Community-based selection indicators in Borgou cattle farming systems in north Benin

Owning the best productive animals is among of the production goals of cattle farmers. This study aimed at exploring the selection indicators used by farmers to identify best promising cattle. Data were collected through surveys from 105 cattle farmers identified as Borgou cattle farmers. The data collected enabled to determine the scores and indices of each criterion mentioned according to the performance sought by the farmers. In general, farmers mentioned several indicators (≥ 5) for each performance sought and considered that the first three of each list were the best. The results showed that for the selection of animals for the improvement of dairy performance, farmers considered long teat (index=0.28; rank=1), the presence of veins in the udder (index=0.18; rank=2) and well-shaped udder (index=0.17; rank=3) as the three main best of the nine indicators mentioned. For meat production, the best selection indicators mentioned were thoracic development (index=0.23), body length (index=0.19), and straight legs (index=0.17) among the seven indicators mentioned. For selecting breeding males, five major indicators were mentioned and indicators such as large scrotum, long tail, and large hump were ranked as the top (index=0.31;0.22 and 0.19 respectively). As for the selection of breeding females, farmers mentioned the presence of large rump much more (rank=1); docility (rank=2), and straight legs of the animal (rank=3). This study enables to take into account cattle farmers’ knowledge for designing community-based conservation of the Borgou cattle in its native range.