Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia
Calf morbidity and mortality are major causes of economic losses on dairy farms worldwide, with a far greater impact in developing countries such as Ethiopia. A prospective longitudinal study on dairy farms in the city of Hawassa was conducted between August 2018 and July 2019, to estimate the cumul...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2021-12-01
|
| Series: | Heliyon |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021026499 |
| _version_ | 1828919859711311872 |
|---|---|
| author | Debele Hordofa Fufa Abunna Bekele Megersa Rahmeto Abebe |
| author_facet | Debele Hordofa Fufa Abunna Bekele Megersa Rahmeto Abebe |
| author_sort | Debele Hordofa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Calf morbidity and mortality are major causes of economic losses on dairy farms worldwide, with a far greater impact in developing countries such as Ethiopia. A prospective longitudinal study on dairy farms in the city of Hawassa was conducted between August 2018 and July 2019, to estimate the cumulative incidence of calf morbidity and mortality and to identify the associated risk factors. For this purpose, 221 calves from 20 farms were examined every 15 days from birth to the age of six months. We used the Kaplan Meier (K-M) method, log rank test, and Cox proportional hazards regression to analyze the data. Of the calves examined, 48.4% (n = 107) had various clinically visible health problems, while 19.5% (n = 43) died from various causes. Using the K-M method, the cumulative incidence of all-cause morbidity at the end of the sixth month of life was 50.12% (95% CI: 43.58%–57.05%), while the cumulative incidence of all-cause mortality was 20.04% (95% CI: 12.56%–26.06%). The most commonly diagnosed disease syndrome was diarrhea (64.5%), followed by pneumonia (15%), septicemia (6.5%), joint disease (4.7%), conjunctivitis (3.7%), umbilical infections (2, 8%) and other unknown causes (11.2%). Diarrhea was also the leading cause of death (46.5%). The other causes of calf mortality were pneumonia (16.3%), septicemia (7%), and unknown diseases (30.2%). In the K-M hazard analysis, the greatest risk of calf morbidity and mortality was observed during the first month of life and then the risk decreased significantly as the calves grew. Of the 21 potential risk factors studied, the multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model showed that time calves ingested their first colostrum, calving difficulty, and calving season were the three predictors that were significantly associated with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality. A higher risk of morbidity was observed in calves that had ingested their first colostrum six hours after birth (HR = 1.9; P = 0.003), had calving difficulties (HR = 2.96; P < 0.001) and were born in the rainy season (HR = 1.64; P = 0.017) compared to calves that had consumed colostrum immediately after birth, had no difficulties at birth and were born in the dry season. The same three factors have been identified to influence calf mortality. The mortality risk was 2.73 (P = 0.002), 4.62 (P < 0.001) and 2.74 (P = 0.002) times higher in calves that had difficulty calving, ingested their first colostrum meal six hours after birth and were born in the rainy season, respectively. In general, the calf morbidity and mortality rates identified in this study were beyond economically justifiable limits and calls for educating farmers to raise awareness of some easy-to-fix issues such as colostrum feeding. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T21:34:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b5e7e8cb4214cdd854de5a2811a77f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T21:34:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b5e7e8cb4214cdd854de5a2811a77f92022-12-21T23:30:42ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402021-12-01712e08546Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern EthiopiaDebele Hordofa0Fufa Abunna1Bekele Megersa2Rahmeto Abebe3Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Resource Sector, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCollege of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 34, Bishoftu, EthiopiaCollege of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 34, Bishoftu, EthiopiaFaculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hawassa University, P.O. Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia; Corresponding author.Calf morbidity and mortality are major causes of economic losses on dairy farms worldwide, with a far greater impact in developing countries such as Ethiopia. A prospective longitudinal study on dairy farms in the city of Hawassa was conducted between August 2018 and July 2019, to estimate the cumulative incidence of calf morbidity and mortality and to identify the associated risk factors. For this purpose, 221 calves from 20 farms were examined every 15 days from birth to the age of six months. We used the Kaplan Meier (K-M) method, log rank test, and Cox proportional hazards regression to analyze the data. Of the calves examined, 48.4% (n = 107) had various clinically visible health problems, while 19.5% (n = 43) died from various causes. Using the K-M method, the cumulative incidence of all-cause morbidity at the end of the sixth month of life was 50.12% (95% CI: 43.58%–57.05%), while the cumulative incidence of all-cause mortality was 20.04% (95% CI: 12.56%–26.06%). The most commonly diagnosed disease syndrome was diarrhea (64.5%), followed by pneumonia (15%), septicemia (6.5%), joint disease (4.7%), conjunctivitis (3.7%), umbilical infections (2, 8%) and other unknown causes (11.2%). Diarrhea was also the leading cause of death (46.5%). The other causes of calf mortality were pneumonia (16.3%), septicemia (7%), and unknown diseases (30.2%). In the K-M hazard analysis, the greatest risk of calf morbidity and mortality was observed during the first month of life and then the risk decreased significantly as the calves grew. Of the 21 potential risk factors studied, the multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model showed that time calves ingested their first colostrum, calving difficulty, and calving season were the three predictors that were significantly associated with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality. A higher risk of morbidity was observed in calves that had ingested their first colostrum six hours after birth (HR = 1.9; P = 0.003), had calving difficulties (HR = 2.96; P < 0.001) and were born in the rainy season (HR = 1.64; P = 0.017) compared to calves that had consumed colostrum immediately after birth, had no difficulties at birth and were born in the dry season. The same three factors have been identified to influence calf mortality. The mortality risk was 2.73 (P = 0.002), 4.62 (P < 0.001) and 2.74 (P = 0.002) times higher in calves that had difficulty calving, ingested their first colostrum meal six hours after birth and were born in the rainy season, respectively. In general, the calf morbidity and mortality rates identified in this study were beyond economically justifiable limits and calls for educating farmers to raise awareness of some easy-to-fix issues such as colostrum feeding.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021026499CalvesHazard ratioIncidenceRisk factorsSurvival analysisEthiopia |
| spellingShingle | Debele Hordofa Fufa Abunna Bekele Megersa Rahmeto Abebe Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia Heliyon Calves Hazard ratio Incidence Risk factors Survival analysis Ethiopia |
| title | Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia |
| title_full | Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia |
| title_short | Incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia |
| title_sort | incidence of morbidity and mortality in calves from birth to six months of age and associated risk factors on dairy farms in hawassa city southern ethiopia |
| topic | Calves Hazard ratio Incidence Risk factors Survival analysis Ethiopia |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021026499 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT debelehordofa incidenceofmorbidityandmortalityincalvesfrombirthtosixmonthsofageandassociatedriskfactorsondairyfarmsinhawassacitysouthernethiopia AT fufaabunna incidenceofmorbidityandmortalityincalvesfrombirthtosixmonthsofageandassociatedriskfactorsondairyfarmsinhawassacitysouthernethiopia AT bekelemegersa incidenceofmorbidityandmortalityincalvesfrombirthtosixmonthsofageandassociatedriskfactorsondairyfarmsinhawassacitysouthernethiopia AT rahmetoabebe incidenceofmorbidityandmortalityincalvesfrombirthtosixmonthsofageandassociatedriskfactorsondairyfarmsinhawassacitysouthernethiopia |