The effect of a community-based animal health service programme on livestock mortality, off-take and selected husbandry applications

A review of the smallholder dairy production in Malawi was conducted using livestock annual reports and other literature that was supplemented with primary data from a baseline survey conducted in December 2009. Smallholder dairy farming in Malawi operates with support from institutions that facilitate access to initial stock and dairy production technologies. Most farmers (94%) keep the animals in pens where feed is provided throughout the year. Results indicated unsatisfactory feeding, housing and health management practices, which negatively impact cow fertility. Dairy population trends suggest low replacement rates, which could be associated to low cow fertility and inadequate management skills. There are challenges related to access to breeding and health services, which further contribute to low productivity. Low fertility is evidenced by low calving rates (22-61%) and long calving interval (405-549 days). Existence of programmes on farmer capacity building provides an opportunity for improved management skills and cow productivity. It is concluded that dairy cow management and fertility have challenges and opportunities that are influenced by the extent to which farmers have access to important services such as extension, health, breeding and finance.

Section: Herd Healthsupporting

confidence: 93%

Status of dairy cow management and fertility in smallholder farms in Malawi

Banda

Kamwanja

Chagunda

et al. 2011

“…In addition to being a source of food and draught power, cattle represent an important savings system within the village economy. Basically, in the current study, cattle were sold to earn cash income steadily according to plan and when required as a necessity (Perry et al, 1984;Rodgers and Homewood, 1986;Ngategize, 1989;Huttner et al, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5 and 7). This approach differs from methods typically used for analysing discrete repeated measures data, such as the generalized estimating equation method (GEE; Horton and Lipsitz, 1999;Huttner et al, 2001;Waldner et al, 2001;Dohoo et al, 2003) or multilevel modelling (MLM; Green and Morgan, 1993;Grohn et al, 1999). It is now recognized that the GEE and MLM methods must be applied carefully because estimates may not converge or may be unstable when there are few data points for some of the subgroups analysed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Calculation of mortality risks, offtake proportions, and cumulative mortality and offtake Mortality risks, offtake proportions and cumulative mortality and offtake were calculated as follows (Thrusfield, 1995;Huttner et al, 2001). Mortality risk was calculated as number of animals that died during a particular period divided by number of animals in the population during the same period.…”

Section: Calculation Of Risks With Respect To Abortion and Calf Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Temporal dynamics of dairy health and production in rural smallholder communities in Northern Vietnam

Suzuki

Kanameda

Tachibana

et al. 2006

The objective of this field study was to describe the temporal pattern of dairy cattle health and production and associated risk factors in rural small-holder communities in northern Vietnam, one of the target areas of the government's dairy development programme. A total of 99 dairy farms (11 per commune) were recruited from 9 of 32 communes in Ba Vi District, Ha Tay Province, using random two-stage cluster sampling. All dairy cattle present on the selected farms were included. After the initial questionnaire survey was conducted, farms were visited to collect follow-up information at 3-monthly intervals over a period of one year. The results suggest that offtake as well as mortality are important productivity indices because farmers sell or slaughter dairy cattle that are in poor health at low prices during summer months. Changes in relation to the farming operation suggest that for the farmers adopting dairy production it has become one of the main agricultural activities.

“…For non-users farms, the mean monthly mortality is 2.8%, twice as high compared to user farms at 1.3%. Users of herd health program tend to apply some livestock husbandry and management measures more often than either of the other groups (Huttner et al 2001). This paper identifies major health problems in a goat breeding farm in Malaysia via record analysis and describes the impact of herd health program that included control of mannheimiosis, hemonchosis, colibacillosis, coccidiosis, and improvement of feeding regime on goat mortality and performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of herd health program to improve survival of Boer goats in Malaysia

Salisi

Saad

Kasim

2011

A Boer goat breeding farm with 800 heads of breeder females, 50 breeder males, and 400 growing goats of various ages in Sabah, Malaysia was selected to study the effect of implementing herd health program. This included vaccination program against pneumonic mannheimiosis; fecal monitoring for helminthiasis, coccidiosis, and colibacillosis; and introduction of modified feeding regime comprised of day-time grazing and feeding of cut grass and supplemented feed. The herd health program was implemented in September 2007 and the impact was observed on body weight gains, body scoring, and annual mortality among adults and kids. It was found that implementation of herd health program significantly (p < 0.05) increased the average body weight gains in both adults and kids from 1.8 g per kid and 0.6 g per adult in 2006 to 3.7 g per kid and 2.2 g per adult in 2008. The percentage of adults with body scoring of <3 was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced from 82.3% in 2006 to 77.6% in 2007 and 4% in 2008. Similarly, the annual mortality rate was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced from 6.5% among kids and 58.2% among adults in 2006 to 12.1% among kids and 10.4% among adults in 2007, and to 9.1% among kids and 1.1% among adults in 2008. Therefore, it was concluded that implementation of herd health program significantly improved the survival and performance of goats.