Abstract:
The aim of the survey was to assess major diseases and access to veterinary service delivery of
smallholder dairy cattle under intensive production system in Jimma town, Ethiopia. A single-visit-multiplesubject formal survey technique was used to collect data from 54 small-scale dairy farming households which
were selected at random and were interviewed using pre-tested, structured questionnaire. It appeared from the
study that mastitis (35.2%), internal parasites (14.8%), lumpy skin disease (13%) and heart water (5.6%) were
identified as the most frequently occurring diseases. Results of the survey of major dairy cattle disease in the
study area ranked mastitis as number one disease of dairy animals. Average mortality of calves, heifers,
lactating cows and dry cows over 12 months was 0.82±1.00, 0.27±0.60, 0.64±1.06 and 0.13±0.40, respectively.
It was observed that loss of calves (16%), heifers (5.6%) and lactating cows (16.7%) were due to lumpy skin
disease, followed by heart water affecting 5.6, 3.7 and 1.9% of calves, heifers and lactating cows, respectively.
Most of the respondents (90.7%) did not practice traditional ethno-veterinary treatment, whereas 9.3% of the
farmers used traditional treatment practices and the remaining 13% respondents used a combination of
veterinary services and traditional ethno-veterinary methods to treat their animals. It was suggested that proper
animal management, cleanliness and good hygiene on dairy farms and practices of mastitis control measures
such as udder disinfection and dry-cow therapy and adequate veterinary services would help to alleviate cattle
health constraint in the study area.
