Abstract
The livestock insurance program for dairy farmers in Vietnam targeting various acute diseases began in 2011 as a pilot project; however, due to vaccination campaigns, outbreaks of such diseases are rare. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mastitis and reproductive failure-which chronically affect the farming economy-on the decision to participate in the insurance program. A survey involving a questionnaire and milk sampling from apparently healthy animals was conducted on the 38 participating and 59 non-participating dairy farms in the livestock insurance program in Ba Vi, Hanoi, Vietnam, in August 2014. Microbiological tests were performed to detect sub-clinical mastitis, whereas the questionnaire was administered to collect information regarding farm management and the occurrence of clinical mastitis and reproductive failure over the previous three months. There were no significant differences in the proportion of farms having cows with clinical mastitis (insured: 8/38 farms, 21.1% vs. non-insured: 13/58 farms, NA = 1, 22.8%, p = 1) and repeat breeders (insured: 16/36 farms, NA = 2, 44.4% vs. non-insured: 20/57 farms, NA = 2, 35.1%, p = 0.49) over the previous three months. The proportion of farms having cows with sub-clinical mastitis at the time of the survey was also not significantly different between insured (5/38 farms, 13.2%) and non-insured (7/59 farms, 11.91%) farms (p = 1). Based on the obtained results, neither endemic disease nor farm management is respectably involved in the decision of farms to participate in the animal insurance program targeting acute animal infectious diseases.
Highlights
Milk production has drastically increased over the last four decades, in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam (Food & Agricultural Organization, 2013)
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mastitis and reproductive failure-which chronically affect the farming economy-on the decision to participate in the insurance program
In addition to the increased production and consumption of livestock products in Southeast Asia, rapid economic growth has been accompanied by increased risks of infectious disease epidemics such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) (Vu et al, 2017) and avian influenza (Poolkhet et al, 2018), primarily due to increases in the frequency and quantity of trade and travel
Summary
Milk production has drastically increased over the last four decades, in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam (Food & Agricultural Organization, 2013). This growth has been attributed to an increase in the domestic demand for dairy products and the governmentled importation of highly productive dairy animals for breeding purposes (Garcia et al, 2006). The risk factors for diseases in dairy cows are interconnected (LeBlanc et al, 2006), and rapid changes in dairy productivity are assumed to have increased the incidence of various diseases, including sub-clinical forms of mastitis, ketosis, rumen acidosis, and endometritis. As the majority of livestock producers in Southeast Asia are small scale, the economic impact of such outbreaks is immense
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