Impact of livestock hygiene education programs on mastitis in smallholder water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Chitwan, Nepal

Abstract

A project implemented from 2003-2005 trained women in Chitwan District, Nepal, in hygienic dairy production using a process of social mobilization. The aim of this research was to assess if the prevalence of mastitis in water buffalo in the households of women who were trained was lower one year after training than in untrained households, if the training influenced knowledge and practices for the prevention or control of mastitis, and if these practices and knowledge were associated with a lower prevalence of mastitis. A total of 202 households from Eastern and Western Chitwan District were included in the study. Of these, 60 households had participated in the project and 142 had not. Milk samples were collected from 129 households (33 project households and 96 non-project households). Clinical mastitis was determined using visual inspection of udders and detection of macroscopic clots and flakes in milk. The California Mastitis Test was used to diagnose sub-clinical mastitis from milk samples, and the IDEXX SNAP test to identify the presence of tetracycline residues. The prevalence of mastitis in trained households (39.4%) was 43.78% of that in untrained households (60.4%), lower but not significantly so (p = 0.08, 95% CI 0.17-1.12). Thirteen indicators of knowledge or practice for the control or prevention of mastitis were more likely to occur in trained households, four significantly so (not consuming milk from sick buffalo (p=0.001), using soap to wash hands before milking (p=0.001), discarding milk after antibiotic usage (p=0.01), and choosing appropriate flooring for their livestock (p=0.03)). Trained households that discarded milk from sick buffalo were 2.96 times more likely to have at least one animal with mastitis in the household (p=0.03, 95% CI 1.15-7.65). Trained households that knew to wash buffalos teats after milking were less likely (OR 0.25) to have mastitis in their herd ((p=0.02,. Of the 138 buffalos tested, only one tested positive for tetracycline residues.

Prevalence and associated risk factors of bovine mastitis in Ashulia, Dhaka, Bangladesh

“…The training protocol or duration of training might be insufficient to train the farmers properly in this area. Furthermore, in the present study, the farmers who maintained hygiene of the udders and washed udders regularly using an antiseptic and water after milking significantly reduced mastitis in their farms, which is similar to the previous report in India (Ng et al, 2010). This Indian study reported that among 202 farmers, 138 washed the udders after milking, and mastitis was detected in one farm among 138 dairy farms.…”

“…Interestingly, most of the highly educated farmers got training on scientific dairy farming in this study. However, one research group from India reported that training of the farmers could reduce the incidence of mastitis in their dairy farms (43%), but it was not significant in comparison with non-trained farmers (60%) in India (Ng et al, 2010). In our study, only 5% of farmers got training on scientific dairy farming which has no significant impact on mastitis control or reduction of its prevalence in the study area.…”

Phenotypic and genotypic detection of virulence factors of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from clinical and subclinical mastitis in cattle and water buffaloes from different farms of Sadat City in Egypt

“…The gained CMT and clinical mastitis results for buffaloes was 75.51% nearly similar to Linda et al . [ 19 ] who found that prevalence of clinically mastitic buffaloes in hygienically untrained households was 60.4%. Whilst, CMT of apparently healthy buffaloes gave 45.83% indicating subclinical mastitis this result was nearly similar to Akhtar et al .…”

Assessment of sub-clinical mastitis and its associated risk factors in dairy livestock of Lamjung, Nepal

“…Approximately 10% of total value of milk sales is lost each year as a result of decreased milk production, increased milk replacement cost, discarded milk, drug costs, veterinary fees and labor costs. The cost of clinical mastitis has also been estimated to be $107 US per clinical episode with over 70% of the cost associated with decreased milk production and milk withheld from the market, over 20% with drugs, veterinary costs and replacement costs, and the remainder with labor 4 .In Nepal, according to Ng et al 5 largest proportion of losses in milk results from decreased milk production i.e., Rs. 4287 or USD 63 per buffalo per lactation.…”