A cross-sectional survey was undertaken on 240 dairy cattle farms in Nyandarua District in central Kenya to determine farm characteristics, farmer’s perception of production constraints and diseases and the prevalence and control practices for ticks and helminths. Farmers were interviewed using questionnaires and 708 cattle examined. The mean farm size was 3.2 hectares and average number of cat...

BACKGROUND Urban/peri-urban dairy production and sales has evolved as an adjustment to cope with food security and economic needs for urban dwellers in low-income countries and created an opportunity to transform from subsistence rural lifestyles of dairy farming to commercial engagement in towns. However, urban/peri-urban dairy farms differ in challenges from rural dairy farms and reproduction...

Milk production using local cattle breed-types is an age-old practice in Malawi. Although dairy farming is becoming more common as a result of the increasing population and demand for milk and milk products, there is limited knowledge of the farmers' awareness of zoonotic disease risks, their preventative practices and the disease burden in animals. This study determined dairy farmers' general ...

Disease prevention and control practices are frequently highlighted as important to ensure the health and welfare of farmed animals, although little is known as to why not many practices are carried out. The aim of this study was to identify the motivators and barriers of dairy cattle farmers towards the use of biosecurity measures on dairy farms using a health psychology approach. Twenty-five ...

BACKGROUND As farmers do not often keep a record of the expenditures for rearing, an economic tool that provides insight into the cost of rearing is useful. In the Netherlands, an economic tool (Jonkos) has been developed that can be used by farmers to obtain insight into the cost of rearing on their farm. The first objective of this study is to calculate the total cost of rearing young stock i...

What is the significance of serum precipitins and lymphocytic alveolitis in a healthy subject exposed to antigens responsible for hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP)? This study was done to evaluate the 20-yr outcome of asymptomatic dairy farmers with or without precipitins or lymphocytic alveolitis in their bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Twenty-seven of the initial 43 farmers were restudied. Of t...

The objective was to compare farm veterinary surgeons' and dairy farmers' opinions on herd health plans and herd health and production management with the aim of discovering and better understanding the differences. Two comparable questionnaires, one for farm veterinarians and one for dairy farmers, were distributed throughout the UK. While listing the 'major roles' of the veterinarian on the f...

Mastitis control is based upon adoption of preventive control strategies including good milking hygiene, the use of properly functioning milking equipment, provision of clean and dry housing areas, sound nutritional programs and proper identification and treatment of cows that are infected with subclinical and clinical mastitis. Worldwide, many dairy farmers have adopted these procedures and pr...

Mastitis continues to be a cause of significant economic loss to the dairy industry internationally. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the disease, clinical and sub-clinical mastitis remains a problem in dairy herds and prevalence rates in many countries remain similar to those published decades ago. In the complex milieu of the modern dairy farm, it is the interaction of pro...

Background Drivers of change in dairy herd health management include the significant increase in herd/farm size, quota removal (within Europe) and the increase in technologies to aid in dairy cow reproductive management. Main body There are a number of key areas for improving fertility management these include: i) handling of substantial volumes of data, ii) genetic selection (including impro...