REPRODUCTIVE AND PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF FRIESIAN DAIRY-CATTLE IN JORDAN

Nineteen Jordanian dairy farms selected by stratified random sample we re monitored between February 1991 and September 1993 in order (1) to compare milk yield and reproductive performance of imported Friesian d airy cows with the Jordanian Friesian dairy cows and (2) to assess the effect of herd size on the reproductive and productive performance of the type of Friesian on milk yield, days open, lactation length, numb er of services per conception, rate of repeat breeders, culling rate a nd days dry. Imported first-calf heifers had significantly more days o pen, longer lactation length, higher number of services per conception , higher repeat breeder and culling rates and produced more milk in th eir first lactation compared with the Jordanian Friesian first-calf he ifers. In their second lactation, cows imported as pregnant heifers pr oduced about 802 kg more milk than the Jordanian Friesian cows. Cows i n herds with more than 59 cows were older on average and had the highe st annual culling rate. Cows in these herds produced more milk per cow per lactation than cows in herds with 30-59 cows. Results of this stu dy suggests that farmers should inseminate their cows using semen from proven sires instead of natural services to improve production and re productive genetic potential of Jordanian Friesian cows. Also, they sh ould put more emphasis on through and accurate detection of estrus, es pecially during the cold weather seasons when cows usually housed, fed and milked in tie stalls 24 h day-1 with very limited movement. A stu dy pertaining to the economic analysis should be conducted to enable t he decision makers to decide whether to continue with the policy of im porting Friesian breed or to rely upon the locally raised Friesian cow s.