Observational Study of Major Dairy Health Problems in Dembi Dolo Town and Sayo District, West Oromia Region

Husen M; Lulu D; Roba M; Bultum N; Yusuf M

Research Article

Austin J Vet Sci. 2023; 10(1): 1115.

Observational Study of Major Dairy Health Problems in Dembi Dolo Town and Sayo District, West Oromia Region

Husen M¹*, Lulu D¹, Roba M¹, Bultum N¹ and Yusuf M²

¹Dale Sadi Livestock and Agriculture Office, Ethiopia

²Haramaya University, College of Veterinary Medicine, P.O.Box. 138, Diredawa, Oromia, Ethiopia

*Corresponding author: Husen M Dale Sadi Livestock and Agriculture Office, Ethiopia

Received: December 30, 2022 Accepted: February 10, 2023; Published: February 17, 2023

Abstract

The study was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020 dairy cows in Dembi dolo town and Sayo district to assess the major observed health problem associated risk factors. The total of 475 dairy cows was included in the current observational study. From this selected dairy cows of 475; 201 in Sayo District and 274 in Dembi dolo town were examined for different health problems. Observational study was implemented by conducting regular visit during the study period with the interval of once per three weeks. Accordingly, Dermathophilosis (25.1%), mange mites (18.3%), tick infestation (30.1), lice infestation (20.2), retained fetal membrane (3.1), dystocia (2.8) as common reproductive problem of dairy cows. Infectious disease like clinical mastitis (5.9%), black leg (1.9%), lumpy skin disease (0.63%), foot and mouth disease (0.84) were also recorded. The result obtained from observational study showed that these major health problems hinder success of dairy cows operation and future expansion. Therefore further studies should be preceded to develop a control and prevention methods to improve the productivity of the sector.

Keywords: Sayo; Dembi dolo; Dairy cattle; Observational study; Reproductive problem; Skin disease

Introduction

In sub Saharan Africa live stock plays a crucial role in economic development of the countries and living standard of rural communities by serving as source of income in which their production accounts for approximately 30% of the total agricultural GDP and 16% of national foreign currency earning and for food [9].

Export of live animals and animal products make substantial contribution to the foreign exchange earnings of many countries [10]. As in many other countries, live stock plays multiple roles in Ethiopia being a major natural source of food, industrial raw materials, export earnings and form an integral part of agriculture production system [7]. Live stock production constitutes one of the principal means of achieving and improving living standards in many regions of the agricultural productive system in Ethiopia [4].

Ethiopia is one of the few countries in the world with high live stock potential. The live stock population of the countries comprises about 31 million of cattle, 23 million of sheep, 18 million Goat, 7 million of equines, 1.2 million camels, 53 million poultry and immense bee and fisheries [6]. This population ranked Ethiopia, first from and tenth from the world in live stock population. However, their productivity is low despite their large population due to varies constraints such as diseases, poor nutrition, poor management practices and low productive performance of the indigenous breeds [12].

The low cattle productivity in tropics is attributed to poor genetic potential, mal nutrition, in adequate management practices (since most of the cattle are located in rural areas where traditional activities are highly practiced), high incidence of disease and parasitic burden which cause high live stock morbidity and mortality [19].

Disease of dairy animals that cause morbidity and mortality are the major problem faced in racing dairy cattle which occurs as a result of complex interaction of the management practices and environment, infectious and the animal itself. These causes ‘annual losses of billions of dollars, a large portion of which is attributable a treatment costs and decrease feed efficiency and growth rate [16]. Therefore the efficient production of live stock that yields milky is a major concern of the society [15].

It is an established fact that development of urban and per-urban dairy production requires above all a sound knowledge of the magnitude, and predisposing factors of diseases with it is control and preventive methods [18]. Many diseases out breaks could be minimized or prevented proper management and nutritional practices [8]. According to ILCA (1998) [10], good management which decrease major and increase feed efficiency, breeding and feeding practices that accelerate the growth of animals (shorten the period from birth to marketing or reproduction, increase efficiency of conversion of feed to milk or meat).

Small scale urban and rural dairy cattle using cross breed cattle is raising as an important business center in urban and per-urban surroundings’ of Dembi dolo that are aimed to utilizing of milk and milk products to the individual and also sociaty. But productivity is not as much as farmers’ expectation due to different disease condition and poor management practices. However comprehensive studies made on dairy health are limited. Therefore, this study is important to be performed earlier as urbanization of the area is increasing and help to promote the desired output of dairy products.

Therefore, the major objective of the current study was concentrating on the following major objectives:

 To assess the major health problems of dairy cows and associated risk factor

Materials and Methods

Study Area

The study was conducted in and around Dembi dolo town and situated at 8º56ʹ30ʹʹ-8º59ʹ30ʺN latitude and 37º47ʹ30ʺ- 37º55ʹ15ʺ E longitude in centraloromia, Ethiopia, 653 km west of Addis Ababa. The latitude of the area ranges from 110-2750 msl, characterized by warm temperature weather which is locally called Bada dare (mid latitude).The temperature ranges from 29oC-35oC with average temperature of 22oC. It receives a mean annual rain fall ranging from 1500-1600 mm with an average of 900 mm. The highest rain fall concentration occurs from June to September and the mean monthly relative humidity varies from 64.6% in August to 35.8% in December, which is comfortable for human animal life.

Study Animal Population

Study was conducted according to the availability of dairy cattle in urban or per-urban area of Dembi dolo and sayo district from the November 2019 to April 2020. Small holder dairy cattle found in Dembi dolo and Sayo district area, both kept under intensive semi-intensive area and animals at different age productive status were all included in the study.

Sampling and Sample Size Determination

In the current study both large small scale dairy cattle were considered based on management practices activity of health services and willingness to participate in the study. Accordingly the total of sayo district and Dembi dolo town dairy cow were selected. From these selected dairy cows 201 from Dembi dolo town and 274 from sayo were examined for different health problems in which all age group were included. However, young animal were not included in study of reproductive health problem.

Study Design

Observational study was conducted on dairy cows to see the occurrence of major health problems in the study area. To do this observational data collection format (Annex 1) was prepared and filled so as to increase the reliability of information collected in observation. On the observational study techniques like knowledge of clinical diagnosis, history taking, and response to previous treatment were tools used to group the disease and problems in systematic and comprehensive manner.

Data Management and Analysis

Finally, the data obtained from observational study was entered into micro soft-excel spread sheet and coded appropriately. For the data analysis SPSS version 17 was used and the prevalence was calculated by dividing the number of positive animals by the total sampled population. The chi-square (x2) test was used to access the association among risk factors, namely the age, sex, body condition, management system with the occurrence of the disease. In all the analysis, confidence level was held at 95% and statistical analysis was consider significant at p<0.05.

Results

Out of the total 475 dairy cattle examined, 119 (25.1%), 87 (18.3%), 143 (30.1), 96 (20.2%) were found harbor dermatophilosis, mengemite, tick infestation, and lice infestation, respectively as shown (Table 1).

Table 1: Over prevalence of skin disease of dairy cattle in the study area (475 samples).




  
    Skin disease
    No of positives
    percentage
    Stand Error
    95% con. Interval
  
  
    Lower
    Upper
  
  
    dermatophilosis
    119
    25.1
    4.2
    21.1
    29.1
  
  
    Mange mite
    87
    18.3
    3.6
    14.9
    21.7
  
  
    Tick infestation
    143
    30.1
    4.4
    26.7
    34.5
  
  
    Licinfestation
    96
    20.2
    3.6
    16.8
    24



Table 1: Over prevalence of skin disease of dairy cattle in the study area (475 samples).

The study found that the prevalence of ecto parasitic infestation compared with different risk factors like age group, district, body condition, management status, tick were the major health problems relation with skin infestation as compared to other problems, followed by dermatophilosis and lice. The study accessed the occurrence of tick was significantly higher (p<0.05) in young animals, whereas for others (lice, mengemite and dermatophilosis) it is significantly higher (p<0.05) in adult animals. The comparison with district shown that prevalence of tick is significantly higher in Dembi dolo whereas there is no significant difference (P>0.05) in poor body conditioned animals, while the others were more significant in medium conditioned animals. The comparison with management system revealed that the prevalence tick infestation and dermatophilosis to be significantly higher in animals kept under semi-intensive management system as indicated in (Table 2).

Table 2: prevalence of skin disease of dairy cattle compared with different risk factors.




  
    Factors
    Catagories
    No of animal examined
    Prevalence
  
  
    Ectoparasite infestation
  
  
    Tick
    Lice
    Mange mite
    Dermatophilosis
  
  
    Age
    young
    152
    87(57%)*
    21(13.8%)
    25(16.4)
    38(25%)
  
  
    mid age
    92
    19(20.6)
    7(7.6)
    13(14.1%)
    16(17.4%)
  
  
    Adult
    231
    37(16%)
    68(29.4)*
    49(21.2%)*
    65(28.1%)*
  
  
    District
    Sayo
    201
    34(16.9%)
    39(19.4%)
    35(17.4%)
    45(22.4%)
  
  
    Dembi dolo
    274
    109(39.8%)*
    57(20.8%)
    52(19%)
    74(27%)
  
  
    Body condition
    Good
    340
    55(16.1%)
    49(14.4%)
    22(6.4%)
    40(11%)
  
  
    Medium
    114
    68(59.6%)*
    35(30.7%)
    61(53.5%)*
    72(63%)*
  
  
    Poor
    21
    20(95%)
    12(57.1%)*
    4(19%)
    7(33%)
  
  
    Management
    Intensive
    289
    57(19.7%)
    59(20.4%)
    25(8.7%)
    45(15.6%)
  
  
    Semi-intensive
    186
    86(46.3%)*
    37(19.9%)
    62(33.3%)
    74(39.8%)*



Table 2: prevalence of skin disease of dairy cattle compared with different risk factors.

Reproductive and Other Health Problems

Dystocia were the major health problem in the area with a prevalence of 19 (5.9%), 9 (2.8%), 10 (3.1%), 9 (2.8%) respectively. Comparison was made to see the association of reproductive health problems with different risk factors, it was found that the prevalence of clinical mastitis is significantly higher (p<0.05) in Holleta district, older and caws having more than two calving. Whereas no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) was observed for other reproductive problems like retained fetal membrane, abortion and dystocia when compared with district, age group, parity, management system and housing (shown in Table 3 and 4).

Table 3: Prevalence of common health problems of dairy cattle in the study area.




  
    Disease problems
    Specific diseases
    No of animals examined
    No of positives (prevalence)
    Stand Error
    95% confidence interval
  
  
    lower
    Upper
  
  
    Reproductive problems
    Clinical mastitis
    323
    19(5.9)
    1.7
    2.3
    8.7
  
  
    Abortion
    9(2.8)
    1.1
    0.8
    3
  
  
    Retained FM
    10(3.1)
    1.3
    0.8
    3.4
  
  
    Dystocia
    9(2.8)
    1.3
    0.6
    3.2
  
  
    Infectious
    Black leg
    475
    9(1.9)
    1.1
    0.8
    3
  
  
    Diarrhoea
    5(1.1)
    0.9
    0.2
    2
  
  
    LSD
    3(0.63)
    0.6
    0
    1.2
  
  
    FMD
    4(0.84)
    0.6
    0.2
    1.4
  
  
    Non infectious problems
    Digestive Problems
    475
    3(0.63)
    0.6
    0
    1.2
  
  
    Hoof over growth
    1(0.21)
    0.2
    0
    4
  
  
    Mineral deficiency
    14(3)
    2
    1
    5



Table 3: Prevalence of common health problems of dairy cattle in the study area.

Table 4: Prevalence major reproductive health problems with different risk factors.




  
    Factor
    Clinical mastitis prevalence
    Abortion prevalence
    RFM prevalence
    Dystocia prevalence
  
  
    District
    Sayo
    142
    15(10.6%)*
    5(3.5%)
    6(4.2%)
    5(3.5%)
  
  
    Dembi dolo
    181
    4(2.2%)
    4(2.2%)
    4(2.2%)
    4(2.2%)
  
  
    Age
    Adult
    231
    17(7.4%)*
    7(3%)
    6(2.6%)
    6(2.6%)
  
  
    Medium age
    92
    2(2.1%)
    2(2.1%)
    4(4.3%)
    3(3.3%)
  
  
    Parity
    1stparity
    89
    1(1.1%)*
    3(3.4%)
    3(3.3%)
    2(2.2%)
  
  
    2-3 calving
    10
    3(30%)
    1(10%)
    1(10%)
    1(10%)
  
  
    Above 4
    224
    15(6.7%)
    5(2.2%)
    6(2.7%)
    6(2.7%)
  
  
    MGT status
    Intensive
    190
    10(5.3%)
    6(3.2%)
    6(3.2%)
    2(1.1%)
  
  
    Semi-intensive
    133
    9(6.7%)
    3(2.2%)
    4(3%)
    7(5.3%)
  
  
    Housing
    Good
    263
    13(4.9%)
    5(1.9%)
    6(2.28%)
    9(3.4%)
  
  
    Medium
    56
    3(5.4%)
    1(1.8%)
    1(1.8%)
    0(0)
  
  
    Poor
    4
    3(75%)
    3(75%)
    3(75%0
    0)
  
  
    *P<0.0



Table 4: Prevalence major reproductive health problems with different risk factors.

Besides these there are another infectious disease that were found to be potential health problem to dairy cattle, these are black leg, diarrhea, lumpy skin disease and foot and mouth disease with a prevalence of 9 (1.9%), 5 (1.1%), 3 (0.63%) and 4 (0.84%), respectively. Even if their occurrence low black leg was found to be relatively higher but no statistically significant difference was observed among the different risk factors. Other miscellaneous problems that were found to affect dairy cattle productivity were digestive problem, hoof over growth and mineral deficiencies with prevalence of 3 (0.63%), 1 (0.21%) and 14 (3%), respectively. Even though they were diagnosed in the herds they have no significant difference with different risk factors.

Discussions

In the present observation study different diseases of dairy cattle were recorded and categorized under reproductive, Infectious, metabolic skin problem and deficiency diseases. The study revealed that, Dermatophilosis, (25.1%), mange mite (18.3%), tick infestation (30.1%), and lice infestation (20.2%) were the common skin disease of dairy cattle Sayo District and Dembi dolo town.

The occurrence of tick infestation was associated with age, management, study district, and body condition of the animals. The prevalence of tick in the current study was higher than the report from Jima, Oromia region of Ethiopia by Belay et al., 2011. These could be due variation in agro ecological and animal husbandry practice. On the other hand similar to the present finding high prevalence of (25.6%) was tick also reported by Belew and Mekonnen (2011) from holleta town. This indicates importance of tick in the study area. According to Radostits et al., (2003) [16] ticks are known to be vectors of economically important diseases such anaplasmosis, babesiosis and cowdriosis.

The study indicate that dystocia (2.8%), abortion (2.8%), retained fetal membrane (3.1%) were the major reproductive health problem. Similar problem with different percentage of occurrence were also reported by different scholar [14,21]. This variation could be due to difference in the degree of exposure to environmental hazards, availability of animal health services, management system and record keeping practices. The 2.8% prevalence of abortion in the present finding was in agreement with the finding [2] who reported the abortion rate in the range of 1.7%-20.2% from the central high land of Ethiopia. Similarly Berisha 1990 also reported 2.2% prevalence from Addis Ababa which was nearly the same with current findings.

The present finding it was also showed that the occurrence of retained fetal membrane (3.1%). This finding is lower than the report by [18] from central highland of Ethiopia (14.7%) and Gebremariam, 1996 in Mekelle (16.8%).

Similarly the percentage of occurrence of dystocia in the current finding was also lower than the previous report of 5.5%, 7.8% and 13.9 by [13,14,21] respectively. Variations; in nutritional status, genetic difference management status, age, parity, health problems could be the reason for the different between the current and the previous reports.

The present study has also illustrated the occurrence of 5.9% prevalence clinical mastitis and it was significantly associated with study district, age and parity. The present finding was lower than the report of 35.25% by Belay et al., [3] and 45.8% by kedija et al., [11]. Such variation in the prevalence could be due to the fact the current report was based on the clinical cases while the previous reports were includes both clinical and non-clinical form of mastitis and moreover variation in hygiene of the cows’ house, level of management, control measure could also be the reason. Infectious disease like black leg, foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease were also observed in current study areas. These findings were also reported by Yohannes, [20] from Alamata northern Ethiopia. In conclusion the current study has demonstrated that the existence of different health problems in dairy cattle located in Sayo District and Dembi dolo town.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The current study has demonstrated that the existence risk factors in dairy cows located in Sayo District and Dembi dolo town. Skin disease like; tick infestation, dermatophilosis, mange mite, and lice infestation were major diseases affecting dairy cattle production in the study area. Moreover, this study also demonstrated relatively high occurrence of mastitis. In addition, retained fetal membrane, abortion, dystocia were common reproductive health problem and they are also indicators of the existence of disease that cause reproduction wastage. The study has also showed that dairy cattle in Dembi dolo town were affected than those in Sayo District. Generally this study demonstrated that the existence of different health problems that hinders success of dairy Cattle future development of dairy Cows in Dembi dolo town and Sayo District.

Therefore based on the above conclusions the following recommendations are forwarded.

Improvements of feeding, housing and health management system is mandatory to alleviate the problem.

Training on basic knowledge of husbandry and health management practice should be provided to the Cattle owners, attendants and other participants.

Veterinary clinics must be strengthened in man power, equipment’s and drugs.

Shortage of veterinary professionals, accessibility of drugs should be solved.

Further detail studies should be conducted to develop strategic disease control scheme to monitor and control the major dairy health problems

References

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Citation: Husen M, Lulu D, Roba M, Bultum N, Yusuf M. Observational Study of Major Dairy Health Problems in Dembi Dolo Town and Sayo District, West Oromia Region. Austin J Vet Sci. 2023; 10(1): 1115.

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