FEEDING STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE OF INDIGENOUS CATTLE UNDER RESTRICTED GRAZING AT THE DAIRY FARM UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

Abstract

This study was conducted to estimate the quantity and quality of feed available to indigenous cattle raised at the Dairy Farm of the University of Ibadan between July and October 2014. The performance of cattle within this period was also evaluated. The total number of animals evaluated at this period was 62; comprising 54 Sokoto Gudali and 8 Ndama cattle.Adult cattle were 40 while calves were 22. Total animal units (a.u.) were estimated to be 42. The average area grazed by these cattle varied between 0.98 and 1.19 ha and herbage on offer was estimated to be 107 kg/day. Pasture grazed consisted of grasses (64 %), herbaceous legumes (3%), tree legumes (22%), Mexican sunflower (5%) and weeds ( 6%). The pasture was analyzed to contain 26.8% dry matter (DM), 9.7% crude protein (CP), 60.2% neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and 34.4% acid detergent fibre (ADF) within the 4-month period. Typical! diet for cattle during study consisted of pasture (9.7% CP), composite silage (10.8% CP), concentrate (16.5% CP) and dried cassava peel (5.0% CP). Dry matter intake of cattle was estimated to be 1.99, 2.64, 0.23 and 1.57 kg/day for pasture, silage, concentrate and cassava peel respectively. Total DM intake per cattle per day was 6.41 kg corresponding to 2.59% of animal body weight. Average daily gain of adult cattle was 0.23 kg/day while calves gained 0.42 kg/day. Additional feed offered at barn enhanced the performance of indigenous cattle raised at the Dairy Farm, University of Ibadan