Survey Of, And Risk Factors For Bovine Mastitis In Khartoum And White Nile States, Sudan

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of, and risk factors for mastitis of cattle and the mean lactation number at which mastitis is more frequent. A retrospective based study was carried out in Khartoum and White Nile States in two farms, designated as Farm A and Farm B. Farm A practiced hand milking twice daily; while Farm B used mainly machine milking, (with hand milking to lesser extent) three times a day. A convenient sample of 94 lactating cows in Farm A and 690 lactating cows in Farm B was used for this study. A four years period data (2005-2008) were collected for FarmA and two years period data (2007-2008) for Farm B from health (mastitis), production and reproduction records. The data collected included number ofmastitis cases per day, lactation number, daily milk production in litres, number of lactating cows and type of milking used, including risk factors related to hygienic measures and management practices. These data were analyzed using SPSS software programme. The results revealed that there was a high prevalence of mastitis throughout the study area (34.4% inFarm A and 38.9% in Farm B). Lack of appropriate hygienic measures and management practices were reflected in the high prevalenceof mastitis inthe study area. viii The mean lactation numbers at which mastitis was more frequent were the third and second. To indicate which of the milking techniques (machine and hand milking) is a risk factor for bovine mastitis, odds ratiowas calculated using a 2 X2 table. The odds ratio of 1.3 indicates that hand milking is a risk factor for bovine mastitis,meaning that cows which are hand milked are 1.3 times more likely to get mastitis than those milked with machine. Accordingly, it may be recommended that special care must be directed towards cows at the third and the second lactations; and where hand milking is practiced, application of rigorous hygienic measures should be considered