Characterization of a small herd of Butana cattle Northern Sudan

Abstract

Milk production records of Butana cattle maintained at Atbara Research Station for over 
thirty (1970 / 2001) were obtained to investigate some production reproductive traits from. 
Traits chosen were lactation yield lactation length, age at first calving and calving interval. 
Data revealed a total lactation yield of  1898.94±22.41 kg; first 100-days milk yield of  
840.61±8.84 daily milk yield of 6.49±0.08 kg; lactation length of 294.75±2.00 days; age at 
first calving of 43.63±0.21 months and calving interval of 391.48±2.83 days. Lactation 
yields were highly affected by both parity order and the linear regression of lactation length 
(P<0.01), and by calving interval (P<0.05). However, the yield of the first 100-days of 
lactation was highly affected by age at first calving (P<0.01). 
Data on age at first calving and calving interval was divided into three classes; The first 
class ranged between 23.7 and 38.8 months, the second class ranged between 362 and 395 
days.