Abstract:
The research was carried out in Geresse woreda, Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia, to evaluate
dairy cattle management practices as well as dairy product handling, processing, utilization,
and marketing in two separate agro-ecological zones. Five kebeles were selected from the
study woreda using simple random sampling techniques, and 126 households were included
in the survey. The average land holding capacity of the respondents was 1.706± 0.658. About
48.4% of the interviewed farmers attended a grade 5-8 junior secondary school education,
and 27.8% had a grade 1-4 primary school education. About 52.38% of the respondents kept
dairy cow for home consumption of milk. The sole (n = 100%) dairy production system was
mixed crop-livestock production system. About 73.80% of the respondents disclosed that they
milk the cow just after calf suckling that they practice to initiate milk injunction. The types of
containers used for milking were plastic buckets (84.92%) and nickel (15.07%). According to
48.41% of respondents, the types of herb commonly used for cleaning milking equipment
were Ocimum haardiense. The major milk by-products utilized in the household were
buttermilk (38.88%) and butter (26.19%). Milk and milk by products sold at the local market
were 84.92% and to neighbors or home were 15.07%. About 63.49% of the respondents
provided supplementary feed to the animal and the remaining 36.50% did not (P < 0.05).
The type of mating systems was both natural (67.46%) and artificial insemination (31.74%)
with significant variations between locations (P<0.05). The feed shortage was the major
constraint for milk production in the study with the index value of 0.247. There was
significant difference (P < 0.05) on the frequency of churning milk for butter making.
Farmers and dairy cooperative having, demonstrate, in milking hygiene, processing,
handling, marketing point access, as well as improved feeding and dairy cow health
management should be careful undermined to improve milk production in study area. This
study also suggests that better and more appropriate milk processing materials, such as
churners and cram separators, provision are very important to optimize milk processing for
sustainable dairy production in the study area.
