Estimates range from a low of approximately 0.25 liters per day to a high of about two liters per day during their seven month long lactation period. The amount of milk produced increases during the wet season, as forage resources are more abundant and calves tend to be dropped during this time. Low animal fertility is also characteristic of the livestock kept by enset cultivators. Mortality rates are high and enset cultivators typically buy and sell livestock frequently. Low productivity and high rates of mortality and turnover strongly suggest that the livestock production system is under significant stress.
Current data indicate that the most severe constraint is lack of adequate forage.
A decrease in the amount of land allocated for grazing per village, and the transformation of some common grazing land to crop production have contributed to this decline in forage resources. Although it is typical for farmers throughout the world to remember the past as a time of plenty in contrast to the troubles of the present, the consistency of accounts in which farmers kept far more livestock in the past than they do now is striking. Preliminary research strongly suggests that there has been a serious decline in the numbers of livestock held by farmers on a household basis. What data are available suggest that a typical household kept seven to eight head of cattle, a number of small stock, and possibly a horse or two during Haile Selassie's time, while now the average household keeps two to three cattle, and maybe two or three sheep or goats. This negative downward cycle is a result of increased demands for cultivated land as a result of increasing population pressure.