Transforming the Sustainability of Omani Dairy Farming through Management and Precision Technology Adoption

The transition towards more sustainable dairy farming is a central element on the Omani agenda for the reconstruction of the livestock production sector. Omani milk production estimated at 92 thousand tons only. Meanwhile milk productivity of local breeds in Oman is low of 3-6 kg/cow/day, which is low in comparison to Holstein Frisian (HF) cows that produce 15-17 kg/cow/day under the Omani production conditions (which is also low compared to the exotic breeds productivity under their native environments (i.e. average cows productivity in Germany = 30 kg/cow/day). Over years, the local dairy breeds population in Oman declined (i.e. exotic breeds share from the national herd increased from 2% to 8% between 2005 and 2015). The national dairy milk herd population is estimated at 179 thousand cows (NCSI, 2018) with an estimated production of only 0.5 ton/cow/year (i.e. German average national herds milk production = 9 tons/cow/year). However, it was not possible to benchmark local breeds (such as the Northern-Batina breed) productivity with the exotic breeds due to the lack of information in the literature about the Northern-Batina dairy breed performance and feeding behavior. The present project aims at enhancing the national milk production of Oman in a sustainable way. This has previously not been possible due the lack of farm management and technologies that could induce real improvements in milk performance, animal health and overall farm economics. Recently (data from years 2018 and 2017, not published yet), we examined the animal growth acceleration strategy in the agricultural station at SQU by introducing a new feeding strategy for newly born calves. This plan provided effeient and economic production solution by reducing age at first calving of lactating cows from 36 months to 24 months. Such a strategy was successful under the harsh environmental conditions of Oman, it further induced real changes on herd management which ultimately if utilized will help farmers to maximize productivity in a shorter time, thereby gaining profit faster, making dairying attractive for them. Moreover, precision dairy technology such as Oestrus and lameness detectors, and animal behaviour detectors, will allow farmers to make more timely and informed decisions associated with behavioural signs detected resulting in an improved productivity, profitability, resource use efficiency, animal health and welfare. Furthermore, in order to improve the productivity of local breeds, its fundamental to understand their performance, nutritional requirements, and feeding behaviour at the first level, which we also suggest in this project by establishing the North Batina local dairy breed research. Moreover, the data generated from this research will be modeled to enable us developing a system that is capable to accurately predict productivity traits such as lactation curve and growth performance traits, or behaviour traits such as feeding and laying behaviour of local and exotic breeds under different environments in Oman. Ultimately, the project will come up with developed decision support tools for dairy producers in Oman. The outcome of this Project will further allow us to recommend suitable management strategies to be adapted by farmers to enhance dairy productivity and profitability in Oman.