Study on Prevalence of Bovine Mastitis on Cross Breed Dairy Cow Around Holeta Areas, West Shewa Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Across sectional investigation of bovine clinical and sub clinical mastitis was made on 195 Friesian zebu cross breed dairy cows, in three private owned large farms and 25 small holders in Holeta town of Wolmera district from September 2006 to June 2007 to estimate the overall prevalence rate of mastitis. Milk samples were collected from randomly selected cows and subject to screening test using California Mastitis Test (CMT) immediately after milking for both clinical and sub clinical cases. The screening test conducted using CMT revealed an overall prevalence of bovine mastitis in the studied areas was 44.1 % i.e., 10.3% clinical and 33.8% sub clinical mastitis cases. Prevalence of mastitis based on CMT result during the study period was calculated at 47.5 and 40 % for large farms and small holders, respectively. The chi-square (x2) was used to analysis different association between parity, stage of lactation and udder conformation in order to evaluate their association with mastitis. There was significant association between parity and mastitis (p<0.05) in cows. It was concluded that safety handling and production of raw milk is guided especially by avoiding and minimizing contamination during various stages of milk handling.