A Cross-sectional Study on Infertility and its Causes in Small Holder Dairy Cattle in Selected Counties of Kenya

Abstract

Dairy production in Kenya is one of the most developed in sub Saharan Africa. Despite this, it is still faced by challenges attributed to poor nutrition, inappropriate breeding practices, reproductive inefficiency, reproductive diseases among others. A study to establish the infertility rates in selected dairy herds was conducted in three Counties of Kenya from October 2017 to July 2018. A total of 216 herds were purposively sampled from Nandi, Makueni and Kakamega Counties. Data on reproductive performance was collected and pregnancy and ovarian status determined by per-rectal examination. Other reproductive indices such as calving interval, repeated inseminations were calculated from the records. Blood samples were also collected to screen for Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) and Neospora caninum antibodies. Overall, the percentage of pregnant animals across the examined herds was 30.5% (n=642). Reproductive indices were suboptimal with 2.1 inseminations per conception and a calving interval of 18.8 months; an indication of infertility. About half of the population of animals were anestrus (46.4%). The sero-prevalence of neosporosis was 24.1% (n=552) and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus 52.3% (n=545) across all the counties. Additionally, there was no significant association between BVD infection (P=0.575) and neosporosis (P=0.626) on pregnancy status. The findings of this study strongly indicate reproductive wastage in the dairy herds which in turn affects the overall productivity of farms. There is therefore a need for a holistic approach to address infertility as a way of improving dairy farm productivity and profitability.