Abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate dairy husbandry practices and microbial quality of raw and pasteurized cow milk samples in Wolaita Sodo town. A total of 156 milk producers which had at least one lactating cow were randomly selected from three kebeles were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. From a subset of the surveyed respondents, a total of 70 (200/ml) milk samples and 30 packed pasteurized milk samples ( 500/ml plastic bags) pasteurized milk samples were col...
Abstract: Climate variability is causing the greatest environmental, social and economic threats to all of humanity and across borders in many nations. The purpose of this study was to analyse long term climate variability and explore effects of climate variability on dairy production and identify the existing adaptation strategies in Gabiley district, Somaliland. To achieve the objective appropriate data was collected from 119 household heads from three sample villages, which were selected ...
Abstract: The study was conducted in Deghabur district of Somali Regional State, with the objectives of generating base line information about the livestock husbandry practices, to identify the available feed resources. The study was undertaken in four purposely selected Peasant Associations (PAs) according to their road accessibility and potential for livestock population; total sample sizes of 120 household were used for the study. Semi structured questionnaires were held with pastoralists...
Abstract: This PhD dissertation is based on three studies. The first was a survey work aiming to describe and compare the current pig production practices in and around Bishoftu and Holeta towns, central Ethiopia. A total of 20 and 23 pig farms from Bishoftu and Holeta towns respectively were visited. The second study was aimed at establishing the effects of inclusion of sun dried bovine rumen content (SDRC) as ingredients in diets of pigs during post weaning growth phase for 90 days. A tota...
Abstract: A study was conducted in Adola Reedde district of Guji zone, to asses and identify the major grass species, evaluate their chemical composition, in vitro digestibility, and estimate the biomass yield of the major grass species. A total of 60 key informants taken from the sample kebeles of three agro- ecologies were interviewed to asses and identify common grasses in their vernacular name. Sample collection was done in the mid of September for three consecutive days. A total of 6 ru...
Abstract: The study was conducted at Ambo University using twenty five Horro sheep with initial body weight of 16.84±0.23kg (mean±SD). The objectives of the experiment was to evaluate effect of replacing concentrate mix with Lablab purpureus hay on feed intake, digestibility, live weight gain, and carcass characteristics of Horro sheep fed natural pasture hay as basal diet as well as to assess the economy of replacing concentrate mix with Lablab purpureus(LP)hay. At the end of feeding tria...
Abstract: This study was conducted with the overall aim of estimating genetic and non-genetic effects on reproduction and productive traits of Dorper x Menz crossbred sheep at Debre Berhan Sheep Breeding and Multiplication Center (DBSBMC) and on-farm evaluation of performances of crossbreds in North Shoa Zone of Amhara Regional State. Reproduction and production data were obtained from the center record book collected between the year 2015 and 2020. Total of 650 crossbreed performance record...
Abstract: This study was aimed at identifying breeding objective traits for the Short-eared Somali goat breed in Sitti zone, eastern Ethiopia. Individual interview, own-flock ranking, and group-animal ranking experiments were conducted to identify breeding objective traits. For the individual interview, structured questionnaire was undertaken with purposively selected 120 goat owners, 60 from each district of Erer and Shinnile. The data collected through the individual interviews was analyze...
Abstract: Introduction Multiple outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) with devastating effects have occurred in East Africa. These outbreaks cause disease in both livestock and humans and affect poor households most severely. Communities living in areas practicing nomadic livestock movement may be at higher risk of infection. This study sought to i) determine the human exposure to Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) in populations living within nomadic animal movement routes in Kenya; and ii) iden...
ABSTRACT East Coast Fever (ECF) is a tick borne disease endemic in the North Rift region of Kenya. The ECF infections lead to substantial economic loss to smallholder dairy farmers from veterinary costs incurred in using prophylactics and value loss associated with animal mortality and production decline during disease infection. Traditionally, prophylactic strategy of choice is application of acaricide in communal dips and hand spraying, but effectiveness of the strategy is a factor of good...
ABSTRACT Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a contagious viral disease to which dairy cattle are highly susceptible. An outbreak of FMD in a dairy herd can cause drop in milk yield, increase mastitis infections, force culling, and impair fertility. These production losses can be substantial, but farmers undervalue the magnitude of the loss that they incur. To fill this knowledge gap, the study quantified the association of FMD outbreak with milk yield, mastitis incidences, culling rates and fer...
ABSTRACT Lameness is a cause of worry to dairy producers for being indicative of welfare problem with resultant economic losses from reduced milk yield, veterinary cost or premature culling. Risks for lameness are both animal and herd level factors, but the magnitude varies with housing conditions of the cows. This study compared farmer estimated and observed prevalence, types of lameness, risk factors and economic losses from lameness of cows in farms practicing zero- and pasture grazing. T...