Herd Size Research Articles

TECHNICAL-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF RISK MANAGEMENT ON THE SEMI-TRANSHUMANT LIVESTOCK SYSTEM, CASE OF AIN EL BELL REGION IN ALGERIA

Objective: This study aims to investigate the impact of risk management on the semi-transhumant livestock system, in order to suggest a better model for managing the sheep production cycle. Theoretical Framework: The semi-transhumant livestock system is facing an unprecedented set of risks occurring simultaneously. Therefore, studying the organization and management techniques of the semi-transhumant livestock system through a techno-economic approach, compares two situations (SWOR and SWR) based on using indisputable measures. Method: A field survey is conducted with 300 breeders during the period from 2019 to 2021. The collected data are processed using the statistical model SPSS. Results and Discussion: It is concluded that despite different situations, the same simplified production organization and marketing channels (social networks, informal contracts, etc.) are maintained. The SWR shows a decrease in herd size, adoption of 3 reproductive cycles, herd mobility and average profit, etc. However, there is an increase in production costs and acquisition of food products, etc. Ultimately, the results show that while unique risk situations impact semi-transhumant farming systems differently, their technical organizational and management measures render this impact insignificant based on non-parametric chi-square testing. Research Implications: This study provides insight into risk management offering implications for technically feasible practices that are reliable and bio-economically viable for sustaining semi-transhumant livestock system. Originality/Value: The value of this research is demonstrated by appropriate technical organizational and management measures impacting techno-economic farming results which will be useful to consider when other risks arise in future.

An epidemiological investigation into the reasons for high bovine tuberculosis incidence in cattle herds of the Burren, Ireland, prior to 2020

Herd-level bovine tuberculosis (bTB) incidence was examined in the Burren, an area in the west of Ireland where herd owners practice distinctive transhumance practices, with upland winter grazing. Prior to the initiation of our study in 2020, bTB incidence had for many years been unusually high in the Burren in comparison with the rest of the country, although the most recent figures have come down to being closer to the national average. Using data from the period prior to 2020, we mapped bTB infection in Burren herds alongside a range of indicators thought to have an association with it - herd size, herd density, herd type, cattle movement, and badger (Meles meles) population and control data, as well as rainfall and altitude. We also looked at how summary statistics for these variables differed when Burren herds with a history of bTB were compared to other Burren herds, as well as bTB positive and negative herds from outside the Burren. We found that for many indicators Burren herds would be expected to be low risk when compared to other herds in Ireland. An exception to this was for rainfall: hot spot areas for bTB in the Burren were found in areas of higher rainfall, on average herds in the Burren experienced more rainfall than those outside it, and bTB herds in the Burren experienced higher rainfall than non-bTB herds. Separately, for Burren herds only, a logistic regression model was developed to explain bTB breakdown occurrence using a matched case-control approach. Cases were herds which had experienced a new bTB breakdown between 2015 and 2019 (n = 260) and these were matched on herd type and herd size with the same number of herds not experiencing a breakdown during this period. This showed that, of a range of exogenous variables, rainfall was the most strongly associated with herd-level bTB incidence. These results suggest that high levels of exposure to inclement weather, and/or better environmental survival of Mycobacterium bovis in the environment, may contribute to high bTB rates in the Burren. However, as rainfall showed a highly aggregated distribution, this relationship may be due to an unmeasured factor correlated with it. Mapping and graphical output suggested that, although herd sizes in the Burren were on average lower than nationally, within the Burren they were higher in areas of higher prevalence, suggesting that mechanisms associated with herd size, such as increased contacts between and within herd, and with wildlife, may also play a role.

Farm management practices and host species richness associated with higher likelihood of tuberculosis positive farms in Western Spain

Despite enormous efforts, complete animal tuberculosis (TB) eradication has only been achieved in few regions. Epidemiological analyses are key to identify TB risk factors and set up targeted biosecurity measures. Here, we conducted an in-depth characterization of 84 extensive beef cattle farms from a high TB prevalence region in Western Spain, and assessed how farm management and wildlife presence on farms contribute to cattle TB risk. Twenty-six out of 84 variables were associated with cattle farm TB positivity. Farm management variables associated with TB positivity included older cattle, larger herd size, highly fragmented farm structure and greater connectivity between farms. TB-positive farms provided supplemental feed over a higher number of months, used calf feeders, and had higher number of waterholes. Detecting Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), European badger (Meles meles), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), or Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) on cattle farms was also associated with farm TB positivity. The best ordinal regression model indicated that in farms with a large herd size (> 167 animals) the odds of being positive or recurrently positive (versus negative) was 7.34 (95% CI = 2.43–23.51) times higher that of farms with small herd size. Further, for every additional host species detected in the farm premises, the odds of being TB-positive increased 56%. We conclude that both cattle management and wildlife need to be targeted for successful TB control in grazing-based farming systems.

Understanding the Dairy Sector in Slovenia: A Modeling Approach for Policy Evaluation and Decision Support

This study investigates the dairy sector in Slovenia, focusing on farm heterogeneity, efficiency in resource utilization, and policy implementations. Through a modeling approach, we explore the differences among dairy farms, considering factors such as herd size, farm management, natural conditions, and production potential. Based on 32 typical dairy farms, representing the entire dairy sector, composed of 6400 dairy farms, the analysis was performed using the farm model (SiTFarm). We emphasize the importance of accurate assessments, given the variability of policy impacts across farm types. While medium-to-large, specialized farms dominate milk production, smaller farms, particularly in less favored areas, hold social and environmental importance despite facing competitive challenges. Addressing environmental sustainability could involve promoting practices that improve milk yield and include grazing, as this tends to lower greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of milk (−5%). Dairy farms contribute about one-third of the generated revenue in Slovene agriculture, of which a good half goes to farms located in less favored areas. They manage a good quarter of permanent grassland in Slovenia, and it is certainly the sector that can achieve the highest return on these areas. In 75% of the farms, the gross margin is higher than 1756 EUR/ha and using best practices they exceed 3400 EUR/ha. The model results indicate that the average hourly rate on dairy farms during the observed period falls within the range of EUR 7.3 to 17.4 of gross margin for most farms, with the top-performing ones exceeding 24 EUR/h. However, due to the significant reliance on budgetary payments (on average, 58% of the gross margin), the implementation of the common agricultural policy strategic plan generally leads to a deterioration in the economic indicators of dairy farms. This impact is particularly pronounced on medium-sized and larger farms, increasing the effect on income due to the substantial fixed costs involved. Our findings underscore the interplay between policy interventions, farm characteristics, and sectoral outcomes, offering valuable insights for policy-makers and stakeholders.

Polish Dairy Farm Transformations and Competitiveness 20 Years after Poland's Accession to the European Union.

Poland is one of the leading milk producers in the EU, being the fifth largest after countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. From Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004 up to 2022, Polish milk production experienced dynamic development. In this, there occurred a strong decline in the number of dairy farms (by -78%) and the number of cows (by -21%), an increase in dairy herd size (3.5 times) and increase in milk production (+60%) and milk yield per cow (by +62%). These were among the highest growth dynamics among the analysed countries. As a result of this significant transformation, Poland maintained an important position in milk exports, with a 31% export share in production in 2022. The scale of milk production was the basic factor determining the efficiency and competitiveness of dairy farms in Poland. Milk yield, farmland productivity, labour productivity, milk price, and the Corrected Competitiveness Index (based on labour and land opportunity costs) all showed a positive relationship with cow herd size on the farm. Milk production is highly uncompetitive for smaller farms (<15 cows). Despite substantial public support, the smaller farms, where subsidies equal up to 47% of total production value, could not earn sufficient income to cover the cost of capital, risk, and management in 2008, and even more so in 2021. This is because the farm income is too small to cover the extremely high opportunity cost of labour. The larger farms (with 30 cows and more) are competitive and responsible for the majority (~60-70%) of milk produced and delivered to the market. The most challenging from the sectoral policy point of view are medium farms (10-29 cows), whose share in production and deliveries is still important. To survive as economically viable units, these farms have to increase in scale and improve productivity. Otherwise, they will be gradually supplanted by larger farms.

Impact of reproductive traits on productive life in Iranian Holstein dairy cows.

Enhancing reproductive performance is a key strategy to mitigate involuntary culling rates, thereby extending productive life (PL) and ultimately improving profitability in dairy cattle herds. A piecewise Weibull proportional hazards model was used to investigate the effect of several important reproductive traits on PL in Holstein dairy cows. Data comprised 200,747 lactation records from 82,505 cows sired by 1952 bulls across 36 dairy herds. PL was defined as the number of days from the first calving to the last milk record or censoring. The statistical model accounted for the time-dependent fixed effects of changes in herd size, year-season, milk production, fat and protein contents, and the time-independent fixed effect of age at first calving. Herd-year and sire effects were also included as random effects. Reproductive traits include calving traits such as calving ease (CE), calf size (CZ), and calf survival (CS), as well as female fertility traits such as number of inseminations per conception (NI), days from calving to first service (CFS), days from first service to conception (FSC), and days open (DO). All reproductive traits had a significant effect on PL (p < 0.001). Each reproductive trait was analysed separately. The relative risk (RR) of being culled increased as the severity of calving difficulties increased in both primiparous and multiparous cows. Cows that calved small or large calves showed a higher risk of being culled compared with those that calved medium size calves. The increased RR of culling was observed only for primiparous cows that gave birth to dead calves. In addition, cows that required more NI, a longer CFS, FSC, and DO had shorter longevity. These insights can deepen our comprehension of the factors affecting PL and provide information for refining management and breeding strategies, which could lead to increased profitability and sustainability in Iranian dairy farming.

Predicting subacute ruminal acidosis from milk mid-infrared estimated fatty acids and machine learning on Canadian commercial dairy herds

Our objective was to validate the possibility of detecting SARA from milk Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy estimated fatty acids (FA) and machine learning. Subacute ruminal acidosis is a common condition in modern commercial dairy herds for which diagnosis remains challenging due to its symptoms often being subtle, nonexclusive, and not immediately apparent. This observational study aimed at evaluating the possibility of predicting SARA by developing machine learning models to be applied to farm data and to provide an estimated portrait of SARA prevalence in commercial dairy herds. A first dataset, composed of 488 milk samples from 67 cows (initial DIM = 8.5 ± 6.18; mean ± SD) from 7 commercial dairy farms and their corresponding SARA classification (SARA+ if rumen pH <6.0 for 300 min, otherwise SARA-) was used for the development of machine learning models. Three sets of predictive variables (milk major components [MMC], milk FA [MFA], and MMC combined with MFA [MMCFA]) were submitted to 3 different algorithms, namely elastic net (EN), extreme gradient boosting, and partial least squares, and evaluated using 3 different scenarios of cross-validation. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the resulting 27 models were analyzed using a linear mixed model. Model performance was not significantly affected by the choice of algorithm. Model performance was improved by including FA estimations (MFA and MMCFA as opposed to MMC alone). Based on these results, 1 model was selected (algorithm: EN; predictive variables: MMCFA; 60.4%, 65.4%, and 55.3% of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, respectively) and applied to a large dataset comprising the first test-day record (milk major components and FA within the first 70 DIM of 211,972 Holstein cows [219,503 samples]) collected from 3,001 commercial dairy herds. Based on this analysis, the within-herd SARA prevalence of commercial farms was estimated at 6.6 ± 5.29% ranging from 0% to 38.3%. A subsequent linear mixed model was built to investigate the herd-level factors associated with higher within-herd SARA prevalence. Milking system, proportion of primiparous cows, herd size, and seasons were all herd-level factors affecting SARA prevalence. Furthermore, milk production was positively associated with SARA prevalence, and milk fat yield was negatively associated. Due to their moderate levels of accuracy, the SARA prediction models developed in our study, using data from continuous pH measurements on commercial farms, are not suitable for diagnostic purposes. However, these models can provide valuable information at the herd level.

Factors associated with the productive longevity of sows in commercial breeding herds

Abstract. Maximizing sows' productive longevity (PL) represents a significant challenge faced by the swine industry, as the growing increase in the removal rate of sows, mainly young sows, directly impacts the system's economy. In addition, there are ethical concerns associated with animal welfare issues due to the low PL of sows. The objective of this study was to identify and evaluate the risk factors influencing the removal of sows from commercial swine production systems. The variable of interest was the PL of sows. The PL was modeled using Cox regression analysis to identify the factors that affected this variable. The factor with the greatest contribution to PL was sow type (ST), followed by the return to estrus percentage (REP), herd size (HS), season, lactation duration, weaning–estrus interval (WEI), piglets born alive, mummy percentage, and total piglets born. The removal risk was higher for hyperprolific sows than for normal sows. According to the nonproductive day (NPD) variable (an indicator that considers REP and WEI in its calculation), sows with more than 60 nonproductive days per year are at higher risk of elimination. The risk of removal was higher for sows from large herds than for sows from medium or small herds. The PL of sows within a herd is determined by the type of sow and the sows' association with environmental disturbances, including climatic factors (artificial climate control), management practices (human resources), and economic resources (size and infrastructure).

Prediction of First Lactation Milk Yield on The Basis of Test Day Yield Using Multiple Linear Regression in Gir Cows

The test-day model is a method of choice for the study of milk yield traits, and this method is very important in countries like India, where herd size is generally smaller and lacks a well-established milk recording system. The present investigation was carried out on 365 records of Gir cows maintained at a cattle breeding farm from 1986 to 2014 with the objective of predicting the first lactation milk yield using monthly test day milk records. MLR was used with the backward elimination method. The optimum equation had total five variables (test days) viz. TD1, TD2, TD3, TD4 and TD5. This equation gave an accuracy of prediction of 77.71%. Therefore, it is concluded that first lactation 305 day milk yield could be predicted as early as 5th month of lactation with higher degree of accuracy.

Knowledge and adoption gaps of Stylosanthes seed production practices followed by farmers of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh

A study was carried out to know the knowledge and adoption levels of recommended practices of Stylosanthes crop by farmers. The study was conducted in 12 randomly selected villages of 3 blocks of Anantapur district by surveying 120 farmers using a structured interview schedule. The results revealed that knowledge levels were poor for the application of fertilizers (00%), seed treatment (7.5%), top dressing (25%) and row spacing (59.17%). Correspondingly, four practices that the respondents did not adopt were use of recommended seed rate, sowing without seed treatment, not following recommended spacing and fertilizer application at the time of sowing. Herd size and the irrigated area had a positive relationship with the knowledge level of respondents. Herd size, herd composition and cropping pattern showed positive and one variable risk orientation showed a negative and significant relationship with the level of adoption of Stylosanthes seed production practices. The study thus brings out the dire need to enhance the knowledge and adoption of critical practices for enhancing seed yield and quality of Styosanthes hamata.

Comparison of Antibiotic Use and the Frequency of Diseases Depending on the Size of Herd and the Type of Cattle Breeding.

Diseases are responsible for losses in livestock production by increasing animal mortality and reducing productivity. The administration of antibiotics can help mitigate these negative effects. However, inappropriate use can lead to severe complications, such as raising antibiotic resistance. The purpose of this study was to perform a comparative analysis of antibiotic use and disease frequency over four years, based on the size of dairy farms and the type of farm. The study covered a 4-year period and included medium dairy farms (20-50 cows, n = 13), large dairy farms (>250 cows, n = 8), and large beef farms (n = 8). The collected data involved antimicrobial use but also included farm demographics, animal health, disease frequency, and herd management practices. The criteria used to categorise antibiotics into groups A-D were based on the EMA guidelines. The carried-out study showed that the large dairy cattle farms had the highest antibiotic consumption (18.29 mg·PCU-1), due to the high frequency of diseases, and consequently, the treatment of calf (diarrhoea, lung inflammations) and cow diseases (general treatment and mastitis). Cattle on large beef farms suffer mainly from general diseases caused by maintenance and herd management conditions. The use of restrict antibiotics was, in some cases, unjustified (antibiotics for dry cow therapy). Future studies should consider a larger number of farms, taking into account the given direction of cattle production.

PERCEPTION OF ANIMAL OWNERS TOWARDS VETERINARY CLINICAL COMPLEX

The Veterinary Clinical Complex is a leading centre for animal treatment and serves as a reference Veterinary Clinic, with the main goal of training students to attain academic excellence and become successful veterinarians. Many clinical cases of small and large animals are presented to the veterinary clinical complex, which gives undergraduate students plenty of instructional material. The placement of multiple clinical departments and Veterinary Clinic units in one site has allowed for a well-integrated and coordinated approach to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in small and large animals. The research was conducted at the veterinary clinical complex (VCC), CVS &amp; AH, Kamdhenu University, Junagadh. An interview schedule was used in accordance with the objectives of the research in order to gauge how animal owners respect the VCC. In order to conduct a statistical analysis based on mean, frequency and percentage, 200 animal owners who visited VCC every day from 2021 to 2022 were randomly selected. The result indicated that majority of the animal owners had a medium level of perception towards Veterinary Clinical Complex services. Variables like education, experience as an animal owners, herd size, social participation and extension contact were positive and significant association with perception of animal owners about veterinary clinical complex and the variables like type of family, size of land holding, annual income and occupation had non-significant relationship with perception of animal owners about VCC services. Major constraints experienced by animal owners are vaccination and free of cost medicine is not provided by the VCC centre. Major suggestions given by the respondents to overcome the constraints were; medicine should be provided free of cost in veterinary clinical complex.

Participation of rural youths in dairy management practices

The present investigation on “Participation of rural youths in dairy management practices” was conducted in Chandur railway taluka of Amravati district. Taluka has been selected as it has a large number of dairy farmers.The exploratory research design was used in the present investigation. The present study was carried out in the Amravati district of the Vidarbha region to know the participation of rural youths in dairy management practices.The study revealed that the majority of respondents i.e. 40.83 percent were educated upto high school. It was observed that the majority of that maximum of 31.67 per cent of the respondents have semi-medium land holding, 63.33 per cent belonged to nuclear family, 35.00 per cent of the respondents had annual family income Rs. 100,001-150,000. The majority of respondents i.e. 45.83 per cent had high level of social participation, 50.00 per cent had medium family size. The majority i.e.71.67 per cent had medium level of sources of information and 55.00 per cent had medium herd size. In case of overall participation, majority i.e. 43.34 per cent of the respondents have high level of overall participation while 38.33 per cent have medium level of overall participation while 18.33 per cent of the respondents were having low level of overall participation.The independent variables like social participation and sources of information found a positive and significant level of probability of 0.01 per cent level with participation and another independent variables viz., education, land holding, annual family income, size of family and herd size found a positive and significant level of probability of 0.05 per cent level with participation. And the remaining variable type of family showed non-significant relationship with the participation of rural youths in dairy management practices.

Phylogenetic Analysis and Certain Risk Factors of Chlamydia Abortus in Ewes in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq

Chlamydia is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative organism that causes abortion, or "enzootic abortion of ewes", which is characterized by causing economic loss in sheep breeding. Chlamydia abortus spread could be stopped, and monitoring efforts could be more successful by gathering data on the condition of the disease. This ground-breaking study focused on the phylogenetic analysis and certain risk factors of Chlamydia abortus in ewes in Nineveh governorate, Iraq. 52 placenta samples were collected, representing 52 flocks (8660 ewes) who suffered from abortion in various Nineveh provincial locations between August 2022 and January 2023. Two local sequences were submitted to GenBank and assigned the accession numbers OR334580 and OR334581. The Chlamydia abortus 16S rRNA sequences were analyzed using the GenomeNet multiple sequence alignment tool (CLUSTALW), an online resource. After that, the sequences were compared to other Chlamydia abortus sequences that were accessible in the GenBank using NCBI BLAST (BLASTn) of NCBI. The Tamura-Nei model in the MEGA11 software program was used to create the phylogenetic trees. Results indicate that 15.38% (8/52) of the ewes had positive results for Chlamydia abortus, which was significantly affected by the increase in herd size and interspecies farming. Two sequences were put through individual sequence analysis, which revealed new Chlamydia abortus sequences, which were recorded for the first time in the governorate of Nineveh. We concluded that a higher risk of infection occurs in farms that contain more than 100 ewes and are mixed with other species of animals.

Sero Epidemiology of Camel Brucellosis and its Public Health Significances at Three Selected Districts in Erer Zone, Somali Region

Camel brucellosis is an infectious and zoonotic diseases caused by Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 450 camels from December, 2020 until August, 2021 with the aim of determining sero-prevalence and assessing the associated risk factors for camel brucellosis and its public health significances from purposively selected three districts namely (Fik, Hamaro and Laghida) of Erer zone, Somali Regional state, based on distribution of camel population and sampled using systematic random sampling. The overall sero-prevalence of Brucella in Erer zone was 4.8% (95%, CI: 2.8-6.8). However, the Seroprevalence varied among the different districts with Lagehida 10% (95%, CI: 1.7-18.7), followed by Fik 5.7% (95%, CI: 0.9-10.5) and Hamaro 1.9% (95%, CI: 0.007-0.0522). By computing univariate logistic regression analysis risk factors such as; sex, age, districts, parity, herd sizes, camels that co-exist with other ruminants and reproductive disorder (abortion) (p&lt;0.05) were statistically significant as major risk factor for transmission of camel brucellosis. Furthermore, multivariable logistic regression analysis of the risk factors revealed that the age, herd size and camels that are kept closely together with other ruminants with adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 3.3 (95%, CI: 1.58-6.74), 4.6 (95%, CI: 2.66-8.10) and 11.4 (95%, CI: 1.39-85.46), respectively were the major risk factors for the occurrence of camel brucellosis. Moreover, the questionnaire survey found common practices like lack of awareness about zoonotic diseases, raw milk consumption, and close contact with animals in pastoral communities. This highlights the need for further advanced epidemiological studies, herd health prevention, control strategies, and public health education to reduce brucellosis risk in both animals and pastoral communities.

Dairy Farmers’ Perception on Dairy Cattle Feeds and Feeding System: Brewery By-product Utilization Practice at Kombolcha Regiopolitan City, Ethiopia

A survey was conducted in three selected kebeles of Kombolcha Regiopolitan City in South Wollo Zone. The selected kebeles were in proximity to brewery factory, Ethiopia. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect perception data from purposively selected three kebeles and a total of 57 randomly selected dairy farmers. Data collected were analyzed with a statistical package for social sciences (Version 20) and Microsoft Excel (2010). Smallholder dairy farmers had average herd size of 10.7 and 0.08 hectare total dairy farm per household. Average daily milk yield and lactation length of dairy cows was 10.8 liter/day and 9.5 months, respectively. The majority of farmers (59.6%) reared dairy cows with 50-75% exotic blood. The most smallholder dairy farmers satisfied their feed demand from the market and had a trend of providing both dense and poor quality affordable feed ingredients. Smallholder dairy farmers gave priority to feed different kind of cattle in the order of lactating cows, calve, pregnant, heifers and dry cows and used (100%) wet brewery spent grain as a source of dairy feed. Though, there was a brewery by-product supply deficit for half of year. The majority smallholder dairy farmers delivered brewery by-product directly from the brewery factories and followed by wholesalers and retailers. The majority of smallholder dairy farmers (96.4%) stated that the brewery spent grain was fed and stored freshly using different conservation techniques, and the remaining stored in ensiled (1.8%) and dried (1.8%) forms. Smallholder dairy farmers had no brewery spent grain ensiling practice and feeding brewery yeast to dairy animals. Smallholder dairy farmers indicated that high price due to abnormal market chain and shortage of brewery spent grain supply were the major challenges to sustain dairy industry in the study area, and the majority (40.6%) claimed to get swift solutions at high cost and less accessible brewery by-product.

SEROPREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF BOVINE RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS IN DAIRY AND BEEF CATTLE HERDS IN REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is one of the important causative agents of Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) in cattle all over the world. The present study was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of BRSV in dairy and beef cattle farms in Bulgaria. A total of 418 serum samples from 19 farms were tested using a commercial ELISA antibody test kit. The average rate of seroprevalence was 78.9 % indicating a high level of exposure to the virus. In dairy and beef farms the seropositivity of BRSV was found to be 81.8%, and 72.7%, respectively. Evaluation of some risk factors reveals that the BRSV antibody prevalence was related to age, herd size, import of animals and season. This study demonstrates that infection is one of the common reasons of respiratory diseases in cattle which may have a significant influence on health and performance.

Factors Affecting Cattle Insurance Purchase and its Effects on the Financial Situation of Dairy Farmers

The results of the study indicated that the age of the respondents, the type of animals reared, herd size, and membership in dairy cooperatives and districts significantly influenced the adoption of cattle insurance. The education of the respondent, herd size, the type of animal holding, and membership in dairy cooperatives significantly influenced the willingness to pay for cattle insurance. Willingness to pay was found to be less than the actual payment for the cattle insurance premium, and it was more in the case of crossbreds than other categories of animals. The type of animal and membership in dairy cooperatives had a positive and significant influence on the actual level of payment for cattle insurance. The landholding size, animal herd size, and non-farm occupation, along with dairying, had a positive influence, and the loss of animals had a negative impact on the net- income of the farmers. Finally, it can be concluded that cattle insurance is one of the best risk mitigation strategies to help farmers stabilize their income under risks and uncertain situations.

Serosurvey and associated risk factors for Chlamydia abortus infection in Dromedary camels in Egypt.

Chlamydia abortus (C. abortus) is a gram-negative, obligate intracellular bacterium that causes major public health problems in human and reproductive problems in animals. The information about the epidemiology of this pathogen among camels in Egypt is very rare. This study aimed to evaluate the existence of antibodies against C. abortus in camels and assess the related risk factors for infection. A total of 410 blood samples were collected from camels from three Egyptian governorates and examined using commercial ELISA kit. The overall seroprevalence rate was 6.6% and the higher C. abortus seropositivity rate was found in Giza governorate. Location, sex and infestation by ectoparasites did not influence on the seroprevalence of the disease. In addition, age, herd size, contact with small ruminants and history of abortion were identified as risk factors for C. abortus infection according to the univariate analysis. Based on multivariate analysis, age group of 4-8 years, small herd size, contact of camels with sheep and goats, and history of abortion were found to be significant risk factors for chlamydiosis transmission in camels. These factors had odds ratios of 4.23, 3.51, 2.84, and 2.5, respectively. These results suggest that camels have a role in the epidemiology of C. abortus infection. This promotes awareness and severe public health concern about infectious camel illnesses, allowing for additional diagnostic advancements and effective management techniques to be developed.

Impact Analysis of Women Dairy Self-help Groups on Women Empowerment for Strengthening Atma Nirbhar Bharat

The study examined women's empowerment by analyzing their participation in dairy-based self-help groups in Rajasthan. Women empowerment through dairy was calculated using the concept of the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Heckman's two-stage analysis was conducted to analyze the impact of dairy self-help groups (SHGs) on women's empowerment. The findings indicated that the women empowerment index for members was higher than for non-members. The Heckman results showed that the 'participation dummy' was positive and significant, indicating that participation in SHGs had a positive impact on women's empowerment. Additionally, herd size, land holding, and formal training also had a positive and significant impact on women's empowerment. Therefore, it is recommended that women be encouraged to participate in SHG-based microfinance programs.