Cattle health and welfare are two very important aspects of dairy production. Most dairy farmers have felt the painful loss of a good cow but may not always be aware why the loss occurred. Many losses can be avoided by paying careful attention to preventive health care and seeing that the animals are comfortable and able to function the way nature intended. The following are the main preventive measures every serious dairy farmer should consider:

Cows spend 7-9 hours a day grazing and nearly the same amount of time ruminating the ingested feed. Adequate provision of fibre is an essential requirement for a healthy rumen environment. Fibre ranging from 7-10 cm in length (approximately the width of the muzzle) is optimum and prevents cattle selecting through the ration and discarding longer fibre. Long fibre stimulates cudding, which in turn stimulates saliva production, and saliva is the primary rumen buffer, preventing acidosis. The optimum forage to concentrate ratio to maintain rumen health and pH at 6 - 6.8 is 60:40 on a dry matter basis (roughage: concentrate). Rumen acidosis is the most common forage related stress that we see in dairy cattle. Rumen acidosis is primarily due to inadequate levels of effective fibre in the rations of those cows. High yielding cows are commonly fed diets containing 45 - 55 % forage on a DM basis. Finishing beef cattle are often fed a diet consisting of 25 - 40% forage on a DM basis.

A long lying period is important in the prevention of lameness in dairy cows, and it has also been noted that cows spend significantly more time lying down ruminating, as opposed to standing ruminating. Because a large percentage of cattle time is spent ruminating whilst loafing, dry comfortable hygienic bedding that encourages cows to lie down is highly important.

Hygienic bedding material in order to minimize the risk of mastitis is a priority. Being able to lie down is very important to cattle. When given choice and optimum conditions, cows are known to spend 50% or more of their time lying down. A comfortable resting surface is an important aspect in encouraging cows to lie down. Cattle prefer dry, soft, insulating bedding, and subsequently show reduced incidence and severity of leg injuries.
In addition, the following need to be adhered to:

For information on Animal Welfare and Organic Certification Norms in Cattle see under following link click here

In East Africa many serious diseases are transferred by ticks. This is less severe in 0-grazing units than in animals grazing pastures and interacting with a certain amount of wildlife. The picture shows a typical cattle dip, preventing insect and particularly tick borne diseases, by letting the animals jump into a dip filled water with added acaricide (tick poison). Prevention of tick borne diseases is by spraying, dipping or using Pour-on chemicals to get rid of the ticks.

There are several different types of acaricides available on the market and it is advisable to keep interchanging them to avoid ticks becoming resistant. Several botanicals have also been found to be effective in place of acaricides. See an TOF article on alternative methods of tick control and botanicals here

For organic farmers it always important to have as little poison on the farm as possible, and to choose the least harmful types of acaricides. However even organic farmers have to spray their animals, as regulations demand that the animals are kept healthy and comfortable.

These are structures built on ranches or communally where animals are driven through a bath of acaricides. It is an easy procedure but quite costly, and there can often be cases of animals that swallow some amount of dip solution with varying results from death of the animal to some degree of poisoning.

Dips must be carefully maintained to ensure the concentration of acaricides is appropriate at all times. Too low concentration can lead to ineffective tick control and tick resistance to the acaricide used. There is also the problem of environmental pollution when dips need to be cleaned out. Where to throw all the old toxic waste?

Spray races are modernized dips, where cattle walk through a set of nozzles spraying acaricides to cover the whole animal. The spraying is done mechanically by pumps, with very little need for human labour. It is less hazardous than dips, and as the left over spray is recollected, strained and reused there is less waste of acaricides. The concentration of acaricides is also much easier to regulate than for dips. As animals walk into the spray race preparing to meet the spray and closing their mouths and too much inbreathing, the spray races have less problems of poisoning of animals than dips.

As most small scale farmers do not have access to dips or spray races, the best option becomes spraying by back pack sprayer. This is labour consuming and it is easy to miss areas on the animals (often under the tail or behind leg joints), where ticks can then hide and multiply. It is also important to avoid spraying directly into the animal's noses and open eyes. Animals can go blind from getting acaricides into their eyes, and can get poisoned by too much acaricide sprayed on their noses.

Pour-on acaricides are slowly becoming more popular. These are formulated in a way that a certain amount is simply poured along the back of the animal, from where it distributes itself evenly over the hide of the animal. Pour-on's are very effective but also quite expensive.

General assumptions:

Assumptions: * DM content = 20%, * *DM content = 90%

1 Cow and cowshed are considered as having long-term value; annual costs are estimated to cater for risks of unavoidable losses and depreciation
*Calculations based on average daily milk = 20 litres in 301 days lactation

1 Cow and cowshed are considered as having long-term value; annual costs are estimated to cater for risks of unavoidable losses and depreciation *Calculations based on average daily milk = 20 litres in 301 days lactation

From the above comparison it can be seen that home production of forages gives a higher return from similar systems, but that dairy production can still be profitable when fodders are bought in (depending on price).

Assumptions:

1 Cow and cowshed are considered as having long-term value; annual costs are estimated to cater for risks of unavoidable losses and depreciation *Calculations based on average daily milk = 20 litres in 301 days lactation

From example 3 we can learn that one must be very careful about feeding expenses. Buying in too much feed at too high prices will cancel out any profit and even make a loss. It is very important to always list all expenses and evaluate whether they are justified.

Assumptions:

1 Cow and cowshed are considered as having long-term value; annual costs are estimated to cater for risks of unavoidable losses and depreciation

*Calculations based on average daily milk = 18 litres in 301 days lactation

Jersey cows, being smaller animals, eat less than Friesian or Ayrshire cows, and has better quality milk. Some dairies will pay extra for the good quality milk (higher cream and protein content) but this is not yet common in Kenya

1 Cow and cowshed are considered as having long-term value; annual costs is estimated to cater for risks of unavoidable losses and depreciation

2 Manyatta Bomas are constructed under the pastoral system; annual cost is estimated

*Calculations based on average daily milk = 4 litres in 260 days lactat

It is important to keep up the vaccination schedules listed above in the table on notifiable diseases. This will avoid a lot of grief when outbreaks suddenly occur. It is much cheaper to keep up vaccination schedules than to suddenly have to treat a lot of sick animals. Always prevention is better than cure, as there is no loss of production in prevented diseases.

The following lists a few management diseases and their prevention and management

Common in high yielding lactating cows just after calving. Milk fever can kill an otherwise healthy cow in less than 24 hours if not successfully managed. Causes: Nutritional disease/disorder associated deficiency of Calcium. Friesian and jersey cows are highly susceptible.

Symptoms: Cow staggers on moving; cow feels hot to the touch (fever); Cow will lie down on its side with legs thrust out and head turned back.

If discovered early enough, a handful of lime in a bottle of water and fed to the cow may be sufficient for the cow to recover. For late discovered cases of milk fever (when the cow is no longer able to drink) only the use of calcium formulations administered right into the bloodstream by a veterinarian can save the animal (consult veterinarian)

Mastitis is one of the most common challenges to milk production in East Africa, and is not even always recognised as a disease. In some communities symptoms of mastitis are attributed to 'bad eyes' or witch craft. Mastitis is the infection of the teat milk canal spreading into the udder, and making the milk unfit for consumption. The main causes are bacteria, but cases of fungal mastitis are also known. The entry of the bacteria into the teats can come via the milk canal from dirty hands, or through small scratches caused by rough milking, tick bites, encounters with thorns etc. It is therefore very important to always clean the teats and the hands milking them very well before milking, and if any scratches are seen to disinfect the teats immediately after milking.
Causes: Poor milking hygiene/technique (stripping); Incomplete milking; Muddy environment.

Nomadic pastoralism involves a seasonal pattern of movement around a more or less regular pattern. This is the most environmentally sustainable livelihood in the arid and semi arid areas. It is practiced predominantly in Kenya Northern and southern rangelands.

A system practiced within a defined unit of land. In a ranch it is possible to maintain optimal stocking rates conserve, and preserve pasture and develop livestock support facilities such as dips and water points. This system is practiced in both arid and semi arid areas.

A system practiced in semi- arid parts of the country where beef farming is practiced alongside crop farming. Beef farming and crop farming complement each other through livestock feeding on crop residues and crop farming benefiting from manure and animal draught power.

These are units where immature cattle are intensively put on a feeding regime purposely for fattening to attain a specific market weight prior to selling. The animals are confined like in the zero grazing units in dairy production and are fed on high-energy concentrates. This system is not in use in the arid lands of Kenya.Complete zero grazing is not allowed under organic standards, unless the animals have access to outdoor exercise areas and spacious clean resting areas (for more information please please see here Animal welfare and Oganic Standards)

Good calf management practices ensure fast growth rate, reduced disease incidences and reduced death rates in calves. This ensures reduced cost of production and optimum profitability in beef production. After calving, ensure the dam is cleaning the calf properly and that the calf can stand on its own. Where necessary, the calf should be assisted to suckle The calf should be checked for abnormalities and corrective measures taken.