5. Status of feeding practices, productive and reproductive performances of dairy cows at the Palash Upazila of Narsingdi district in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study was carried out at different villages of Palash Upazila under the Narsingdi district in Bangladesh to envisage the storage system of straw, feeding system, genotype distribution, productive and reproductive performances of dairy cows. Hence, a total of 100 small-scale dairy farm owners were randomly selected and interviewed with a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Overall, 40% of farmers were raised indigenous cows in the studied villages, while 60% were reared Holstein crossbred cows. Around 75 and 25% farmers were
collected green grass from the arable and non-arable lands, respectively. Results revealed that 11.43% farmers from each village of Balucharpara, Kandapara, Gazaria, Sultanpur, and Malita were stored straw as a stack on the field, and the lowest percentage (4.29%) farmers of Sanerbari village were followed this system of storage. About 14.81% farmers of each Paiksha and Sanerbari villages were stored straw inside their houses. Calving interval (P=0.04) of indigenous cows and milk yield (P=0.05) of Holstein crossbred cows were both differed significantly among the studied villages. Overall, both indigenous and Holstein
crossbred cows performances were observed better in Balucharpara village than that of other villages. However, farmers should be motivated and given training on fodder cultivation, feed processing, and preservation to accelerate the sustainable production and reproduction of cows.