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Breed and age of dams effects on calving and weaning rates of Brakmas and Bali cows

Mohd. Hafiz^1*, A.W., Izuan Bahtiar², A.J., Mohamad Hifzan², R.,Ariff³, O.M. and Faezal Ashraff¹, A.L.

¹Animal Science Research, MARDI Muadzam Shah, 26700 Muadzam Shah, Pahang,
²Animal Science Research MARDI Kluang, 86009, Kluang, Johor,
³Department of Preclinical Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2017 20(1): 27-35

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Evaluation of animals reproductive capacity is very important to the animal breeders as it will be the turning point of gaining profit or loss in livestock enterprises. The objective of this study was to evaluate the breed and age of dam effects on the reproductive performance, namely calving and weaning rates of Brakmas and Bali cattle. This study involved a total of 384 Brakmas cows raised in MARDI Muadzam Shah with the age ranging from 3 to 15 y, and 85 Bali cows with an age range of 5 to 11 y originally obtained from Gorontalo, Indonesia. Purebreeding was carried out from 2008 to 2012 where the animals were divided into groups with bull to cow ratio at 1:25 and allowed to graze freely on Brachiaria decumbens pasture. The study showed that breed affected significantly (P<0.05) on calving and weaning rates where Brakmas cattle were superior than Bali cattle for calving rate, 0.88�0.02 and 0.78�0.08, respectively, while Bali cattle recorded higher weaning rate compared to Brakmas cattle, 0.63�0.11 and 0.58�0.03, respectively. Age of dam and production year also showed significant effects (P<0.05) on the reproductive traits studied. It is concluded that apart from the breeds themselves, production years also plays an important role in determining calving success and calf-crop weaned percentage as the breeds respond differently towards the environmental changes.