THE SITUATION OF CATTLE-BREEDING IN MALAW I

in Malawi cattle breeding is based on a population of about 800 000 an imals predominantly Malawi Zebu. Records from four governmental breedi ng stations for Malawi Zebu were analysed for the years 1977 to 1993. Missing records were a major problem. The mean birth and weaning weigh ts were 15.4 kg to 22.5 kg and 75.8 kg to 118.1 kg, respectively. Mean weaning age was 223 days. The mean live weight for three years old an imals ranged from 229 kg for males to 162 kg for females. Age at first calving was about 50 months. In Northern Malawi, a sample of 38 milk producing small holder farms keeping Malawi Zebu Friesian crosses deli vered on average 1163 kg milk per cow per year. The mean percentage of Holstein-Friesian of genes increased from 50% to 75% from 1981 to 199 5. The near collapse of the artificial insemination programme is a maj or constraint. A commercial Holstein-Friesian dairy herd produced on a verage 5589 kg milk per cow per year. The heritability for milk yield was 0.21. It is strongly recommended to set-up a sustainable breeding programme for local populations.