The Measurement of Nilotic Cattle in South Sudan

Abstract

The present work was conducted to measure external of body length for Nilotic cattle using external body measurements. A total of 36South Sudanese indigenous Niloticwas used for the study. In two areas in south Sudan upperNile state and centre equatorial state during November and December Measurement of heart-girth measurement (chest circumference )is commonly used to estimate dairy heifer body weight from previously derived equations or tables .in this experiment ,variability of heart-girth measurements as they are taken in the field was analysed to determine the standard deviation within group of 36 nilotic cattle of various ages 3,4,5,7,9,11,and 14 years .standard deviations were 7.56,15.29,16.42,11.33,9.64and 14.84 respectably for stature ,chest circumference ,top line ,hump,horn, among 36 cattle. Determination of live weight of animal is necessary to calculate the feed requirement, animal growth and estimation of animal’s cash value as well as conducting breeding studies .field experiments and estimation of dressed carcass weight . Key words: Body measurements, stature, chest circumference, top line , hump and horn, of Nilotic sanga cattle.