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Department
of Agricultural Research
Dairy
Research Programme
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Introduction
The general objective of the Dairy Research Program
is to increase milk production at minimal cost, develop small scale processing
technologies and marketing systems for milk and milk products in the rural
areas. The program carries out the following research activities;- Evaluate the
technical and economic management of dairy intensive system, develop crossbred
lines for smallholder farms, Milk processing and marketing systems, technical
training of farmers and socio-economic assessment of introduced technologies.
1. The Development of
Friesian Dairy Lines for Increased Milk Production
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Frisian herd was started in 1979. There are
currently 18 milking cows producing an average of 5400kg of milk per year |
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Friesian milking cows |
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Bull calves are sold to prospective dairy farmers
mainly to introduce dairy lines in farms |
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Bull calves |
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2.
Evaluation of Tswana crosses for milk production under semi-intensive system at
Sunnyside Ranch
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Tswana
cows are being bred to various dairy sires of Friesian, |
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Friesian x Tswana calf with dam |
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3. Milk Processing and
Marketing systems
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The project identifies socio-economic factors and
constraints governing milk consumption and marketing in the rural areas and
to plan a local marketing strategy for surplus production. Three milk
collection centers were established in Oodi, Bokaa and Kumakwane to serve all
dairy farmers in these areas with the marketing of milk |
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Milk collection centre at Kumakwane |
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Range Research