Browsing: Brachiaria

African cows milk capability.

African cows milk capability:

On average, dairy cows in Africa produces an estimated 540 litres of milk per lactation, by contrast, their cousins in the US produce up to 10,479 litres, that is more than 20 times more milk per lactation cycle.

What causes this difference, why are African dairy cows producing so much less milk than their counterparts elsewhere in world? The simple answer is the breed type.

However, there is also the question of the quality of their feeds and forage.  Simply put, ‘the more nutritious cows’ diets are, the more and better quality milk they produce.’

Small-scale farmers – of which there are about 33 million in Africa, contributing up to 70% of the continent’s food supply – usually cannot afford more nutritious feed.

In Tanzania, the livestock sector accounts for 10% of GDP (Bukuku, 1993). The livestock sector is dominated by smallholder owners who constitutes 99% …