Estimation of the milk production of suckler cows raised on natural pasture in the peri-urban area of Southern Bénin

The cows of local breeds raised in the traditional breeding system of Bénin are qualified as poor dairy cows. However, based on the quantities of milk obtained after the milking of these cows, this judgment does not reflect the real performance of the latter, which are rather suckler cows. To be objective, the portion of milk consumed by the calf must be included in the estimates. Thus, the study's main objective was to estimate the total quantity of milk produced by suckler cows fed exclusively on natural pasture in different peri-urban production systems in southern Benin. Therefore, the daily milk production of White Fulani (Yakana), Lagunaire (Bobodji) and Goudali suckler cows was evaluated between November 2022 and February 2023 in selected peri-urban herds in the municipality of Abomey-Calavi. The cows were milked once a day and the milk offtakes were weighed. In addition, the quantity of milk consumed by 22 suckling calves from different crosses was estimated using the double weighing or weighing-suckling-weighing method. The average daily milk consumption was 1.30 ± 0.37 kg for Yakana calves, 0.90 ± 0.35 kg for crossbred Bobodji x Yakana, and 1.20 ± 0.46 kg for crossbred Yakana x Goudali. However, whatever the breed of the calf, this daily consumption reached its peak between weeks 3 and 6 of the mother's lactation. The daily milk production of Yakana suckler cows was 2.9 ± 0.85 kg, compared to 3.20 ± 0.51 kg for Goudali cows and 2.20 ± 0.78 kg for Bobodji cows. These results indicate that the milk yield of suckler cows in the traditional peri-urban breeding system is relatively higher than that generally reported in the literature. It can be concluded that cows of local breeds raised in Benin in the traditional system, without feed supplements, can be qualified as good milkers in their breeding conditions.