Assessment of Hygiene Practices and Microbial Safety of Milk Supplied by Smallholder Farmers to Processors in Selected Counties in Kenya

Smallholder farmers dominate the Kenyan dairy sector producing 95% of the total milk. However, several concerns have been raised on the quality and safety of the milk they produce. This study assessed the hygienic practices and microbial safety of milk supplied by smallholder farmers to processors in Bomet, Nyeri, and Nakuru counties in Kenya. Interviews and direct observations were carried out to assess hygiene and handling practices by farmers and a total of 92 milk samples were collected along four collection channels: direct suppliers, traders, cooperatives with coolers and cooperatives without coolers. Microbial analysis was done following standard procedures and data analysed using GenStat and SPSS. This study revealed that farmers did not employ good hygienic practices in their routine dairy management. They used plastic containers for milking and milk storage (34.2%); they did not clean sheds (47.9%) and did not set aside cows that suffered from mastitis factors (83.6%), resulting in poor microbial quality of raw milk along the collection channels. The highest mean total viable counts (8.72 log10 cfu/ml) were recorded in Nakuru while Nyeri had the highest mean E. coli counts (4.97 log10 cfu/ml) and Bomet recorded the highest mean counts of 5.13 and 5.78 log10 cfu/ml for Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes respectively. Based on all above-mentioned parameters, the microbial load in most samples from all three counties exceeded the set Kenyan standards. Farmer training, improving road infrastructure, use of instant coolers at cooperatives, and quality-based payment systems are recommended as measures to curb microbial growth.

The Health and Behavioural Effects of Individual Versus Pair Housing of Calves at Different Ages on a UK Commercial Dairy Farm

Housing management of dairy calves is one of the factors that contributes to a successful rearing outcome. Individual housing of pre-weaned calves is thought to provide enhanced biosecurity and easier monitoring of the individual, and so remains prevalent in the UK. Behavioural studies have, however, found that pair housing is important for social learning, with positive impacts on health and welfare. This study utilised a single UK commercial dairy farm to establish if individual housing, pair housing from birth, or pair housing from three weeks of age affected health and behavioural parameters. Calves were housed in these allocated groups from birth to eight weeks of age, when they were moved into group pens of five calves for weaning at 10 weeks of age. All management routines other than the housing group were the same for enrolled calves. One hundred Holstein calves were recruited over a six-month period, and systematically allocated to a housing group. Weekly visits were conducted up to 10 weeks of age (weaning) for each calf, with weight, solid feed intake, and presence of clinical disease measured. In addition, a novel object approach test was carried out at six weeks, and a thoracic ultrasound was performed at seven weeks. Housing group had no effect on the average daily liveweight gain (ADLG) (p = 0.74), with an average of 0.66 kg/day over the pre-weaning period. However, on group housing at 8–10 weeks of age, there was a numerical increase in ADLG in the pair housed calves compared to the individually housed calves over the weaning period. Housing group had no significant effect on disease prevalence (p = 0.98) or the time taken to approach the novel object (p = 0.29). However, pair housed calves had increased mean total solid feed intakes from weeks 2–8 (p = 0.011), with 6.2 ± 0.67 kg (standard error of the mean - SEM), 12.7 ± 0.73 kg and 13.6 ± 0.70 kg ingested by individually housed, pair housed from birth and pair housed from three weeks of age, respectively. The overall findings of this study indicate that within a UK commercial dairy management system, there is no detrimental effect of housing calves within pairs (either from birth or three weeks of age) compared to individual housing.

Calcium Requirement in Relation to Milk Fever and its Economic Impact in Dairy Cattle

The goal of this research was to compile and consolidate the disparate data on calcium requirements in connection to milk fever and its economic impact in dairy cattle. The most frequent mineral-related metabolic condition affecting dairy cows at parturition is milk fever, which occurs most commonly in adult dairy cows two to three days following parturition .It is caused by a severe lack of metabolizable calcium ions in the circulation (hypocalcaemia), and its primarily affects high-producing and high-performing dairy cows that are nearing their maximal output capability. Milk yield, parity, cow breed, and a lack of awareness of basic dairy management and ration formulation are all variables that contribute to milk fever. It reduces milk yield and fertility, which leads to the culling of high-producing dairy cows from a herd. It also raises the expense of animal treatment and the danger of additional parturient disorders such retained placenta, ketosis, displaced abomasum, and environmental mastitis. Intravenous calcium salts, such as borogluconate, at a rate of 2g/100kg body weight, as well as oral calcium solutions, are two methods for treating milk fever in dairy cows. Cases of milk fever, on the other hand, can be minimized with good management, notably through the use of proper feeds and feeding systems .To summarize, management of milk fever is very important because it should be considered as a gateway disease that greatly reduce the chance for full productivity and reproduction of dairy cows. The key to prevention of milk fever is management of a close-up dry cow or management during late pregnancy .Therefore, milk fever management is economically most important, as a result, raising dairy farmers’ awareness of milk fever and optimal ration compositions for their dairy cows is a critical instrument in the fight against milk fever.

Study of anti-free radical action of phytopreparations and their effectiveness on animals

With industrial technologies of animal husbandry, the state of the animal’s body is characterized by the presence of metabolic disorders considered as oxidative stress. Currently, in animal husbandry, characterized by stressful content in industrial complexes, the use of adaptogenic drugs is required; however, among their abundance, phytobiotics are the most effective in terms of optimizing metabolic processes. Phytobiotics are herbal preparations that are sources of biologically active substances. The work shows the results of studying anti-free radicals of phytobiotics (nettle, germinated wheat sprouts, clover, licorice, marsh cinquefoil and cranberry) in the POL-AOS model system and the results of the application of the developed method of antioxidant protection for high-yielding cows kept under stressful conditions under industrial dairy management. cattle breeding. The basic mechanism of action of phytopreparations based on nettle, germinated sprouts of wheat, clover, licorice, marsh cinquefoil and cranberry in the correction and prevention of biochemical disorders caused by stress is inhibition of free radical oxidation and activation of endogenous antioxidants.

Influence of country of origin and lineage on the lifetime milk production of Holstein cows

<b>This work investigated the percentage influence of country of origin and lineage on parameters of lifetime milk production in Holstein cows brought as heifers to Ukraine from Western Europe. The animals were kept untethered in new, modern, uninsulated steel cowsheds in a large dairy complex. Data from the Orsek dairy management system were used to evaluate randomly selected cows of different origins with complete lactation for lifetime milk, fat and protein yield. Despite significant differences in milk productivity between animals depending on their country of origin and line, the share of the influence of these factors was fairly small. Two-way analysis of variance showed that the percentage influence of the line on lifetime milk yield was 5,5%, and its influence on the yield of milk fat and protein was 6,3-7,8%. The percentage influence of the country of origin was even smaller, at 0,5–2,6% (with a greater impact on milk yield). The rather small effect of the factors studied could be due to the influence of environmental factors (feeding and living conditions), which should be investigated in further studies. </b>

Participation of Farm Women in Dairy Management Practices in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh in India

An investigation was conducted to study the participation of farm women in dairy management practices in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh .A total of 225 farm women were selected based on their land holding capacity. The study revealed that women from small farmer category had more participation in taking animals for pregnancy diagnosis (81.33%) and post calving care (77.33%).Women under landless category were more involved in regularly taking animals for grazing (45.33%), green fodder collection and feeding (68%) and feeding animals with concentrates (88%).Feeding of animals with dry fodder regularly was more in small women dairy farmer category (89.33%) and landless (86.66%) than that in medium (56%) farm women category. Cleaning of animal sheds regularly was high in landless (76%) and small (69.33%) farm women than in medium (44%) farm women. Majority of women under landless category were regularly using disinfectants for cleaning of animal sheds (49.33%).Regular involvement in disposing of dung and composting of dung is high in women under landless (69.33%) and small (65.33%) farm women categories. Feeding of Colostrum to the calves regularly is high in small (86.66%) farmwomen category and cleaning of calf after birth is high in landless (84%) women category. Women in landless (77.33%) and small (74.6%) farmer categories are regularly washing the animals before milking. It was observed that 12% of women under medium farmer category and 8% under small farmer category are engaging labour for milking of animals. Women under small (76%) and landless (73.33%) farmer category were regularly taking care of sick animals. Sale of milk regularly through cooperatives was observed to be high in landless (85.33%) and small (90.66%) farm women categories. More number of women under landless (21.33%) were regularly participating in insurance of animals than small (6.66%) and medium (10.66%) farm women categories. More number of medium (9.33%) women dairy farmers were regularly involved in purchase of animals compared to landless (5.33%) and small (1.33%) farm women.

Adoption Level of Good Dairy Management Practices among Dairy Farmers in Central Plain Zone of Uttar Pradesh, India

Good dairy management practices are a widely important tool for facilitating and promoting farmers' production and marketing of healthy, high quality milk and milk products to meet food and consumer expectations. In this context, the present research study was designed to make an attempt to find out the extent of adoption of animal welfare practices by the dairy farmers at field level. The study was conducted in the Central plain zone of Uttar Pradesh State. Four districts (Hardoi, Auraiya, Allahabad and Kaushambi) were selected purposively. One block from each district and from each block two villages and from each village 15 farmer-respondents were selected randomly. A total of 120 respondents were finally approached for the primary data collection. The salient findings with regard to adoption of good dairy management practices revealed that, more than half of the respondents (55.83%) belonged to medium level of adoption category, followed by 27.56 and 16.67% in low and high level of adoption category, respectively. The study further suggests sensitizing and training the extension personnel’s /veterinarians about the good dairy management practices and strengthening the dairy extension services among dairy farmers in the study area.