Department of Animal Sciences, Wachemo University, P.O. Box 667, Hossana, Ethiopia
Kebede, H., Department of Animal Sciences, Wachemo University, P.O. Box 667, Hossana, Ethiopia
The study was conducted on 154 Holstein-Friesian (HF) cows maintained under farmer’s managemental system in Hossana city (Ethiopia). A total of 80 HF owners were randomly selected and interviewed with structured questionnaire to assess the productive and reproductive performance of Holstein-Friesian cows. The results of the study showed that the mean milk yield/day/cow was 8.38±0.47 L, lactation length was 252.25±5.31 days, peak yield was11.39±0.58 L and lactation milk yield was 2149.19±143.80 L, number of services per conception was 1.8±0.09, age at first calving was 36.48±0.55 month, calving to first service interval was 212.70±18.12 days and calving interval was 462.87±19.48 days for HF cows. The constraints of dairy production in the study areas including feed shortage (1st), high feed cost (2nd), disease (3rd), scarce information about feeding (4th), high medicament cost (5th), scarcity of timely veterinary services (6th), lack of capital (7th), low price of milk (8th), heat detection (9th) and ineffici nt AI services (10th) were found to be the top challenges for dairy practice in the area. Therefore, strategies designed to solve the existing problem should be important by involving all stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of improvement strategies. © 2015 Academic Journals Inc.