The study was conducted at Yabello Pastoral and Dry land Agriculture Research Center from 2007-2018 for 12 years to evaluate the performance of Borana cattle breed and suggest appropriate husbandry practices. The mean birth weight was 22.81±0.34 kg for males and 21.02±0.36 kg for females, and the average weaning weight at 7 months was 102.07±1.26 kg for males and 93.81±1.16 kg for females. Mean yearling weight for males and females was 141.52±1.74 kg and 126.28±1.67 kg, respectively. Moreover, the 24-months live body weight was 203.08±2.41 kg for males and 185.17±2.38 kg for females. The average age at the first calving and calving interval was 48.39±1.41 and 17.91±1.01 months, respectively. The overall average calving rate of Borana cows was calculated to be 69.45±11.59%. The mean lactation milk yield was 440.98±23.38 L with an average of 210 days of lactation length. The result indicated that promising growth, reproductive, and milk production performances of Borana cattle breed in its native niche are favorably comparable in the literature to Borana cattle breed evaluated in other parts of Ethiopia. However, shortage of feed throughout the dry season was a major constraint during animal performance evaluation and less productivity of the animals was recorded in this season. Therefore, dry season based feed supplementation is a paramount suggestion to improve the production potential and improve the production and reproductive performance of the breed.

Keywords: Borana cattle, Growth, Milk production, Range condition, Reproduction