Prevalence of Mastitis in Camel, Cattle and Goats at Benadir Region in Somalia

Mastitis is one of the major problems that lead economic inefficiency in dairy farm. It is categorized into clinical and subclinical mastitis and has multiple causes that are both infectious and non-infectious. Mastitis is one of the major problems and the top list of complaints from dairy farmers in Banadir region and this is ascribed as result of the inexperience of dairy farmers in Somalia who ventured camel dairy farms, cattle dairy and goat in the vicinity of the capital city of Somalia. Therefore, this study was launched to assess the prevalence of mastitis in Bandir region as well as identify the risk factors that are associated with mastitis occurrence. It was also surveyed the knowledge, practices and attitudes of farmers towards mastitis. The study was cross sectional and took place between August 2018 to January 2019, to determine the burden or the prevalence of mastitis in the study area. The study conducted multistage sampling by first purposely selecting five districts from the 18 districts that comprises Banadir province. The area selection was based on the availability of dairy farms. Farms were also randomly selected by first listing farms in a piece of paper and selecting it from bowel, while systematic selection was conducted at animal level by selecting every three Animal for sampling and screening. Qualitative data was collected through questionnaire administered to farmers in order to gauge their knowledge, attitudes and practices on mastitis. The research used California mastitis test to screen the animals. In this study the overall prevalence found was 23.4% and species wise the prevalence was 27.4%, 25.5% 16% for cattle, camel and goats respectively. Cattle mastitis was high compared to camel and goats. In cattle the exotic breed showed the highest (38%) prevalence for mastitis. The study found three risks factors that showed statistical significance at P<0.05 and the three risk factors include: age, parity, and lactation period at a P<0.05. it was also found out that farmers had poor knowledge, practices and attitudes on mastitis control and management. In this study KAPs analysis points out that there is overall poor practice of dairy farmers in Benaadir region. It was found out that only 16% of the respondents practice hand washing before milking, this is compounded by poor milking techniques in which tit striping is practiced by 58% of the respondents. Eighty percent (80%) of the respondents answered yes to washing the udder of the animal before milking. Where, 16% of the respondents practice post and pre milking tit dipping. These poor practices are attributed to be predisposing factors that caused mastitis. In this study it was found that the frequency of slurry and dung removal was low, 16.7% removed the slurry once a day, 33.3 of the respondents removed the slurry once a week while 50% of the respondents removed the slurry/dung once a month. This study is preliminary study and eye opener to other researchers and academician on the prevalence of mastitis, risk factors as well as KAPs of the dairy farmers on mastitis. Therefore, it is recommended that farmers follow the proper milking protocols and mastitis control guidelines as stipulated in the national mastitis council (NMC). It is also recommended that farmers are educated and given proper extension services by the relevant bodies.