In Ethiopia, to meet the ever-increasing demand for milk, milk products and beef and thus contribute to economic growth, genetic improvement of the indigenous cattle has been proposed as one of the options. Genetic improvement of the indigenous cattle, basically focusing on crossbreeding, has been practised for the last five decades but with little success. Selection as an improvement tool has been given less emphasis. There are no systematic and organized selection schemes for cattle genetic improvement in Ethiopia. Additionally, there is little genetic improvement work targeted at improving beef production in Ethiopia so far. .
