Abstract

A community based breeding program was performed in the years 2012 to 2017 in Dubluk district of Borana Zone, with the objective to improve some productive traits and conserve Boran cattle breed through disseminating improved Boran sires to pastoral community of the district. Relevant performance data were collected to check the performance of the program to achieve the required goal. The data collected were number of females exposed that were tested for pregnancy, number of females exposed diagnosed as pregnant, number of females diagnosed as pregnant which failed to calve, total number of calves born, number of live calves born, number of calves dead, pregnancy rate (PR), abortion rate (AR), calving rate (CR), and calve death loss based on calves born (CDLBCB). Descriptive statistic procedure of SAS was used to summarize the collected data. Accordingly, PR, AR, CR, and CDLBCB were 89.18, 5.29, 94.71, and 3.28%, respectively. The results obtained indicated that community based breeding program can be a best method to improve and conserve Boran cattle breed through disseminating improved sires. As a result, extending the mentioned method to a larger area by establishing a community ranch will help to keep the Boran breed safe and maintain it for the community's benefit.

Key words: Boran Cattle, Breeding Scheme, Community, Conservation, in situ, Ethiopia.