Prevalence and causes of kid mortality in Arapai sub county, Soroti district

Abstract

The study focused on kid mortality with a purpose of determining the prevalence and causes of kid mortality in Arapai Sub County 4 Parishes were covered in the study that involved 55 goat farmers selected at random to whom questionnaires were administered by the author observation and inspection of the farm premises were also be done. Data was entered and analyzed in Statistical Package for Social Scientists, Point prevalence by was calculated as the number kids that died within 6 months, divided by the total number of individuals sampled and-multiplied by 100. The study revealed the kid mortality rare and also observed the major causes of kid mortality and about 252 kids were considered. The results revealed that the overall mortality rate is 38.1%. It was also observed that infectious causes were the major causes of kid mortality in Arapai Sub County. The main infectious cause of mortality was pneumonia (33%). This study, also revealed that 49%of the goat owners were aged between 31-50, l8-30 years (44%) >50years (7%). small East African goats were mostly kept (7O.9%), followed by 21.8% crosses Mubende (1.8%), and Saanens 1.8%. This study also contains conclusions where major attention should be on the facets, of goat husbandry, which is crucial to the overall health of the herd. The farmer must be in tune with various factors that affect the health of the kids, nutritional and housing factors must be considered. Finally, the study contains recommendations where maintenance of good health through application of appropriate disease control prevention by routine vaccination of vaccinatable diseases and regular tick control and deforming construction of proper and affordable kid houses coupled with maintenance of cleanliness in these structures to reduce on the hygiene related diseases.