Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Bovine Mastitis on Dairy Cattle in Mogadishu Somalia

Abstract

: Mastitis is one of the main problems that lead to economic inefficiency in dairy farms. In Somalia, the shortage of milk and milk products has many causes, however examination of sub-clinical mastitis and their prevalence has not been adequately addressed and no comprehensive research has been led on their epidemiology. Therefore this study was launched to assess the prevalence of mastitis in Mogadishu as well as identify the risk factors that are associated with mastitis occurrence. The study was cross sectional and took place between March 2019 to February 2020, to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of mastitis on dairy cattle at Mogadishu, Somalia. The study conducted multistage sampling by first purposely selecting three districts from the 17 districts that comprises Mogadishu province. The area selection was based on the availability of dairy farms. Farms were also randomly selected by first listing farms in a piece of paper and selecting it from the bowel, while systematic selection was conducted at animal level by selecting every four animals for sampling and screening. In this study the overall prevalence found was 44.5% and quarter wise the prevalence was 19%. The present study revealed that the presence of mastitis among different age groups of the examined cattle had statistically significant difference in their prevalence (p<0.05), with the highest prevalence found in cattle 7 years and above of age with prevalence of (51.4%) compared to cattle <7 years of age (25.49 %). The study also revealed a statistically significant association between mastitis and stage of lactation of the cattle with animals with early stage of lactation having the highest prevalence (58.86%) compared to the cattle late stage of lactation with the (12.61%). Study also presented a significant association between prevalence of mastitis and production system was (p<0.005) which is higher in intensive systems with the (47.45%) and lower semi-intensive systems (31.4%). Presence of mastitis and hygienic level was also compared and a significant association was found (p<0.05). According to the breed, a significant difference was not found between the prevalence of exotic and local cattle (p>0.05) although exotic were found to have a slightly higher prevalence (47.33%) compared to local cattle (43.1%). Therefore this study recommended that the regular screening for early detection should be done at least once a week for monitoring udder health status of dairy animals.