Assessment of the knowledge and practices on sub-clinical mastitis control in smallholder dairy farmers in Nakifuma-Naggalama town council Mukono district
Abstract
Dairy production is a source of employment, income and livelihood to people in the
dairy sector especially in peri-urban areas. In Uganda, smallholder dairy farming
significantly contributes to the milk produced by the dairy sector. However, several
factors such as diseases like bovine mastitis have constrained the production of milk in
terms of quality and quantity. Bovine mastitis is a worldwide production disease of
dairy cows that adversely affects animal health, milk quality and economics of milk
production. Bovine mastitis includes both clinical and sub-clinical mastitis. Subclinical mastitis (SCM) is an economically important disease in dairy cattle around the
globe and greatly affects milk quality and quantity. Nakifuma-Naggalama town council
in Mukono is a peri-urban area that is rapidly growing with some of the residents relying
on smallholder dairy farming for a living. Despite the farmers’ efforts, the milk yield is
low and some of the milk is rejected due to poor milk quality. This could partly be due
to clinical and sub-clinical mastitis and the poor control measures. Therefore, the
overall objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of
smallholder dairy farmers regarding bovine mastitis management in NakifumaNaggalama town council Mukono. A cross-sectional study was conducted in September
2022 and a questionnaire was administered to 76 farmers to capture data regarding their
knowledge, attitude and practices towards bovine mastitis control. Quarter milk
samples were collected from the milking cows and screened for mastitis using the
California Mastitis Test (CMT). A total of 76 milking cows were sampled
corresponding to 304 quarters. The cows that tested positive for sub-clinical mastitis
were 46. Majority of the farmers were aware of mastitis (74/76) and 50 of the farmers
were unaware of the different ways of screening for mastitis. The attitude of the farmers
towards bovine control measures was generally good. However, majority of the farmers
did not employ the control measures. Of the cows that tested positive for sub-clinical
mastitis, 40 belonged to farmers who did not practice dry cow therapy. Therefore,
sensitization of the dairy farmers in Nakifuma-Naggalama town council, Mukono on
mastitis and proper control practices especially dry cow therapy is highly
recommended.