Sometimes, the big issues masquerade as little things - a passing cloud - and farmers often tend to ignore them. Goats’ milk production reduces, sometimes not by a big enough rate to cause panic. The farmer whistles on and hopes for a better tomorrow, without realizing they are incubating a serious problem. “We usually think it is about shortage in fodder, or water. We sometimes do not realize the gravity of the issue until it is too late. No one thinks it could be mastitis initially,” says a farmer from Tetu Sub-County, Nyeri County.
Now, farmers can be more proactive, with new information provided in a series of seminars organized through the Goats Offering AMR/AMU Teaching (G.O.A.T) initiative, via a campaign aimed at helping goat farmers prevent mastitis, boost milk production, and cut down antibiotic use.
In one of these seminars earlier this month, goat farmers explained how they oftentimes run into huge losses due to what they initially perceive as “a small issue”, problems that they tend to assume will fade away with time. By the time they realize quick action is needed to save the goats’ productivity, it is too late.
Dr. Nelson Chege, Sub-County Veterinary Officer from Kieni East Sub-County, Nyeri County, explained that farmers need to observe with care how they handle their goats, as leading to their sickness, or nursing them back to full health, could depend on little instances of behavioral change from the owners.
“When you milk, for example, it is necessary that you let the goat stand for some time so it does not gather dirt on the teats, or you can apply teat dips and use dedicated milking salve. Mastitis is caused mainly by the environment- who it is that interacts with the goat, what the environment is like.”
Dairy goat farming has grown in popularity in the country, even as scientists try to find a cure for many of the challenges that the farmers keep encountering, including rampant anti-microbial resistance, to ensure maximized profitability.
The G.O.A.T initiative, ran in collaboration with ISAAA- AfriCenter, is keen on bringing together farmers and veterinarians to ensure that mastitis, an inflammation of the mammary gland, often caused by bacterial infection, is controlled.
“As you might know, mastitis can lead to huge losses, especially in the case of gangrenous mastitis,” Dr Chege told farmers. “Treatment is also very expensive- you will have the veterinarian coming once every while to inject your animal, and they will also recommend many other remedies that could be expensive.”
After the goat is fully treated and healed, the farmer is not allowed to sell milk until well over 72 hours after, Dr Chege noted. “Of course these are losses to the farmer that could have, in some instances, been avoided.”
Alongside other experts present, Dr Chege insisted to the farmers the need to actively consult with the veterinary officers deployed in government facilities. He highlighted the difficulty for the professionals following up with every farmer at their farms, and for the farmers to take up the initiative and ensure they actively engage by visiting the experts to make sure they reap maximum benefits.
“We are here at your employ, and we are here so that we can solve some of these problems. We do not have to wait until the problem escalates, no. Prevention is better than cure, and action in cases of early detection could cut down the losses greatly. Let us actively utilize the experts we have,” he said.
The veterinary officers noted that the County Government of Nyeri dedicates efforts to crucial vaccinations to prevent some of these prevalent diseases, with mastitis, which is oftentimes detected late, among those that have been for long in scientists’ crosshairs.