The perceptions of farmers on animal welfare and the different draught animal training methods in Kaberamaido district

Abstract

This was a cross-sectional study carried out in the sub-counties of Ochero and Kalaki in Kaberamaido District. A total of 138 farmers were interviewed. The sub-counties were chosen purposively with guidence from the District Production Office.Data was collected using the snowball approach with the help of the LC1 chairpersons in the various villages. A farmer using draught animal power was identified and would refer us to the next household. From the study, it was revealed that 77% of the farmers had knowlegde on animal welfare. The study found out that animals work for 6 days in the rainy season so as to meet demands. In situations where the animals were down with sickness, the pair was rested while medication was administered till full recovery. Cattle were used as they were cheap and easily available . When used for transport, the maximum distance moved was 2 km. There was no set standard to quantify how much load was enough except for use of visual judgements to assess comfort. The load was placed on a slege made from a Y-shaped tree branch. The animals were harnessed using ropes and yokes and worked in pairs. Bulls were used and were trained using majorly 3 methods. These methods included pulling of light loads and moving naive bulls along with already working animals. The last method involved directly harnessing and heading off to the garden. The animal welfare issues in Kaberamaido included being over worked, being beaten during work, poor animal health management and being poorly fed. The welfare concerns to the draught animals are as a result of ignoring the needs of the animals More research should be carried out on the animal husbandry practices in Kaberamaido District to cover up the knowledge gap on animal husbandry practices in regards to animal welfare.