| dc.description.abstract | This study examined pasture management practices on individually owned grazing land in
Kakuuto county - Kyotera district –Uganda. The general objective was to establish
pasture management practices and cattle productivity in terms of milk production and
reproductive efficiency on individually owned grazing land while as the specific
objectives of the study were to assess the current pasture management Practices applied on
individually owned grazing land, to assess the current milk production and reproductive
efficiency under the current management practices and to establish the abundance of common
legume pasture/fodder plant species in grazing land. The targeted and actual sample was 60
respondents for interviews as all the 60 responded while as 18 observations were scheduled
for 18 quadrants and all the quadrants were visited and observed, the resultant response rate
of 100%. The study findings indicated that 47 farmers representing 78.3% of the total number
of respondents did not have paddocks on their farm, most of the respondents 66.7% of the
total number of respondents had not cultivated trees/shrubs/pasture on their farm. Most of
the respondents 53 (88.3%) of the total number of respondents agreed with the experience of
pasture scarcity on their farms. The findings showed the highest milk production in wet
season was 1-30 litres(85%) while in dry condition 1-30 litres was the highest with 53% of
respondents. The findings also showed that number of calves got from adult cows in range of
1-10 was the highest with (63.33%) respondents yet respondents owning 1-21 cows was
61.7%. The study concluded that many adult cows cannot give a calf every year. This study
concluded that the commonly observed pasture grass was Hyperrhenia rufa and Bracharia
spp at average percentage cover of 10.47% and 22.1% respectively. The most abundant
pasture legume plant species was Centrocema pubescens with average percentage cover of
1.07%. Hyperthelia dissoluta, Eragrostis mild braedii, Ocimum suave, Lantana camara and
Sporobolus pyramidalis as common non targeted plant species. | en_US |
