Assessment of Major Reproductive Disorders in Dairy Cattle in and around Bale Robe, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study by employing a questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of major reproductive disorders in dairy cattle and its associated risk factors in and around Bale Robe town from November 2016 to April 2017. Out of 384 dairy cows which were under investigation, 254 (66.15%) had encountered at least one of the reproductive disorders. The major reproductive disorders recorded with high prevalence in the present study included mastitis (20.57%), repeat breeder (17.71%), retained fetal membrane (6.51%), uterine and vaginal prolapse (5.47%), and abortion (4.1%), whereas reproductive problems with lower incidence rate included dystocia, anestrus, hypocalcaemia, uterine discharge, and stillbirth accounting 3.91%, 1.82%, 1.30%, 1.04%, and 0.78%, respectively. The overall incidence of reproductive disorders in this study showed statistical significance ( p < 0.05 ) with respect to body condition, age of the animals, production system, and mating system. However, this finding indicated that occurrence of reproductive problems shows statistical insignificance compared to breed, parity, and hygiene of the farm. The prevalence of reproductive disorders in extensive management system (91.02%) was higher than intensive (64.58%) and semi-intensive (57.61%) management systems and also more in local breed (67.93%) than crossbreed (62.29%). However, the prevalence based on parity was higher in primiparous (71.05%) than pluriparous (64.07%) cows. In general, it is recommended that improvement in management system, proper selection of bull and appropriate timing of AI for breeding system, accurate heat detection, routine and periodical examination of cows, balanced feeding, and hygienic condition should be corrected to minimize the incidence of reproductive health disorders and associated risk factors in the study area.

Reproductive Disorders of Cattle in the Tole District of Southwest Ethiopia and Their Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors

“…A similar prevalence has also been reported in northeast India [36]. Te prevalence observed in this study is lower than that determined by Tolosa et al [37], who reported a prevalence of the reproductive problem of 66.2% in Bale Robe. Te production system, breed, and environmental factors that could be seen in various locations could be attributed to this variation in prevalence.…”

Reproductive Health Constraints in Dairy Cows Managed Under Smallholder Farms of East Shewa, Ethiopia

“…1.05 -5.889 However, the occurrence of reproductive problems was statistically insignificant with respect to parity, age at first calving, breeding method, farming system and age at maturity (p>0.05). The overall incidence of reproductive disorders in this study and the identified risk factors were also reported earlier (Tolosa et al 2021). The presence of reproductive disorder of any kind exerts its negative effect on farms.…”

“…Many authors report the impact of abortion on dairy reproductive performance in different parts of the country. A much higher (28.9%) abortion rate was reported by Siyoum et al (Siyoum et al 2016), whereas Abunna et al (Abunna et al 2018) and Tolosa et al (Tolosa et al 2021) reported 8% and 4.1%, abortion rate respectively, in different breeds and farm settings. The presence of abortion in a dairy farm extends the calving interval which largely affects the profit of the dairy farm.…”

“…While Vaginal prolapses (1.6%), repeated breeding (3.25%) and anoestrus (5.3%) were other reproductive health problems with a lower incidence rate (Table 4). Lema et al (Lema et al 2001) in central highlands of Ethiopia and Tolosa et al (Tolosa, Netsere, and Habtamu 2021) in Bale with a morbidity rate of 19% and 20%, respectively. The difference might be attributed to the breed of cows and the average milk yield of studied animals.…”

Using participatory epidemiology to investigate the causes of cattle abortion in Southwest Ethiopia

“…This poses distinctive challenges for developing countries with expansive agricultural systems and remote areas [ 2 ]. The absence of up-to-date monitoring information on cattle reproductive health has adverse effects on livestock productivity [ 3 ]. In countries like Ethiopia, reproductive issues are emerging as significant concerns in cattle production [ 4 , 5 ].…”