The Kenana is an important cattle breed indigenous to northern Sudan with potential as a producer of both milk and beef. This document reports results of analyses of data collected on Kenana cattle at Um Banein Livestock Research Station from 1957 to 1984. Reproductive performance, reflected by both age at first calving and calving interval, improved throughout the 1960s but deteriorated during the 1970s and 1980s. Calf birth weights also reached a peak in the late 1960s and have declined since. Milk production parameters showed a pattern similar to that exhibited by weight and reproduction. About 40% of all deaths on the station occurred in the period 1970-75. These trends are believed to be related to high stocking rates from the late 1960s onwards, coupled with declining rainfall and the inability of the station management to assure adequate basic and supplementary feed supplies on a long-term, year-round basis.
A destocking policy carried out in recent years appears to have reversed the declining trends revealed by the analyses. Suggestions for future management and research are made.
KEY WORDS
Sudan//Kenana cattle//reproduction//growth//lactation//milk//mortality//management/
