Abstract
Recently the number of milking cows has increased substantially in the Dar es Salaam region due to an increasing demand for fresh milk in this densely populated urban centre. It is estimated that there are 1,765 smallholder dairy herds with 8,233 improved dairy animals in and around the Dar
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es Salaam region. Urban and peri-urban smallholder dairying is viewed as an agricultural activity that provides a regular and stable income to the household and is considered to be a forerunner of further development. However, there are many potential constraints to smallholder dairy farming including difficulties in providing adequate feed and water, lack of dairying skills, and problems with marketing and poor animal health services. Mastitis occurring in clinical and subclinical forms is an important animal health constraint that affects both the amount and quality of milk produced by the smallholder dairy herds. Compared with other diseases, mastitis is ranked low in priorities by the national veterinary authority and consequently has received little attention in Tanzania. Extension efforts have therefore been focused on the treatment of clinical cases rather than tackling the disease from the control point of view.
The objective of the current study was to contribute to knowledge necessary to design herd specific mastitis control programmes in the urban based smallholder dairy herds. To achieve this, a combination of field (prevalence and longitudinal studies) and laboratory methods to mastitis epidemiology is used. The most important micro-organisms detected from quarter samples were (in ascending order of abundance) Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Candida albicans, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Of clinical significance is the steady increase in the incidence of clinical Candida albicans mastitis. The prevalence of Candida albicans has increased from
≤
1% in 1971 to ≥
17.0% in November 2002.The observed prevalence of clinical mastitis was ≤
5%, whereas the prevalence of sub-clinical mastitis, defined by positive (≥ 1) California mastitis test (CMT) score and bacteriologically positive culture was 90.7%. However, when the utility of the CMT to diagnose subclinical mastitis in the low yielding cows was evaluated, the prevalence of subclinical mastitis was found to be 57%. 100% of the smallholder producers were found to be aware of clinical mastitis, but only 5% of dairymen were aware of the presence of subclinical mastitis. Risk factor studies indicated that water scarcity, milking time hygiene, udder towel, residual calf suckling, barn cleanliness, the use of single udder-towel and dairy-labourers to be the most significant risk indicators for subclinical mastitis. It is concluded that the absence in Tanzania, of udder health programme consisting of regular visits by the veterinarian is the greatest risk indicator for mastitis which may be associated with a relative lack of awareness by the dairyperson of the importance of the principles of mastitis control.
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