A study on the cause-specific mortality rates of dairy calves on farms in the eastern zone of Tanzania

Abstract

Dairy cattle and their crosses form a minute fraction (1%) of the 12.8 million cattle in Tanzania. There has, however, been an increasing demand for such animals by small-scale farmers. A study on cause-specific calf mortality rates (CSMR) was carried out on three dairy farms in the eastern zone of Tanzania over a 5 year period (1984–1988). The study was intended to provide some of the baseline data required in trying to increase survival rates of dairy calves. Twenty-three percent of all calves born died. Diarrhoea was the major killer of calves (27% of all deaths), followed by pneumonia (19%) and weak-calf syndrome (11%).