Abstract:
A questionnaire
survey
to analyse
the
current
milk
production
and
pricing
was
conducted
among
273
small
and
large-scale
dairy
farms
in Sokoto
State
of north-western
Nigeria,
On
breeds
of cattle
kept,
based
on farm
numbers,
it was
found
that
69.07%
kept
Sokoto
Gudali,
18.32%
kept
White
Fulani
and
12.61
% kept
others.
Both
the husbandry
system
and
milking
method
were
100%
semi-intensive
and
hand
milking,
respectively.
Out
of the
total
cow
number
of 3967
(64.59%),
there
were
2175
(35.41
%) milking
cows.
Data
on milk
production
showed
the
average
length
of lactation
as 10.26+1.86months,
the
average
milk
yield
per
day
as 23.78+24.03
litres,
the
average
milk
yield
per
lactation
as 7815.30+8442.01
litres,
and
the
average
calving
interval
of 11.80+2.67
months.
On
the
milk
sell,
266
(97.44%)
farms
sell
milk,
whereas
only
7(2.56%)
did
not.
Out
of these,
57.67%
sell
milk
at home,
and
42.33%
sell
milk
at local
market.
The
pattern
of milk
consumption
showed
that
39.25%
of
farms
ana lysed
consume
<2 litres,
49.81%
consume
2-4
litres,
and
10.94%
consume
>4
litres.
100%
of farms
could
not
quantify
the
amount
of milk
offered
to calves.
The
products
made
from
milk
and
data
for
each
included
Nono
(45.45%),
Manshanu
(42.36%)
and
Kindirmo
(12.19%).
On
the
responses
for
production/processing
constraints,
68.33%
showed
no facilities,
25.42%
showed
no knowledge,
6.25%
showed
not
cultural/traditional,
79.39%
showed
inadequate
feed/water,
7.09%
showed
inefficient
milking
methods,
9.12%
showed
lack
of efficient
marketing
system,
4.05%
showed
lack
of static
milk
pricing
and
0.34%
showed
power
failure.
