Abstract:
Cattle are critical to most smallholder agricultural livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. A study was
carried out to assess breed and trait preferences, breeding practices, application and potential adoption
of novel reproductive technologies by smallholder cattle farmers in four districts of Zimbabwe. The
study revealed that famers are subsistence oriented and follow a resource driven production system.
Herd size averaged 7.5±6.42, with dominance of indigenous breeds and their crosses, open communal
breeding and non-existence of reproductive technology application. The major challenges faced include
reproductive and tick-borne diseases, dry season feed shortage, and poor access to affordable good
quality bulls. Brahman, Mashona, Afrikaner and Tuli were the most preferred breeds for their hardiness,
fertility, reproductive efficiency and draught performance attributes. Low reproductive efficiency was
revealed by long bull retention periods (>5 years), long calving intervals (>18 months), low pregnancy
rates (41% of cows) and high ages at first calving (34 months). Farmers indicated moderate knowledge
of artificial insemination and keen interest in using this technology with semen frozen from locally bred,
indigenous sires to improve their herds. There is therefore both need and potential for the application
of assisted reproduction techniques for improved genetic gain, performance and reduced inbreeding in
smallholder cattle herds.
