Dairy producer’s attitudes toward implementing calf management practices on smallholder and large commercial dairy herds in Kenyan Rift valley

Abstract

Practicing best calf management practices in housing, feeding and health are important for growing the future replacement stock. This is important for sustainability of the dairy herd where a significant proportion of the national dairy herds are smallholders with poorer calf performance than is in large commercial herds. Kenya’s national dairy herds comprise over 75% smallholders, some affiliated to cooperatives offering regular extension advises on best calf management practices to their members. This study tested the hypothesis that producer attitudes reflect calf management practices that are implemented in large commercial and smallholder herds. The hypothesis was tested with a sample of large commercial dairy herds and smallholder herds affiliated to cooperative societies. Producer attitudes and management practices in calf housing, feeding and health were captured regarding standard management practices on a five point scale of agreement. The responses were analyzed to reveal the underlying differences between the herds using non-parametric chi square test and Mann-Whitney U test statistics. Compared to large commercial dairy producers, smallholders expressed more negative (p