Abstract
Milk serves as a significant source of protein for many families and aids in combating food insecurity. However, the demand for milk and milk-related products far exceeds the supply. The objective of the study was to evaluate dairy farm-workers’ knowledge of factors responsible for culling and mortality of dairy cows in the Eastern Cape Province. Data was collected from 106 dairy farm-workers using a questionnaire. Any correctly answered question by the majority amounted to a point and a zero for incorrectly answered questions. Correct answering by the majority to more than half the questions of a subsection amounted to a pass. A less than 50% pass rate was considered a poor level of knowledge, 51–69% pass rate was considered an average level of knowledge, and anything higher than that was considered a good level of knowledge. Most farm-workers (66.0%) relied on their colleagues for dairy health information. Most dairy farm-workers (49.1%) indicated that lameness, milk fever (56.6%), and mastitis (47.2%) do not lead to culling and mortality of dairy cows. A majority (83%) of farm-workers agreed that reproduction problems, poor milk yield (77.3%), and age (81.1%) are the main reasons for culling dairy cows. The participants had varying perceptions and limited knowledge (28.3%) about the major contributing factors of culling and mortality. The lack of training courses and minimal use of other sources of information such as the internet might contribute to this poor knowledge and perceptions.
Highlights
Milk is an essential commodity in South Africa as it provides protein and other essential minerals (Ndambi and Hemme 2009; DAFF 2018)
The dairy industry is an important sector of public health interest that produces milk for direct and indirect human consumption (Lucey 2015)
In South Africa, 98% of milk from dairy farms is sent to the market, and the remaining 2% is for on-farm consumption (Milk SA 2017; MilkSA 2019)
Summary
Milk is an essential commodity in South Africa as it provides protein and other essential minerals (Ndambi and Hemme 2009; DAFF 2018). The dairy industry is an important sector of public health interest that produces milk for direct and indirect human consumption (Lucey 2015). In South Africa, 98% of milk from dairy farms is sent to the market, and the remaining 2% is for on-farm consumption (Milk SA 2017; MilkSA 2019). In addressing the malnutrition challenges in the Southern African region, milk and milk-related products provide the required cellular growth fatty acids (Semba et al 2016; Agriculture Research Council 2017; Choudhury and Headey 2018). All these milk-related benefits have resulted in an escalation in demand for milk. Due to the regular increase in population, the demand for milk has escalated beyond the local milk producer’s capability to adequately meet the demand (Thornton 2010; Agriculture Research Council 2017, 2018; Lemmer 2018)
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