AEZ) of Uasin Gishu County were purposively selected and artificially inseminated using semen of the farmer’s choice could be conventional semen (Imported and Kenyan Genetics) or gender sorted semen. The study relied solely on on-farm conditions. Ear tags were used for identification of the selected cows. Pregnancy diagnosis was carried out by trans-rectal palpation at 60-90 days post-insemination. Days open was determined on 116 of the cows that were neither heifers nor animals whose breeding records were absent. Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and interviews of key informants (KI) were held in all the agro-ecological zones and structured questionnaires administered to 423 small holder farmers in a survey. Data collected from the animals was subjected to t-tests to establish the differences within AEZ, breeds, farming systems, and conception status while information from the FGDs and survey were presented descriptively. Mean conception rate for cattle in Uasin Gishu County was 48.2%. Factors that significantly affected conception rate were breed, body condition score and milk yield. Zebu Crosses (74.5%) had significantly higher CRs than that of Friesian (61.1%) and Ayrshire (53.1%). Mean Body condition score 3 had the highest CR of 70.8% and milk yield of above 10 kg per day had the highest CR of 77.6%. The other factors examined in this study; AEZ, parity, age group, AI timing and semen type had no significant influence on the conception rate. The lower highlands had a mean days open (DO) of 206 ± 20 days, which was significantly lower than those of the upper highlands. There was no significant difference of DO across the breeds and among the different production systems. The average DO of 255 ± 17 days of Uasin Gishu County was significantly longer than the recommended 85-110 days. High cost of feeds, poor record-keeping, and inadequate Veterinary services (VS) as gathered from the FGDs and farmers survey, were the most important impediments to high conception rates whereas inadequate veterinary services forced farmers to handle obstetric complications including dystocias, resulting in post-parturient metritis and consequently, prolonged DO. Results of this study show that conception rates are mostly affected by animal and on-farm management factors associated with breed, nutrition and poor record-keeping, and external factors of inadequate veterinary and extension services. It is important that these factors be addressed if the small holder dairy farmers in Uasin Gishu County are to attain the optimum a-calf-per-year-per cow conception rate.