Reproductive performance of American Brahman cattle in Malaysia

K. Musaddin, O. Mohamad Arief and A. Mohd Yusoff

Abstract

This paper reported the evaluation of the reproductive performance of 14 imported and 21 locally born American Brahman cows. These animals were reared at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute's (MARDI) farm at Serdang since August 1972 but were later transferred to Kluang in August 1976. Cow mortality was observed to be 0.27% and the incidence of dystocia was low. Death loss due to pre- and post-natal death was about 25.2 per cent. Most of these deaths were due to dog bite and weak calf syndrome. The average calving percentage and calving interval of these cows during the duration of the study was 63.2% and 545.2 days respectively. Imported cows calved at a younger age (P<0.001) than those born locally, 30.8 and 52.0 months respectively. The gestation length of the Brahman was 290.7 days. In general, the reproductive performance of the American Brahman in Malaysia was lower than those in the USA and the local Kedah-Kelantan cattle.

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