Milk production and caprine mastitis occurrance in the production stage of the Gaborone region goat milk value chain

T1he first study was initiated with the objectives of analyzing the production stage of the goat milk value chain and prevalence of caprine mastitis and its impact on the value chain. The study was conducted in the Gaborone agricultural region of Botswana. The primary data was collected using a participatory survey from purposefully selected samples of 91 farmers, 4 traders and 220 consumers through self-administered questionnaires. The results show that 88% of the farmers were subsistence orientated meanwhile semi-commercial and commercial farmers constituted 11% and 1 % respectively. A mean milk yield of 1.18L /goat/ per day was produced across farms and this was mostly channeled towards the 88.6% of non-purchasing consumers for home consumption. The average lactation length in the region was 5.37 months, therefore affecting milk consumption and availability patterns. However, unavailability of land, shortage of feeds, labour and disease were some of the challenges affecting goat milk producers. Caprine mastitis as an important constraint in the milk production chain affected 41.8% of the farms across the region. Respondents failing to adopt mastitis detection methods, treatments, CCP’s, culling and isolation, exhibited high mastitis prevalence rates compared to their counterparts. Thus negatively affecting farmer and animal productivity due to the decline in milk yield and kid survival. In view of the large number of farms affected by caprine mastitis, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of mastitis in lactating goats. A total of 163 lactating goats were purposefully selected from 17 flocks in the Oodi extension area. The results were analyzed using the multiple logistic regression models of SAS. An overall prevalence of 17.78% was recorded. Meanwhile the clinical and subclinical mastitis prevalence was 4.29% and 13.49% respectively. A significant (P<0.05) association between mastitis occurrence and risk factors (parity, previous mastitis history, injuries and lesions on the udder and teats, breed, production system, flock size and suckling litter size) was reported. Dairy goat development policies should be aimed at increasing farmers’ access to inputs, developing and improving infrastructure, cooperative development and improving extension system. Such policies will positively support mastitis management, food safety and value chain functions.