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Quantifying production losses associated with foot and mouth disease outbreaks on large-scale dairy farms in Rift valley, Kenya

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Abstract

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a contagious viral disease to which dairy cattle are highly susceptible. An outbreak of FMD in a dairy herds can cause a drop in milk yield, increase mastitis infections, and force culling. These production losses can be substantial, but farmers undervalue the magnitude of the loss that they incur. The study quantified the association of FMD outbreaks with milk yield, mastitis incidences, and culling rates. The data was from three large-scale dairy farms with a recent history (2008 to 2018) of FMD outbreaks in a region endemic for the prevalence of serotype C of the FMD virus since the mid-1980s in the Rift valley of Kenya. A total of 507 cows were monitored for three consecutive periods of six weeks before, during, and after FMD outbreaks. Relative to the period before and after the disease outbreak, production losses were marked during the outbreak. A disease outbreak was associated with up to 4.7% of the cows drying off (n = 24) and milk production dropped by 16.1%. The incidence of mastitis increased from 5.4% to 21.5% (OR = 3.31, CI = 2.27, 4.83) and culling rates increased from 0.59% to 3.8% (OR = 6.71, CI = 1.99, 22.58).

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The author is thankful to the center of excellence in agriculture and agribusiness management (CESAAM) for the support and funding of my research.

Funding

Funding from Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (CESAAM) program was greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Egerton, Njoro, Kenya

    R. A. Lewis, O. B. Kashongwe & B. O. Bebe

  2. Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, University of Juba, Juba, South Sudan

    R. A. Lewis

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  1. R. A. Lewis
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  2. O. B. Kashongwe
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  3. B. O. Bebe
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Contributions

The study's inception and the model were the contributions from all of the writers. Olivier Kashongwe Basole supervised Reagan Anguie Bol during data collection. while Bockline Omedo Bebe supervised data analysis. The first draft of the article was written by Reagan Anguie Bol Lewis; it was read and approved by the other authors.

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Correspondence to R. A. Lewis.

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Statement of animal rights

This work was done on the permission of Kenya national commission for science, technology and innovation. Ref no NACOSTI/P/19/56275/30310.

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Lewis, R.A., Kashongwe, O.B. & Bebe, B.O. Quantifying production losses associated with foot and mouth disease outbreaks on large-scale dairy farms in Rift valley, Kenya. Trop Anim Health Prod 55, 293 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03707-z

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