Belay Tesfaye, Mekibib Berhanu
Department of Income Generation, Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
Vet Med (Auckl). 2022 Dec 13;13:329-337. doi: 10.2147/VMRR.S387838. eCollection 2022.
Although calf management is the cornerstone of dairy cattle productivity and profitability, little attention is given by researchers particularly in developing nations including Ethiopia. Therefore, this research was conducted to characterize calf management and hygiene practices adopted by dairy farmers at Wondo Genet, a potential milk shed for southern Ethiopia.
Calf management and hygiene practice-related data were collected from 57 dairy farms through a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire and personal observation. All sampled farms were visited once by technical staff and administered the questionnaire by face-to-face interview during the period February 2017 to December 2019. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
The majority (96.5%) of the farms had a slatted calf pen floor that was made of concrete. Although more than half of the farms (57.9%) had a good calf pen drainage system, only some (n = 8, 14%) are cleaned on a daily basis. All the calves (100%) had a history of calf scour, 96% survived from cowdriosis (heartwater). The majority of the calves born in the dairy farms (68.5%) received colostrum within 30 minutes of birth, but most of them (82.5%) were fed with waste milk till weaning age. Although the majority of the farms separately house recently born calves, 24.6% of the farms raise their calves together with other domestic animals.
Dairy farm owners in the study area adopted some established risky calf management and hygiene practices that might lead to high calf morbidity/mortality in the farm. Awareness creation and further study to identify the specific causes of mortality and morbidity should be in place to improve the management and hygiene of calves and implement specific control and preventive measures.
尽管犊牛管理是奶牛生产效率和盈利能力的基石，但研究人员对此关注甚少，尤其是在包括埃塞俄比亚在内的发展中国家。因此，本研究旨在描述埃塞俄比亚南部潜在奶源地翁多杰内特奶农采用的犊牛管理和卫生措施。
通过半结构化预测试问卷和个人观察，从57个奶牛场收集犊牛管理和卫生措施相关数据。2017年2月至2019年12月期间，技术人员对所有抽样农场进行了一次访问，并通过面对面访谈的方式发放问卷。使用描述性统计方法对获得的数据进行分析。
大多数农场（96.5%）的犊牛栏地面为混凝土板条地面。虽然超过一半的农场（57.9%）有良好的犊牛栏排水系统，但只有一些农场（n = 8，14%）每天进行清洁。所有犊牛（100%）都有犊牛腹泻病史，96%的犊牛从牛锥虫病（心水病）中存活下来。奶牛场出生的大多数犊牛（68.5%）在出生后30分钟内摄入初乳，但其中大多数（82.5%）在断奶前一直用废奶喂养。尽管大多数农场将新生犊牛单独饲养，但24.6%的农场将犊牛与其他家畜一起饲养。
研究区域内的奶牛场主采用了一些既定的有风险的犊牛管理和卫生措施，这可能导致农场犊牛发病率/死亡率较高。应开展宣传并进一步研究以确定死亡和发病的具体原因，从而改善犊牛管理和卫生状况，并实施具体的控制和预防措施。
