Abstract:
Milk and other dairy products remains a staple in the diets of most Ugandans but its production is increasingly constrained by feed scarcity and high costs of feeds especially during the dry season. A cross sectional study was carried with the aimed assessing the impact of farmers feeding practices on milk production in Bushika Sub County from February to April, 2014. In this study 100 dairy farmers from five parishes of Bushika Sub County were sampled. An intensive interview using a well-structured questionnaire and close visual observation was applied in analyzing results a descriptive statistic using SPSS was applied. The research findings revealed that the commonly used feed resources were fodder grasses (75%) fodder legumes (65%), fodder trees (25%) and concentrates (12%). The quantity of feeds provided to lactating cow were 50-60 kgs (74%), 61-70 kgs (17%), and 71-80 (9%).The average milk yield per cow per day were 11-15 litres (43%), 8-10 litres (43%) above 15 litres (9%) and 5-7 litres (5%). There was a significant (P <0.05) relationship between quantity and frequency of feeds, water supplementation and milk yield, Farmers feeding practices bad a negative impact on milk production. The study recommends need for technical and institutional intervention for further research on quality of feed resources, training of farmers on feeding standards, importance and quality of water.
