Abdissa Lemma*, Abeje Abera and Dereje FUFA

Department of Veterinary Epidemiology, Asella Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Oromia, Ethiopia

*Corresponding Author: Abdissa Lemma, Department of Veterinary Epidemiology, Asella Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Received: September 13, 2023 Published: October 18, 2023

Abstract

Background: The major constraints to herd expansion and genetic improvement in the dairy sector are calf mortality. The calf morbidity and mortality studies in Africa indicate high calf loss both in the subsistence and market-oriented dairy production systems. The study was cross-sectional study that conducted December 2022 to June 2023.

Objective: the objectives of the present study were: To assess the major causes of morbidity in calves in the study areas and to identify risk factors associated and mortality in smallholder dairy farms areas.

Methods: The data for this particular study was collected from 77 farms which means, 34 from Shashamane and 43 from Negele Arsi purposely selected dairy farms respectively, based on the size of farm, the willingness of the farm owners to be part of this study.

Results: Of the 123 calves that were monitored from birth to 6 months of age, 52.03% (64) were female and 47.96% (59) were male. Based on sex, 18 (14.63%) male and 22 (17.89%) female calves were found infected with coccidian oocyst (Table 2). whereas 5 (4.07%) male and 4 (3.25%) female calves were found infected with ascaris. In addition to other health problems, parasitic infection was the most prevalent in investigated smallholder dairy farms. Out of 123 examined calves, 15 (12.20%) and 2(1.63%) calves aged less than 2 months were positive for Coccidia and positive for Ascaris, respectively.

Conclusion: Generally, housing hygiene, floor condition, introduction of new animals and calf size in the farm seem to be the major factors for diseases incidences in the present study.

Keywords: Calf; Diarrhea; Ascaris; Coccidian; Prevalence

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Citation

Citation: Abdissa Lemma. “Survey on Assessment of the Major Calf Morbidity and Mortality in Small Scale Dairy Farm in Negele Arsi and Shashamane Districts of West Arsi Zone Oromia Region".Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 5.11 (2023): 35-40.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Abdissa Lemma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.