TY - JOUR VL - 13 JF - World's Veterinary Journal SP - 175 N1 - Animal Production and Range Research Division, Department of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Private Bag, Gaborone, 0033, Botswana; Animal Production and Range Research Division, Department of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, P.O. Box 10275, Francistown, Botswana; Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Private Bag, Gaborone, 0033, Botswana A1 - Mosalagae, D. A1 - Mogotsi, K. A1 - Ithuteng, I.M. A1 - Basinyi, O. A1 - Pfukenyi, D.M. EP - 182 N2 - Generally, high mortalities of dairy cattle due to infectious and non-infectious diseases cause huge economic losses, unprofitability, and low productivity in the dairy industry. The present study aimed at determining the mortality rates, their causes, and risk factors among 1779 cattle at two dairy farms belonging to the Department of Agricultural Research, Botswana. An 8-year retrospective study was conducted using farm records during 2005-2012. Monthly and annual records of the farms were examined regarding the total dairy cattle population, sex, breed, age, cattle deaths, and causes of death. Mortality was calculated from the total cattle population and expressed as a percentage, and it was analyzed with respect to farm, breed, age, sex, year, season, and mortality causes. The overall mortality rate was 8.5. The semi-intensively managed Farm II, as well as young stock (<12 months old), and males recorded significantly higher mortalities than their counterparts. Dairy crosses of pure exotic and indigenous Tswana cattle had higher mortalities than the Friesians and Jerseys, and the wet season accounted for over 70 of the total deaths. Only two years (2010 and 2012) out of the 8-year study period had a mortality rate < 5. Notably, 28.1 of mortalities with a known cause were due to heartwater disease (n = 57), but most deaths (62.3) were due to unknown causes. In conclusion, to improve farm herd health and husbandry practices, more efforts should be devoted to preventing heartwater and mortalities in young stock and male animals, particularly during the hot-wet season. © 2023, World''s Veterinary Journal. All Rights Reserved. SN - 2322-4568 Y1 - 2023/06/25/ KW - adult; agricultural land; animal experiment; Article; Botswana; breed; calf (bovine); cause of death; controlled study; dairy cattle; feeding; female; heartwater disease; male; milk yield; mortality; mortality rate; nonhuman; retrospective study; risk factor; savanna TI - A Retrospective Study on Dairy Cattle Mortality Patterns in Two Farms of South-eastern Botswana ID - eprints812 IS - 1 UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85158074672&doi=10.54203%2fSCIL.2023.WVJ18&partnerID=40&md5=354a1a84aa848c2fec1e42e1bf7a9d69 PB - Scienceline Publication, Ltd AV - public ER - TY - JOUR VL - 11 JF - Online Journal of Animal and Feed Research SP - 126 A1 - Asaduzzaman, M. A1 - Saha, A. A1 - Alam, M. G. S. A1 - Bari, F. Y. EP - 130 N2 - The cost information of animal breeding is a major concern in the farming system when making management and production system improvement decisions. Moreover, it is important to identify the most important cost positions and perspectives of the production process. This study is, therefore aimed to estimate, identify, and compare the cost contribution and breeding cost of artificial insemination (AI) vs. natural service in sheep production systems using frozen ram semen. Natural service by hand mating was performed to breed the ewes (n = 24) in estrus detected by a teaser ram maintained in a flock of 40 ewes. Artificial insemination was performed in synchronized ewes (n=10) after cervical ripening treatment using intramuscular injection of oxytocin. Breeding and performance costs were estimated by analyzing the cost associated factors. Per head insemination cost and cost per pregnancy in an artificial breeding program (2.80 and 5.59) were higher than natural breeding program (1.40 and 1.77) in sheep production. Ram depreciation cost, feed cost, and maintenance cost-shared the maximum cost in natural breeding, while the frozen semen cost, a special type of eccentric AI pipette cost, and hormone cost provoke the increased cost as the major constraints of the artificial breeding program. Minimizing the constraints and improving efforts in the conception rate of artificial insemination, farmers or producers will be benefited from natural breeding through rapid exploitation of the desired genetics cost-effectively. © 2021. All Rights Reserved. SN - 22287701 (ISSN) Y1 - 2021/07/28/ KW - Artificial insemination Cost comparison Natural service Semen Sheep production TI - COST COMPARISON OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION AND NATURAL SERVICE IN SHEEP BREEDING SYSTEM ID - eprints19 IS - 3 UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85112342849&doi=10.51227%2fojafr.2021.19&partnerID=40&md5=346d6e3e7eae63a06450dfca22a386c1 PB - Scienceline Publication AV - public ER -