ASSESSMENT OF COMMERCIAL FATTENING PRACTICES AND FATTENING PERFORMANCE OF BEEF CATTLE IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF EAST SHOA ZONE

Abstract

The study was conducted in Adama, Lome and Adami-Tulu district of East Shoa Zone of Oromia Regional State to assess commercial fattening practices, to evaluate performance of commercial fattening and to evaluate chemical composition of mixed ration at different feeding phase of fattening from selected feedlot .The questionnaire based formal survey was conducted using semi structured questioners by interviewing a total of 45feedlot operators purposively selected from the three districts and both quantitative and qualitative data on beef cattle fattening systems were obtained. For the monitoring work nine farms among those used for interview were selected for the purpose of monitoring animals’ performance under different stage (phases) during fattening period. Eight Animals from each farm were purposively selected from the farms based on age, initial body weight and body condition. The study revealed that the major criteria for selecting animals to purchase for feedlot fattening includes breed type, physical appearance and/or frame size, age, health and initial price body condition, coat color, horn size are the top priority. The feed resources used by commercial cattle fattening include crop residues and agro-industrial by products. The average crude protein contents (CP) of the different rations was not different (P>0.05) among the scale of fattening or phase of feeding, but numerically higher amount of CP content was recorded for rations prepared by large (19.09±0.97%) as compared to medium (17.92±0.97%) and small (16.33±0.97%) scale commercial cattle fattening and for the initial phase (19.06±0.97%) as compared to medium (17.32±0.97%) and final (16.96±0.97%) stage of feeding. The average NDF and ADL% was significantly higher (P<0.05) for small (47.04±1.12%; 6.22±0.28%) as compared to large (42.25±1.2%; 5.08 ±0.28%) and medium (40.04±1.2%; 4.48±1.2%) scale of commercial cattle fattening. The average NDF% of feed at different stage or phase was significantly higher (P<0.05) for final (45.95±1.2%) stage as compared to middle (42.45±1.2%) and initial (41.10±1.2%) stage of fattening, whereas the average ADF and ADL% of ration was not significantly vary across the stage of fattening. The average total weight gain and average daily weight gain of animals recorded in 90 days of fattening was significantly higher (P<0.05) for large (97.7±1.16;1.09±0.01) and medium (97.58±1.16; 1.09±0.01) as compared to small scale (91.04±1.169 kg;1.01±0.01kg) commercial fattening. Whereas, the average weight gain and daily weight gain recorded across the phase of fattening was significantly higher (P<0.001) for initial (33.18±0.44; 1.11±0.01) and middle (31.79±0.44; 1.06±0.01) phase as compared to small scale (30.46±0.44 kg; 1.02±0.01kg) commercial fattening. Whereas the average weight gain recorded was significantly (P<0.001) higher for initial phase(1.11 kg /day) as compared to middle(1.06kg /day) and final phase (1.02kg/day )of fattening. We conclude that the dependence on only Borana breed may affect the efficiency of the fattening industry by creating supply shortage and also it depletes the breed population. Although the nutrient supply is good, the high CP level needs to be considered in relation to the requirement of the animals at different phases of fattening. Moreover, the Limited feed availability, high price of supplementary feed, market fluctuation of fattened cattle, disease out breaks, and water shortage are the most challenges faced by the sectors and needs to be addressed.