Incidence rate of clinical bovine mastitis in selected smallholder dairy farms in Gondar town, Ethiopia

A study was conducted in Gondar town in six selected smallholder farms from August 2005 to January 2006 for six months to measure incidence rate of clinical bovine mastitis. Monitoring was performed by animal attendants of each farm after training and supervision of the monitoring activities and collection of data was performed by the researchers. Farmers identified cases of clinical mastitis on the basis of abnormalities in milk, in the udder or systemic abnormalities of the cow. A second or third case of clinical mastitis in the same lactation was considered a new case if at least 14 days had passed between the previous and the current case of clinical mastitis. The average incidence rate of clinical bovine mastitis at cow level was found to be 21.26 per 100 cow-years at risk (0.21 per cow-year at risk). Among the six farms, the highest incidence rate observed was 63.49 per 100 cow-years time and no case was recorded in two farms.