Livestock farmers get training in artificial insemination

22 Feb, 2015 - 00:02 0 Views

The Sunday News

Dumisani Nsingo Senior Farming Reporter
ISIBAYA Livestock Consultants will run a four-day artificial insemination training course at Matopos Research Institute this week as part of its programme to educate farmers on the breeding method seen as key in efforts to grow the national herd.

The course will run from Tuesday to Friday and will be conducted by a Bulawayo based private veterinarian Dr Lewis Sibanda.

Officials said the course was targeting up-and-coming beef and dairy cattle producers, their stockmen and individuals interested in the livestock breeding programme.

It will also serve as a refresher to those who have been trained before and will provide insights on synchronisation protocols.

“As a leading livestock research institute in the country, Matopos is making an effort to promote technologies that improve livestock productivity in the region across different farmer scales (communal, resettled, and commercial).

“The opportunity is open to all willing stakeholders (government institutions, non-governmental organisations, private sector) to collaborate with Matopos in the effort to build the national herd in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation food security cluster,” said Mr Ronald Tavirimirwa, a research officer at Matopos Research Station.

Artificial insemination refers to a technique by which one collects semen from a male and manually places it into the reproductive tract of the female.

The technique is widely used in breeding of dairy and beef cattle although it can be used in breeding sheep, goats, chickens, pigs and horses among other animals.

“Artificial insemination is more economical than keeping a bull as it removes the dangers and risks of keeping a herd bull on the premises. The technique facilitates more accurate genetic evaluations of beef and dairy cattle,” Mr Tavirimirwa said.

He said artificial insemination has been very successful in improving cattle herds especially in the commercial dairy sector where it has facilitated widespread propagation of superior genetics.

In developed countries, reports say 80 percent of dairy and 10 percent of beef herds are bred through the process.

“Fewer male parents are required to produce the same total number of offspring when using this method. Therefore artificial insemination can be used to increase male selection intensity, and hence to increase the average genetic merit of offspring. In a closed population, this can be translated into an increased rate of genetic improvement.”

He said bulls of superior genetics were quite expensive hence the breeding technique enables small scale farmers to utilise genetics from superior bulls that they could otherwise not afford to buy outright.

“We believe artificial insemination encourages cattle owners to become better managers and to do a better of breeding and record keeping which is critical for farmers.”

Mr Tavirimirwa said the process also prevents the spread of venereal diseases such as brucellosis as farmers will be using tested semen for breeding.

Matabeleland South provincial livestock specialist, Mrs Simangaliphi Ngwabi said artificial insemination was important especially to communal farmers as it enhances communities’ breeds and improves productivity.

“It is important in communal areas where we are mostly worried about breeds as one can inject semen of their choice. It’s a way of improving productivity although using advanced technologies. It’s good although it needs farmers to be well trained,” she said.

The country has been on a drive to improve its national herd after consecutive droughts killed thousands of livestock resulting in the national herd going down from 6 million in 1996 to just above 5 million at present.

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