Effects of levels of concentrate supplementation on milk production and body weights of lactating dairy cows

Nineteen dairy cows were used over a 7-month period to evaluate the effect of allocating different levels of concentrate during early lactation. The animals were fed on grass hay basal diet and supplemented with either 2 Kg (LLC), 4 Kg (MLC) or 8 Kg (HLC) per day. Milk yields were measured daily, body weight and body condition scores were monitored weekly. Milk yields during the first 12 weeks of lactation were 11.6, 12.6 and 16.9 Kg/day for LLC, MLC and HLC respectively. The HLC had significantly higher (P<0.001) milk yield than both MLC and LLC. The body weights and condition scores of animals in different treatment groups remained relatively constant during the study period. The HLC were significantly heavier than the other two groups

Effects of water sources and watering frequency for dairy cattle on water offered and milk production in Kiambu District

Data on water sources, mode of offer, watering frequency, amount of water offered, body weights and milk yield were collected from 21 randomly selected smallholder farms in Kiambu by means of farm visits and questionnaires fortnightly. Most farms (67%) had water on-farm but 76% of them needed labour to deliver the water to the animals. Fifty two percent of the farms practised continuous watering. Water troughs (67%) were mostly used to water dairy cattle. Farms with on-farm water offered dairy cows more (134 ml/kg live wt) water compared to those collecting (76ml/kg live wt) or purchasing (81ml/kg live wt) water. Preliminary results on milk yield using descriptive statistics show that dairy cows with on-farm water produce less milk (6.4 l/day) compared with 8.0 l/day and 9.0 l/day for those collecting or purchasing water respectively. Dairy cows using water troughs produced less milk (6.34 l/day) than those using bowls or buckets (8.44 l/day)

Evaluation of the use of milk urea nitrogen (MUN) as an indicator of nutritional status of dairy cattle in smallholder farms in Kiambu district

A survey was conducted to evaluate the use of Milk Urea Nitrogen as an indicator of nutrition status of lactating animals. Twenty-seven animals in a randomly selected sample of 21 farms in Kiambu District were monitored for nutritional status for 12 weeks. Fortnightly records were taken on feed offered, body condition, body weight and milk yield. Milk samples were collected weekly and analysed for MUN. Preliminary results indicated that there was a significant (P<0.05) negative correlation between MUN and milk yield, and a marginal correlation between MUN and body weight. There was no significant relationship between MUN and Body condition score. The data so far collected, which excludes the feed data indicate that MUN, may to an extent be a reliable indicator, of nutritional status of dairy cattle under smallholder farm conditions

Delivery of technical information to smallholder dairy farmers in Kiambu District

A survey was conducted to determine the sources and delivery of technical information to smallholder dairy farmers in Kiambu District. Sixty-three farmers in three wealth groups (rich, medium, poor) of 21 farmers each from three different locations, were selected at random from maps drawn by communities. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect information on farmers’ level of exposure to different dairy information sources and their involvement in extension activities during 1997. Preliminary results indicate that most poor farmers (66%) relied on neighbors as their primary information source. Field days run by dairy cooperative societies were the most important organized information delivery channel for poor (28%) and medium (38%) farmers. Private and co-operative veterinary services concentrated on rich farms with 33% of these households having contact compared with only 14% of poor households. The government veterinary or livestock services contacted less than 20% of households either in farm visits or field days. Besides visits by private veterinary officers to wealthy farmers the frequency of contact with livestock professionals was therefore limited for all communities. Preliminary conclusions are that for Kiambu, which has a well established smallholder dairy industry, group meetings organized by cooperatives are more likely to reach the poorer sectors of the community. This coupled with frequent neighbour-to-neighbour discussions may currently be the most effective dairy information delivery channel

Analysis of small ruminants’ pastoral management practices as risk factors of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) spread in Turkana District, Kenya

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an emerging viral disease spreading throughout Kenya and East Africa causing major losses in the small stock. This study is an attempt to evaluate small stock management practices in Turkana pastoral system, Kenya as predictors of PPR outbreaks. Information on the social practices and the occurrence of PPR outbreaks was obtained by participatory techniques. The small stock management practices, evaluated as factors, in a previous study were simultaneously analyzed with seasons and administrative divisions as the independent risk factors for the presence or absence of PPR outbreaks in 142 Adakars (villages) as the dependent variable. Analyses were carried out for the years 2009 and 2010 combined as one data set and considered as longitudinal repeated data. In the analyses, the presence or absence of PPR outbreaks was the dependent variable. Data were further analyzed separately disaggregated by season where the presence or absence of PPR outbreaks in a season was considered as the dependent variable. All analyses utilized multivariable logistical regression analyses. In the longitudinal analysis, season was the only significant factor associated with PPR outbreak. Disaggregating the data by season revealed that certain seasonal-specific livestock management activities increased the risk of reporting PPR outbreaks: (1) sharing water sources leading to social aggregation of young stock in one point (Factor 3) (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0) in season 2 (wet season) of 2009; (2) sick dams left to nurse their young kids/lambs (Factor 7) (OR=1.62) in the same season in 2010. The finding of diverse risk factors in the same seasons across years suggests temporal heterogeneity in the distribution and occurrence of the determinants of PPR in the Turkana ecosystem. The study discusses the implications of these findings on disease control

Effect of mineral supplementation on milk yield and calf growth of camels in Marsabit district of Kenya

A study was conducted in Ngurunit and Kargi locations of Marsabit district in Kenya to determine the effect of mineral supplementation on milk yield and calf growth of settlement based camels. Two mineral supplements were formulated; one comprised of locally collected, ground bones mixed with locally available natural salt and the other of commercial ingredients. Fifty nine (59) and 56 camels in early lactation and their calves were selected at Kargi and Ngurunit, respectively. Of these, 22 and 21 camels were randomly assigned the commercial supplement while 12 and 11 were assigned the local supplement at Kargi and Ngurunit, respectively. There were 25 and 23 control camels in Kargi and Ngurunit, respectively. Each dam was individually fed 200 g of mineral supplement daily for 190 days. During the data collection period, milk yield measurements were taken at weekly intervals and calves weighed monthly. The results showed that supplemented camels produced higher (P = 0.000) amount of milk than controls in Ngurunit (3.2 ld-1 versus 2.3 ld-1). In Kargi, the mean milk yield for supplemented and control camels were similar (P > 0.05) at 2.6 ld-1. Calves from the supplemented dams grew faster (P = 0.000) than the controls, gaining 441.3 gd-1 and 424.8 gd-1 compared with 275.7 gd-1 and 307.7 gd-1 for controls in Kargi and Ngurunit, respectively. The results suggested that mineral deficiency existed among the Rendille camels. The problem could however be reduced by judicial use of locally available raw material

Sero-epidemiology of Peste des petits ruminants virus infection in Turkana County, Kenya

Background Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious viral disease of small ruminants. Serum samples from sheep (n = 431) and goats (n = 538) of all ages were collected in a cross-sectional study in Turkana County, Kenya. The objective was to estimate the sero-prevalence of PPR virus (PPRV) infection and associated risk factors in both species. PPRV competitive enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (c-ELISA) analysed the presence of antibodies in the samples. All analyses were conducted for each species separately. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to the data to assess the relationship between the risk factors and PPRV sero-positivity. Mixed-effect models using an administrative sub-location as a random effect were also fitted to adjust for possible clustering of PPRV sero-positivity. Intra-cluster correlation coefficients (ρ) that described the degree of similarity among sero-positive responses for each species in each of the six administrative divisions were estimated. Results Goats had a significantly higher sero-prevalence of 40% [95% confidence interval (CI): 36%, 44%] compared to sheep with 32% [95% CI: 27%, 36%] (P = 0.008). Combined sero-prevalence estimates were heterogeneous across administrative divisions (n = 6) (range 22% to 65%) and even more across sub-locations (n = 46) (range 0% to 78%). Assuming that PPRV antibodies are protective of infection, a large pool of PPRV susceptible middle age group (>6 months and < 24 months) in both species was estimated. This was based on the low sero-prevalence in this group in goats (14% [95% CI: 10%, 20%]) and in sheep (18% [95% CI: 13%, 25%]). Regression analysis returned significant risk factors across species: in sheep - vaccination status, age and administrative division; in goats - sex, age, administrative division and sex*age interaction. The intra-sub-location correlation coefficients varied widely across divisions (range <0.001 to 0.42) and across species within divisions. Conclusions Biological, spatial and socio-ecological factors are hypothesized as possible explanations for variation in PPRV sero-positivity in the Turkana pastoral ecosystem