Characteristics of Production System of Australian Brahman Facing Low Fertility under Ang Thong Small Farm Conditions

Abstract

Production system of farmers facing low production performance in Ang Thong province was investigated in imported Australian Brahman breeding females. It was found that farmers still had special favor on Australian Brahman to local Native breeds (61% vs. 31%). More than half of the farmers had good barn and housing construction lay outs but still except poor in sanitation and waste management. Half of the farmers own the land for growing pasture with an average of 2 rai (0.30 hectare) per family. Local natural grassland with low quality was the major roughage available while Brachiaria mutica was used as the minor support. Only 23% of the households had sufficient feed for their animals and most of them did not give any feed supplement except small amount of urea and molasses. Rice straw was the main source of roughage in the dry and hot periods of the year. The body condition of the breeding females ranged from 3 to 5 on the 10 points scoring system. Eighty five percent of the problem females had an average liveweight less than 400 kg. Heat detection was observed during grazing period. Eventhough the majority of farmers (86%) knew how to detect heat, very small percentage of them immediately reported to officers for A.I. service. It took around 2 doses of A.I. for conception of the first calf. Only 20% of the farmers had regular record-keeping while the rest ignored to do so.