SOCIO ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CATTLE REARING IN OGBOMOSO NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OYO STATE

Abstract

Animal agriculture is an indispensable prerequisite towards the sustainability of human development. This study was carried out using structured questionnaire in order to highlight the economic importance of cattle rearing among pastoralists. It was found that, the primary occupation of pastoralists was livestock farming and they have no educational background. The herd composition was mainly cattle. The number of cows is more than the bulls suggesting a dairy and a breeding herd among the farmers. The interest of Bunaji breed in the study area despite susceptible to trypanosome infection is an indicator of less relevance of trypanosomiasis as a limiting factor to cattle production in the area and having the highest population of averaging 38.86% of the total herd compared with keteku, N'dama and Sokoto Gudali with 31.23%, 16.40% and 13.50% respectively. Grass and browse were the major feed for the animals during wet season and addition of crop residues during dry season. The main feeding pattern adopted by pastoralist was grazing and cut and carry. The prevalent adult disease was foot and mouth while diarrhea was highly rampant among young calves. Results generally indicated the breed was preferred in the study area because of her superior milk production, large body size, fast growing rate, ease of management and ability to consume variety of forage.