Survey and evaluation of grasses and legumes for feeding dairy cattle in Morogoro and Kibaha district

Abstract

A survey to selected farmers keeping dairy cows under zero grazing system was Londucted in Kibaha and Morogoro pen-urban areas. The objective of this work was to describe and evaluate the most important feedstuffs in rehtion to the perfonmaiiee of dairy cattle in the eastern zone of T~zarn'a. 'rhe survey revealed ~at pen-urban dairy fanning mostly involved retired officers, civil servants and businessmen /wornen who regard dairy enterprt'se as one of major sow'ces ('f ineonic in their hyclihoods. (roinmunal lands including n'verbanks,, dam shores, flood plains and fallow lands were tbuiid to be major. sources of dairy animal feed in the system. A number of grass, legume, forbs spec~es and crop residuals were ideiflified in collected feedstufl's during wet and dry seasons. Montlily monitoring of rarins performance was £laiwed to acquire I 2 sequential observations for chosen variables Preliminary results of the monitoring showed that households in Morogoro kept sigrn'Cicantly smaller herds (8.8+0.50) of animals than those in Kibaha (10.2 0~5~) district (P.:. 0.05). Less forage was fed in farms of Morogoro (30 + 2.8) kg/cow/d as compared to iliose ocKibaha (38 + 2.9) kg/cow/d (P O.05). The influence or condition of the cow on milk yield could be associated with feeding levels. The result implies that fa~ers rely on natural' feed source, which they do not have full control. Dairy farmers should be advised to establish pastures for stable supply of feed especially during the dry season to maintain a desirable body condition which in turn reflects animal's production potential.