Understanding beef cattle production practices and associated factors constraining performance : a survey of smallholder farmers in South Africa

Farm practices of beef cattle smallholders in South Africa are characterised by poor management practices with limited advisory services. This study aimed to assess current beef cattle farming practices and limiting factors for improved beef production in South African smallholder farmers. A questionnaire was administered to 460 individual smallholder farmers purposively selected from seven provinces of South Africa (SA). The questionnaire captured information on demographics and farm profiles, constraints on production, marketing, ecological and reproduction management. Frequency procedure and logistic regression were used for data analysis. The majority of farmers were males (77 %), fully committed to cattle farming (92 %) and participated in informal markets (61 %). Farmers constraints included extreme weather events, disease outbreaks, lack of access to information on farm management, supply of cattle nutrition and fair market pricing. The majority (93 %) of farmers had no knowledge on body condition scoring (BCS) prior breeding and recorded inter-calving periods of two years (77 %). Only 17 % of farmers kept calving records and 80 % practices culling of old cows. The regression model revealed that lack of information and understanding of farm business, and information communicated by government were among the dominating factors associated with the constraints. The study confirmed the need to enhance the approach of farm information dissemination and skills transfer to mitigate farming challenges and improve productivity. Policy makers may ensure adoption of farm information chains through more implementations of open platforms such as farmer’s schools and farmers days.Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (P02000051).Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.https://www.jarts.infoAnimal and Wildlife Science

Understanding beef cattle production practices and associated factors constraining performance: A survey of smallholder farmers in South Africa

Farm practices of beef cattle smallholders in South Africa are characterized by poor management  practices with limited advisory services. This study aimed to assess current beef cattle farming practices and limiting factors for improved beef production in South African smallholder farmers. A questionnaire was administered to 460 individual smallholder farmers purposively selected from seven provinces of South Africa (SA). The questionnaire captured information on demographics and farm profiles, constraints on production, marketing, ecological and reproduction management. Frequency procedure and logistic regression were used for data analysis. The majority of farmers were males (77%), fully committed to cattle farming (92%) and participated in informal markets (61%). Farmers constraints included extreme weather events, disease outbreaks, lack of access to information on farm management, supply of cattle nutrition and fair market pricing. The majority (93%) of farmers had no knowledge on body condition scoring (BCS) prior breeding and recorded inter-calving periods of two years (77%). Only 17% of farmers kept calving records and 80%  practices culling of old cows. The regression model revealed that lack of information and understanding of farm business, and information communicated by government were among the dominating factors associated with the constraints. The study confirmed the need to enhance the approach of farm information dissemination and skills transfer to mitigate farming challenges and improve productivity. Policy makers may ensure adoption of farm information chains through more implementations of open platforms such as farmer's schools and farmers days

The effect of assisted reproductive technologies on cow productivity under communal and emerging farming systems of South Africa

The study aimed to determine the effect of assisted reproductive technologies on cow productivity. The study was conducted with organized cattle farmers under communal and emerging farming systems from three provinces, namely; Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Cow parameters evaluated were breed type, body frame size, parity, age, body condition score and lactation status. An ovsynch protocol was used during the oestrous synchronization process. All experimental cows were artificially inseminated with frozen-thawed Nguni semen. The study recorded a calving rate of 48%. The dominant cattle breed types were the Bonsmara, Brahman and Nguni. Chi-Square Test of Independence were computed between calving rate and individual factors. The data were further modelled using logistic regression model for SAS, modelling the probability for success. Calving rate was not independent of provinces, districts and body condition score (P < 0.05). Cows in Mpumalanga had more chances to calve than those in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. Nguni cattle breed had more chances to calve down than Brahman (P = 0.815), but less chances than Bonsmara cattle breed (P = 1.630). It is recommended for rural farmers to farm with small framed animals because of their higher chances to calve down compared to other cattle breed

Assessing Reproductive Performance to Establish Benchmarks for Small-Holder Beef Cattle Herds in South Africa

Smallholder beef cattle farms in South Africa have had low reproductive performance, which has been associated with management practices. Considering current farm management practices, a multi-stage selection study was conducted to assess reproductive performance as defined by pregnancy rate, fetal and calf losses, calving interval and days open to benchmark reproductive performance. Data were collected twice, in autumn (March&ndash;May) for pregnancy diagnosis and in spring (September&ndash;November) for monitoring of confirmed pregnancies. Overall, 3694 cow records from 40 smallholder herds were collected during 2018 and 2019 breeding seasons from five provinces. The preferred 25th quartile described target performance and GLIMMIX procedure determined associations between management practices and performance. Smallholder farms on average recorded 50% pregnancy rate and 12% fetal and calf losses with 304 and 608 days open and calving interval, respectively. The derived target benchmarks for pregnancy rate, fetal and calf losses, days open and calving intervals in smallholder farms were 54%, 1.4%, 152 and 425 days, respectively. Reproductive performance was associated with no knowledge of body condition scoring before breeding, culling of old and non-productive cows, record keeping and low bull to cow ratio (p &lt; 0.05). The performance benchmarks implied that industry averages may be improved if sustainable management services are provided through extension and advisory services