Preliminary Study on Major Health Problems of the Newly Introduced Boer Goat Breed in Ethiopia

Abstract

A study was conducted on 60 newly introduced Boer goats breed at Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center (ATARC) Nucleus site to identify the major health problems since their introduction to Ethiopia. Purposive sampling for clinical and laboratory examinations and secondary data collection were used. Out of 60 Boer goats, 26.0% of them were found to be affected by either one or more of the major health problems. The relative prevalence of the disease problems in Boer goats was found to be 53.3%. GIT parasites, keratoconjunctivitis, ticks, respiratory problems and local abscess with their respective prevalence of 35.0, 20.0, 15.0, 11.7 and 10.0% were found to be the major health problems of Boer goats at ATARC. The result of the secondary data analysis also showed high prevalence (42.2%) of major health problems in Boer goats being respiratory problems, gastrointestinal parasites, local abscess, diarrhea and orf as the major diseases affecting them. The occurrences of the problems were not significantly affected by age and sex of Boer goats. The high prevalence and diversity of health problems in Boer goats underline the importance of further studies at nucleus site and farm conditions in line with the identification of the different disease agents to design effective prevention and control strategies before the distribution of Boer goats to farmers.