Planning and Operationalization of an Open Nucleus Dairy Cattle Breeding Scheme in the Lake Victoria crescent region of Uganda

Open Nucleus cattle breeding programmes are part of Uganda’s national policy of poverty reduction through increased productivity and transition from subsistence farming towards market oriented agricultural production. The idea of open nucleus breeding is to have very good breeding stock at a place (nucleus farm) where facilities for systematic breeding are available. This stock is selected, multiplied and sold to local farmers whose very good stock in return, may be bought at relatively high prices to enter the nucleus. The National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank (NAGRC&DB) runs a number of large farms earmarked for the improvement of different cattle and goat breeds. One of these is Njeru Stock Farm at the shores of Lake Victoria where a large herd of Holstein-Friesian cows is kept. In tropical countries, use of Holstein-Friesian, a temperate highly reputed dairy breed, frequently poses large problems due to its poor adaptability in these environments. However, the breed fits well in some agro-ecological zones of Uganda producing on a sustainable level 5-10 litres more milk than the local breeds which very often do not even release milk without prior stimulation by a calf. This superiority in terms of milk production makes the breed very attractive to farmers. A production system for small-scale farmers (zero grazing) has developed in climatically favourable regions with access to markets. In this “cut and carry” system, farmers (very often females) usually own only one or two cows which produce a reasonable amount of milk in addition to dung that is used as a natural fertiliser. The aim of the project is to develop a breeding programme for the Holstein-Friesian population that will involve farmers in the zero grazing and fenced dairy (3–40 cows) production systems that would be willing to subscribe to a system of performance recording. The optimisation of a breeding programme is a complex task as many factors influencing the potential genetic gain as well as the rate of inbreeding have to be considered. Comparison of plans will be performed with specialised computer simulation programs. The optimal plan for the given circumstances will be operationalized at Njeru stock farm. The recording of data by farmers and the feed back by NAGRC&DB of information and criteria relevant for breeding decisions will be measurable components of the success of the implementation. The project is to serve as a pilot for the design and implementation of similar plans for other breeds. If executed successfully, it may also serve as a starting point for a transnational East African Holstein-Friesian breeding programme, an undertaking that may lead to the development of better adapted “tropicalised” strains of the Friesian breed, thus reducing the dependence of these countries on semen imports.