Preferences on breeding practices and breeds of cattle and goat in Sandakan Sabah

• Main Author: Lam, Lai Yan
• Format: Academic Exercise
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sabah 2017
• Subjects: S Agriculture (General)
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24007/1/Preferences%20on%20breeding%20practices%20and%20breeds%20of%20cattle%20and%20goat%20in%20Sandakan%20Sabah.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24007/

Malaysia has reached in self-sufficiency in non-ruminant products such as pork, poultry and eggs. However, the self-sufficiency level in the production of ruminant products is still below 30% and this might due to the limitation of existing breeding policies in beef and goat production in Malaysia. So it is important to evaluate the farmer's opinion on breeding practices and choice of breeds of cattle and goat. Moreover, existing breeding practices should be investigated for sustainable development of beef and goat production in Malaysia. Therefore, to investigate the farmer's opinion on breeding practices and choice of breeds, data was collected from 18 beef and goat farmers in Sandakan. The data collected and evaluated revealed that all farmers in Sandakan practice only the natural mating and they are facing the problem of shortage of quality breeding males. On the other hand, farmers in Sandakan have very limited option in choosing the breeds of beef cattle and goat. Finally it can be concluded that the farmer's perceptions should be taken in consideration for choice of beef and goat breeds and by regular replacing of quality breeding males or by introducing artificial insemination (AI). Inbreeding should be prevented for sustainable development of cattle and goat production in Malaysia.