Prevalent diseases of draft oxen and control measures
1998
Feseha Gebreab (Addis Abeba University (Ethiopia))
In the crop-livestock production system of Ethiopia, draft oxen have a vital and crucial role in making farming practices more efficient and productive. One of the major limiting constraints impeding full exploitation, exceeded only by nutrition, are diseases. They are causes of death, losses in meat and milk production and work out put as well as costs of implementing control measures. In the spectrum of the ill-health panorama feature diseases such as rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), anthrax, blackleg, foot and mouth disease, fasciolosis, gut and pulmonary helminthosis, ticks, tick borne diseases and trypanosomosis. For the smallholder possession of a pair of oxen means preparation of land, sowing and threshing on time as well as generation of additional income from lease arrangements. Therefore the impact of death or sickness of a draft oxen on the livelihood of individual farmers as well as on the agricultural development efforts in general can be severe. For the institutions of health care dilivery system, a focussed programme and attention to the care of individual draft oxen at the level of the smallholder is suggested. For this, strengthening and harmonization of the functions of veterinary services is recommended. The point of departure for such tasks is the undertaking of epidemiological surveys to determine the prevalence, incidence and economic importance of diseases.
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