Suboptimal milk production and reproductive performance manifest in postpartum dairy cows likely reflect associations with the characteristics of herd management conditions endometritis infection. The hypothesis was that endometritis, cow- herd-levels variables, combination all these variables are associated suboptimal yield zero-grazed managed on smallholder farms. This research conducted Gasa...

The study was conducted in Assosa district of Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, western Ethiopia, to assess major farm enterprises, agricultural risks and demand for micro-insurance services. Two peasant associations namely, Selga-23 and Kushmengel were selected to represent settler and native farming communities, respectively. Using simple randomized techniques, 86 respondents were selected fo...

This paper challenges the notion that the incorporation of actors from civil society into hybrid governance arrangements improves outcomes and legitimacy. Multi-stakeholder collaborations are a popular hybrid governance approach to development, including NGOs’ work to integrate smallholder farmers into supermarket supply chains. As a result, NGOs’ service provision role has expanded to include ...

The aim of the present work was to study the mode of the induction of the biosynthesis of macedocin, the lantibiotic produced by Streptococcus macedonicus ACA-DC 198. Macedocin was produced when the strain was grown in milk but not in MRS or M17 broth. No autoinduction mechanism was observed. Production did not depend on the presence of lactose or galactose in the culture medium or on a cocultu...

Previous constant-parameter demand models have estimated generic advertising elasticities for cheese to be below that for fluid milk. We relax this assumption, allowing for generic advertising response to vary over time. Cheese advertising elasticities were found below fluid milk up until the mid-1990s; average elasticities since have been similar. A benefit-cost ratio of the farmer-funded gene...

The seed industry in Southern Africa has been radically transformed by a policy of liberalisation and privatisation started under structural adjustment. Traditionally under the domain of parastatals, seed research, production and distribution has been criticised for failing to provide modern variety seed to smallholder farmers. However, the private companies which have stepped in to replace see...

Raising dairy heifers from birth to calving has been found to comprise the second largest expense on the dairy farm towards the production of milk, while deriving no revenue until the onset of lactation (Heinrichs, 1993). Therefore, many experiments involving dairy heifers have focused on ways to minimize the costs associated with the growth period or decreasing the unproductive period of the a...