California Mastitis Test and Somatic Cell Counts as Indicators of Intramammary Infection in Dairy Goat in Kenya.

Intramammary Infections in goats is an important and costly disease.  Subclinical Mastitis (SCM) constitutes the greater part of this problem.  Several methods are available for diagnosis of SCM. The objective of this study was to evaluate the application of somatic cells measured indirectly by CMT, and directly by SCC – as possible markers for IMI in dairy goat mastitis. CMT was performed randomly on 138 udder halves at milking site, while in the laboratory SCC was conducted on 239 samples. Bacterial culture was done on 250 samples. The results of CMT showed that 12.3% of samples were negative, while 30.4%, 23.2% and 34.1% recorded +ve 1, 2, 3 respectively. The SCC ranged between 248 x 106 and 1693 x 106, with a mean of 869 x 106. The key bacterial isolates were Staph. aureus 58%, E.coli 40.5%. A statistical analysis to determine the strength and direction of association between CMT & SCC indicated a positive but not statistically significant correlation. ANOVA across the key bacterial isolates showed all bacteria falling between CMT mean scores of 2 and 3. The SCC showed that the key bacteria isolated had mean scores 86169 x 106 for E. coli and 8810 x 106 for Staph. aureus. There is a consensus amongst researchers in this area that a CMT scores of 2 and above are indicative of infection in goat milk. The results of this study on Staph. aureus and E. coli, and the fact that 73.9% of E. coli and 68.5% of Staph. aureus fall in the range 500,000 and 1 million cells, SCC was an accurate determinant of infection. Key words: Somatic cell counts, goat mastitis

Emerging Parasitic Infections in Goats in Pastoral Systems in Kenya

A cross-sectional survey of ixodid tick infestation and gastrointestinal strongylosis was carried out in 76 herds, in 25 districts in five provinces representing arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya. A total of 832 indigenous goats consisting of 500 Small East African and 332 Galla breeds were sampled.  The total number of ticks counted was 17,748, consisting of three major genera, Rhipicephalus, Boophilus and Amblyomma. The mean tick abundance per animal was 21.4 ticks, with the highest count of 111.8 ticks per animal in Tharaka Nithi district of Eastern province. The highest prevalence rate of 100% was in Tharaka Nithi and Kitui districts of Eastern province, Taita/Taveta of Coast province and Siaya and Homa Bay of Nyanza province. The mean strongyle egg count in the five provinces was 545 EPG. The ranges indicated very high counts in some herds such as 13700 EPG and 11,100 EPG in Eastern and Rift Valley. The Rift Valley recorded the highest prevalence rate of 81.7% while the Coast recorded the lowest prevalence rate of 39.7%. The ectoparasites and endoparasites will increasingly become economically important considering the increasing pressure on communal grazing land and watering points in pastoral districts of Kenya.   Key words: Goats arid and semi-arid lands, ixodid ticks, strongylosis, Kenya

Production Challenges and Socio-Economic Impact of Dairy Goat Farming amongst Smallholder Farmers in Kenya.

Dairy goats were first introduced in Kenya in 1950s by British settler farmers in the highlands of Kenya. About 25 years ago the population was estimated at 6,000. The most recent estimate puts the dairy goat population in Kenya at 175,000. The rapid growth has been attributed to the NGOs like Heifer Project International involving smallholder farmers in a participatory approach. The objective of this study was to identify opportunities and challenges amongst smallholder dairy goat farmers, and specifically to evaluate production levels, consumption trends and potential for growth and marketing.  Sixty households were interviewed. Amongst households 826 were women of whom 304 were widows, 226 were men. The mean family size was 9.24. There were a total of 4545 children in the households, amongst them 2200 orphans.  68% households had male heads, while 32% had female heads.  However, in 74% of the households, females took charge of the daily management of the goat, while in only 26% households males were in charge. Milk production levels ranged between half a litre and ten litres, with overall mean production of 2.15 litres per goat per day. In total, 56.9% of respondents depended entirely on farming activities for livelihood, while 43.1% combined farming and off-farm activities for livelihood. Only 12% used hired labour while 88% depended entirely on family labour for managing the goats. None of the farmers had previous experience in managing a dairy goat.  There was need for a systematic practical initial training with a focus on key areas such as feeding and feed resources, breeding, milking, health and record keeping.  There was no standard record keeping format. The small pieces of land, especially in Nyanza had a negative effect on dairy goat farming in terms of pasture and fodder production.  In Oriang and Ndiru clusters all the family land available was utilized for subsistence farming. There was lack of knowledge of feeding regimes for various categories e.g. the lactating doe, flushing and kids. None of the farmers had knowledge of estimating feed weights, and making appropriate mixtures of the available feeds. Local goats were popular.  Upgrading of these goats through crossbreeding would form entry point for a large number of farmers thus increasing dairy goat population faster. Key words: Dairy goats, socio-economic, production, smallholder farmer

Molecular Identification of Key Mastitis causing Bacteria in Dairy Goats in Kenya.

Mastitis remains one of the most common diseases of the dairy goats, causing the biggest economic loss. Use of antimicrobial treatment is the generally recommended, but only after identifying the causal organisms. The use of PCR has emerged as the most accurate in microbial identification due to several advantages, including high sensitivity and specificity. The objective of this study was to apply PCR techniques in identification of the key mastitis causing bacteria, E. coli and Staph. aureus, isolated from a farm-survey carried out on goat milk in three goat keeping regions of Kenya, Coast, Rift Valley and Nyanza. Two gene specific primers for amplification of Staph. aureus sequence targeting the nuc gene, and E. coli sequence targeting the pic gene, were used as described in the materials and methods applied to 16 randomly selected pure bacteria cultures representing the three regions.  In total six of the samples were positive for the pic gene, while five were positive for the nuc gene. Each of the genes was distributed to all the three regions. The positive identification of these genes indicates the potential for use of PCR in accurate goat mastitis diagnosis; it also indicates these mastitis causing pathogens are widespread in all dairy goat keeping regions of Kenya

Factors Influencing the Somatic Cell Counts in Goat Milk in Kenya

The dairy goat sector in Kenya is young and rapidly growing. There are many breeds being introduced e.g. the Saanen, Toggenburg and Alpine, in varying agro-climatic zones, ranging from Coast, Rift Valley and Western Kenya.    The objective of this study was to look at the impact of breed, location, parity and lactation length on Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) considering the fact that SCC thresholds are often used as parameters to determine quality standards of milk. This study demonstrated significant SCC variations amongst breeds, especially Toggenburg / Saanen, Toggenburg ? Alpine / Saanen, and Saanen / Alpine. The SCC also varied significantly amongst various study sites.  This study also established an increasing SCC with parity and lactation length.  In developing SCC as milk quality standard for Kenya Dairy Board these factors will have to be considered. Key words: Somatic cell counts, goat breeds, location, parity, lactation length

The nutritive value of citrus pulp ensiled with wheat straw and poultry litter for sheep

In experiment 1, 4 treatments were prepared consisting of a mixture of chopped wheat straw in different proportions, a fixed proportion of poultry litter and 0, 15, 30 and 45% citrus pulp on a dry matter basis. The mixtures were ensiled for 60 days at room temperature in polythene bags. Ensiling (time effect) resulted in an increase (P0.05) in dry matter intake between diets containing 0, 76 and 167 g/kg citrus pulp when the intake was expressed on the basis of metabolic body weight. However, there was a decrease (P<0.001) in intake of silage and diet dry matter, organic matter and digestible organic matter when the level of citrus pulp in the basal silage diet increased from 167 to 272 g/kg. Only animals on the basal silage diet containing 167 g/kg citrus pulp had a higher (P<0.05) and positive nitrogen balance of 1.0 g/day. It is concluded that wheat straw and poultry litter can be ensiled successfully with citrus pulp to produce silage that is safe and of high fermentation quality. This silage has a medium to high feeding value in sheep, provided that the level of citrus pulp in the diet is in the range of 150–200 g/kg.P. K. Migwi, J. R. Gallagher and R. J. Van Barnevel

Integrating Characterization of Smallholders’ Feeding Practices with On-Farm Feeding Trials to Improve Utilization of Crop Residues on Smallholder Farms

This study characterized wheat straw feeding practices in smallholder farms using cross sectional survey and the results informed the design of an experiment to improve the nutritive value of wheat straw with urea and yeast culture treatment. Three diets tested in 49 days’ feeding trial were farmers’ rainy season feeding practice (FP), addition of urea to wheat straw at the time of feeding (USWS), and 14 days’ incubation of straw with urea (UTWS). Yeast culture (15 g/day) was mixed with commercial dairy meal at the point of feeding. Survey data identified farmers’ strategies in utilizing crop residues of which most important were improving storage facility (77.6%), adding molasses (54.5%), and buying a shredding machine (45.1%). On-farm feeding trial showed that intake was higher for UTWS than (p<0.05) for USWS while milk yield was higher with FP than (p<0.005) with UTWS or USWS but not different (p≥0.05) between UTWS and USWS. Results imply that farmers feeding practices of crop residues may be improved for dairy cows’ feeding and therefore UTWS could be used to support maintenance and milk production during dry season. Improving farmers feed storage facilities and training on incubation of wheat straw for dairy cattle feeding were recommended