Use of Body Linear Measurements to Estimate Live Weight of Crossbred Dairy Cattle in Smallholder Farms in Kenya

Abstract

Animal weight is an important tool in livestock research and management. The most direct method of measuring liveweight (LW) is using a calibrated electronic or mechanical scale. However such equipment is usually costly and not readily available to poor rural livestock keepers. Farmers and livestock traders have been found to underestimate or overestimate the weights of the cattle by an average of 46 and 25% respectively of their true L W (Machila et al 2008). Linear body measurements, in particular heart girth are useful predictors of liveweight in livestock. However, the predictive ability of models developed from these measurements is influenced by body condition, age, breed and sex (Lesosky et al 2012; Ozkaya and Bozkurt 2009). The present study tested the accuracy of linear body measurements for predicting L W of crossbred dairy cattle of different genotypes in smallholder farms in Kenya and developed predictive equations appropriate to this context.