Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T00:13:15.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modelling energy metabolism of Friesians in Kenya smallholdings shows how heat stress and energy deficit constrain milk yield and cow replacement rate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

J. M. King ,
D. J. Parsons ,
J. R. Turnpenny ,
J. Nyangaga ,
P. Bakari  and
C. M. Wathes
J. M. King*
Affiliation:
c/o DFID Livestock Production Programme, Natural Resources International Ltd, Park House, Bradbourne Lane, Aylesford, Kent ME20 6SN, UK
D. J. Parsons
Affiliation:
Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Bedford, MK45 4HS, UK
J. R. Turnpenny
Affiliation:
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and CSERGE, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
J. Nyangaga
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute, PO Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
P. Bakari
Affiliation:
District Livestock Production Office, PO Box 553, Kilifi, Kenya
C. M. Wathes
Affiliation:
Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Bedford, MK45 4HS, UK
*
†Present address: PO Box 1315, Village Market 00621, Nairobi, Kenya. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development focussed attention on agricultural sustainability and biodiversity in developing countries. These goals are relevant for livestock production in Kenya, where development agencies encourage resource-poor smallholders to acquire large, exotic, high-yielding dairy cows, despite their poor performance, revealed in recent surveys in the highlands and at the coast. The performance of the cows is not in question. The debate relates to the diagnosis of the causes, their treatment and the prognosis for the production system. To improve our understanding of the dynamics of the system, models of nutrition and energy, modified for the tropics, were used to measure the thermal responses over 24 h of six pure or crossbred Friesians at a mean lactation of 54 (s.d. 21·6) days, in separate zero-grazing units. Four smallholdings were on the hot, humid coast and two in the cooler highlands. The output of the model runs was related to the subsequent lactation, calving interval and profitability of the cows. The model showed that the thermal load caused moderate stress for all cows during the day, which became severe in the sun in the highlands, but the drop in air temperature, from 27 °C to 13 °C, at night dissipated the gain in body heat. At the coast, where the night temperature remained above 24 °C and relative humidity above 0·85, there was no remission of heat stress for cows with a milk yield greater than 11 l/day. The lactation curve, in all cows, declined from an initial peak to a low profile of 5 l/day. Cows in both regions with initial yields above 20 l/day had the steepest decline and longest calving intervals (457 to 662 days). They had the largest lactation yields and lowest direct cost per litre, but their poor breeding record reduced cull sales and increased replacement cost, raising the total cost per litre. By contrast, the cow with the lowest daily and lactation yield had the highest direct cost, but lowest total cost per litre, because she produced 2 heifer calves at an interval of only 317 days. These case studies serve as a reminder that, where heat load depresses appetite or poor food cannot support lactation, the energy deficit and stress reduces cow fertility, fitness, and longevity, so that she fails to breed a heifer replacement during her shortened productive life. The model predicted that food intake, depressed by heat stress, would not support a milk yield above 14 l/day and 3000 l per annum at the coast, and 22 l/day and 5000 l per annum in the highlands. Therefore, although appearing profitable in the short term, the current policy of promoting cows with higher yields than the climate and production system can support, is unsustainable. This outcome has implications for smallholder dairy development policy in Kenya, and probably elsewhere in the tropics. Instead, one should reconsider smaller exotic breeds and crossbreds with improved indigenous dairy cows whose overall productivity from milk yield, fecundity, longevity, and disease tolerance 50 years ago was better than that of the modern Holstein-Friesian in a Kenya smallholding.

Keywords

dairy cowsdevelopment policysmall farmstropical Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 82 , Issue 5 , October 2006 , pp. 705 - 716
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1993. Energy and protein requirements of ruminants. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, An advisory manual prepared by the AFRC Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. 1935. Improvement of native cattle by selective breeding and herd management. Records of improved production of milk by the use of natural grazing only: experiments carried out at the Native Training Centre, Ngong. East African Agricultural Journal 1: 251–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayalew, W., Rischkowsky, B. R., King, J. M. and Bruns, E. 2003. Crossbreds did not generate more net benefits than indigenous goats in Ethiopian smallholdings. Agricultural Systems 76: 1137–1156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, R. L., Mugambi, J. M., Audho, J. O., Carles, A. B. and Thorpe, W. 2004. Genotype by environment interactions for productivity and resistance to gastro-intestinal nematode parasites in Red Maasai and Dorper sheep. Animal Science 79: 343–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bebe, B. O. 2003. Herd dynamics of smallholder dairy in the Kenya highlands, Ph.D. thesis, Wageningen University.Google Scholar
Bebe, B. O., Udo, H. M. J., Rowlands, G. J. and Thorpe, W. 2003a. Smallholder dairy systems in the Kenya highlands: breed preferences and breeding practices. Livestock Production Science 82: 117–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bebe, B. O., Udo, H. M. J., Rowlands, G. J. and Thorpe, W. 2003b. Smallholder dairy systems in the Kenya highlands: cattle population dynamics under increasing intensification. Livestock Production Science 82: 211–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosman, H. G., Moll, H. A. J. and Udo, H. M. J. 1997. Measuring and interpreting the benefits of goat keeping in tropical farm systems. Agricultural Systems 53: 349–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, A. 1993. Milk production in the tropics. Longman, Essex.Google Scholar
De Rensis, F. and Scaramuzzi, R. J. 2003. Heat stress and seasonal effects on reproduction in the dairy cow – a review. Theriogenology 60: 1139–1151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Du Preez, J. H., Giesecke, W. H. and Hattingh, P. J. 1990. Heat stress in dairy cattle and other livestock under Southern African conditions. I. Temperature-humidity-index mean values during the four main seasons. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 57: 77–87.Google ScholarPubMed
Economist 2005. Leader. The key to trade and aid. The Economist, 4 June. pp. 13–14.Google Scholar
Faulkner, D. E. 1951. The improvement of cattle in Kenya with special reference to the indigenous types. Fellowship thesis, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London.Google Scholar
Hulme, M., Doherty, R., Ngara, T., New, M. and Lister, D. 2001. African climate change: 1900–2100. Climate Research 17: 145–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ikiror, D. 2001. Heat stress in dairy cattle in Kenya. Ph.D. thesis, Georg-August University Cuvillier, Goettingen.Google Scholar
James, A. D. and Carles, A. B. 1996. Measuring the productivity of grazing and foraging livestock. Agricultural Systems 52: 271–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, H. D. 1965. Environmental temperature and lactation (with special reference to cattle). International Journal of Biometeorology 9: 103–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, H. D., Ragsdale, A. C., Berry, I. L. and Shanklin, M. D. 1963. Temperature-humidity effects including influence of acclimation in feed and water consumption of Holstein cattle. Research Bulletin of Missouri Agricultural Experimental Station no. 846.Google Scholar
Kahi, A. K., Thorpe, W., Nitter, G. and Baker, R. L. 2000. Crossbreeding for dairy production in the lowland tropics of Kenya. 1. Estimation of individual crossbreeding effects on milk production and reproductive traits and on cow live weight. Livestock Production Science 63: 39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenya Dairy Development Project/Smallholder Dairy Project 2004. Future of smallholder dairy in Kenya. About us. Breeding News special edition. Breeding Study Team International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Macfarlane, J. S. and Stevens, B. A. 1972. The effect of natural shade and spraying with water on the productivity of dairy cows in the tropics. Tropical Animal Health and Production 4: 249–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maloo, S. H., Rowlands, G. J., Thorpe, W., Gettinby, G. and Perry, B. D. 2001a. A longitudinal study of disease incidence and case-fatality risks on small-holder dairy farms in coastal Kenya. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 52: 17–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maloo, S. H., Thorpe, W., Kioo, G., Ngumi, P., Rowlands, G. J. and Perry, B. D. 2001b. Seroprevalences of vector-transmitted infections of small-holder dairy cattle in coastal Kenya. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 52: 1–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margerison, J. K. 2003. A review of dairy heifer rearing and its effect on heifer performance, longevity, rearing costs and farm income. In Dairying, using science to meet consumer needs (ed. Kebreab, E., Mills, J. and Beever, D.), British Society of Animal Science occasional publication no. 29, pp. 1–35.Google Scholar
Mason, I. L. and Maule, J. P. 1960. The indigenous livestock of eastern and southern Africa. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal.Google Scholar
Muinga, R. W., Bimbuzi, S. and Mambo, L. C. 1998. Nutrient composition of locally available feedstuffs in coastal lowland Kenya. In Proceedings of sixth biennial Kenya Agricultural Research Institute scientific conference. pp. 287–293. Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Nicholson, C. F., Thornton, P. K., Mohammed, l., Muinga, R. W., Mwamachi, D. M., Elbasha, E. H., Staal, S. J. and Thorpe, W. 1999. Smallholder dairy technology in coastal Kenya. An adoption and impact study. International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Omore, A. O., McDermott, J. J., Muriuki, H. M. and Thorpe, W. 1998. Smallholder dairy herd management in Kenya. Paper presented at the seminar on dairy farm management, at the 25th International Dairy Congress, 21–24 September, Aarhus, Denmark. Kenya Smallholder Dairy Project, ILRI, Nairobi, http://www.smallholderdairy.org/Google Scholar
Omore, A., Muriuki, H., Kenyanjui, M., Owango, M. and Staal, S. 1999. The Kenya dairy sub-sector. A rapid appraisal. Smallholder Dairy Project, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Parsons, D. J., Armstrong, A. C., Turnpenny, J. R., Matthews, A. M., Cooper, K. and Clark, J. A. 2001. Integrated models of livestock systems for climate change studies. 1. Grazing systems. Global Change Biology 7: 93–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plaizier, J. C., Tanner, J. C., Omore, A. and McBride, B. 1999. Costs of extending calving intervals of dairy cows on small holder farms in Kenya. Journal of Dairy Science 82: (suppl.) 78.Google Scholar
Rockefeller Foundation 1994. Strategic plan for a new CGIAR global livestock research institution. Strategic Planning Task Force, The Rockefeller Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Rodriquez, L. A., Mekonnen, G., Wilcox, C. J., Martin, F. G. and Krienke, W. A. 1985. Effects of relative humidity, maximum and minimum temperature, pregnancy and stage of lactation on milk composition and yield. Journal of Dairy Science 68: 973–979.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romney, D., Wambugu, M., Kaitho, R., Biwott, J., Chege, L., Omore, A., Staal, S., Wanjohi, P., Njubi, D. and Thorpe, W. 2005. Case study D: improving the efficiency of concentrate usage by smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya. In Participatory livestock research (ed. Conroy, C.), pp. 185–195. ITDG Publishing, Rugby.Google Scholar
Scott, I. M., Johnson, H. D. and Hahn, G. L. 1983. Effect of programmed diurnal temperature cycles on plasma thyroxine level, body temperature, and feed intake of Holstein cows. International Journal Biometeorology 27: 47–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staal, S. J., Waithaka, M., Njoroge, L., Mwangi, D. M., Njubi, D. and Wokabi, A. 2003. Costs of milk production in Kenya: estimates from Kiambu, Nakuru and Nyandarua districts. Smallholder Dairy Project, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Taylor, V. J., Beever, D. E. and Wathes, D. C. 2003. Physiological adaptations to milk production that affect the fertility of high yielding dairy cows Dairying, using science to meet consumer needs (ed. Kebreab, E., Mills, J. and Beever, D.), British Society of Animal Science, occasional publication no. 29, pp. 37–71.Google Scholar
Thatcher, W. W. 1974. Effects of season, climate, and temperature on reproduction and lactation. Journal of Dairy Science 57: 360–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnpenny, J. R. 1997. Potential impacts of climate change on the energy balance of UK Livestock. Ph.D. thesis University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Turnpenny, J. R., McArthur, A. J., Clark, J. A. and Wathes, C. M. 2000a. Thermal balance of livestock 1. A parsimonious model. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 101: 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnpenny, J. R., Wathes, C. M., Clark, J. A. and McArthur, A. J. 2000b. Thermal balance of livestock 2. Applications of a parsimonious model. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 101: 29–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations. 2005. The millenium development goals report. Department of Public Information, United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Van der Valk, Y. S. 1992. Cost-price calculation of milk production under small scale zero grazing conditions. Working Paper, NDDP/M-45/242 Ministry of Livestock Development Nairobi.Google Scholar
Waithaka, M. M., Ouma, E. A., Kariri, J. M., Ikongo, D. O., Herrero, M., Thornton, P. K. and Shepherd, K. D. 2003. System prototyping and impact assessment for sustainable alternatives in mixed farming systems in high potential areas of East Africa. Characterisation of Kilifi farming systems. Kenya Agricultural Research Institute/International Livestock Research Institute/World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Waters-Bayer, A. and Bayer, W. 2004. Research to alleviate poverty in the face of industrialisation of livestock production. In Responding to the livestock revolution – the role of globalisation and the implications for poverty alleviation (ed. Owen, E., Smith, T., Steele, M. A., Anderson, S., Duncan, A. J., Herrero, M., Leaver, J. D., Reynolds, C. K., Richards, J. I. and Ku-Vera, J. C.), British Society of Animal Science, occasional publication no. 33, pp. 191–208. Nottingham University Press.Google Scholar
Wathes, D. C., Taylor, V. J., Cheng, Z. and Mann, G. E. 2003. Follicle growth, corpus luteum function and their effects on embryo development in the post partum cow. Reproduction 61: (suppl.) 219–237.Google Scholar
Webster, A. J. F. 1993. Understanding the dairy cow. Blackwell, London.Google Scholar
Wood, P. D. P. 1969. Factors affecting the shape of the lactation curve in cattle. Animal Production 11: 307–316.Google Scholar