Age and Body Weight at Puberty and Service per Conception of Ongole Crossbred Heifer on Smallholder Farming System

Abstract

Age at puberty of a heifer is an important parameter to determine its reproductive longevity. This study was done to identify the age and body weight at puberty and service per conception of Ongole crossbred heifer on the smallholders farming system, in Tri Andhini Rejo cattle farmer group, Tegalrejo, Yogyakarta. The observation had been done on 37 heads of heifer from October 2012 to October 2013. When heifers showed rst signs of estrus, the data of age, weight and body size were collected. The heifers were weighed and measured then be grouped based on its puberty age, which predicted according to the turn of cattles incisors (Id, I1, and I2). The data of puberty age were calculated and analyzed descriptively, while the body weight and the body size of the heifers were analysed using one-way ANOVA test. Result of this study showed that the age at puberty of Ongole crossbred heifers were achieved on the four different age levels: Id (1.5 years), I1 (2 years), I2 (3 years) and I3 (> 3 years), with the percentages were 32.4%, 40.5%, 24.3% and 2.7%, respectively. The average of body weights at puberty were 212.2±35.2 kg (Id), 232.5±35.0 kg (I1), 202.7±20.3 kg (I2), and 219 kg (I3). Service per conception were 2.3, 1.9, 1.4 and 1.0 for Id, I1, I2 and I3, respectively. It can be concluded that age and body weight at puberty were varied, might be resulted from varied management of cattle keeping by smallholders farmers.