Factors affecting morbidity and mortality on-farm and on-station in the Ethiopian highland sheep.
Factors affecting morbidity and mortality of the Ethiopian highland sheep were studied both on-farm and on-station at Debre Berhan between 1989 and 1990. Primary causes of infectious origin resulted in high proportional morbidity (88.4% on-farm) and mortality (72.9% on-farm and 71.8% on-station) rates. Nutritional and managemental factors were also responsible for mortalities in lambs. The most frequent secondary causes of morbidity and/or mortality were ectoparasites and nasal myiasis. Health management interventions on-station were not high enough to produce performance improvements above the on-farm levels. However, the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites significantly (P < 0.05) differed between the two management systems. The frequency of some of the major causes of morbidity and mortality such as pneumonia, fasciolasis and enteritis were significantly (P < 0.01) affected by season and age of an animal. In order to alleviate the major health constraints identified in this study, a proper health management intervention involving vaccination, strategic anthelmintic treatment and feeding management are suggested.
Bekele
T
T
International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), Addis Abada, Ethiopia.
Woldeab
T
T
Lahlou-Kassi
A
A
Sherington
J
J
D000367:Age Factors; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D004751:Enteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary; D012621:Seasons; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000469:parasitology