Prevalence of Overall and Teatwise Mastitis and Effect of Herd Size in Dairy Buffaloes

The cross sectional study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy buffaloes. The present study was conducted in two districts Lahore and Bhimber Azad Kashmir Pakistan. Total sample size for this survey was consisted of 1,036 lactating buffaloes. The screening of lactating buffaloes was performed with the California Mastitis Test. The overall prevalence of mastitis was recorded at 49%. Among mastitis cases the prevalence of clinical mastitis was 10.2% (106/1036 animals) as a whole. However, the prevalence of clinical mastitis in district Lahore was 11.8% (71/598 animals) whereas it was 8% (35/438 animals) in district Bhimber. The overall prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 38.8% (402/1036). The district wise prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 43.6% (261/598 animals) and 32.2% (141/438 animals) in the districts of Lahore and Bhimber, respectively. The quarter level prevalence was recorded 16.20% (673/4144 quarters from 1036 animals). The district wise prevalence of mastitis at quarter level was recorded 18.17% (449/2392 quarters) in a district Lahore while, it was 12.87% (224/1752 quarters) in district Bhimber. The overall prevalence of mastitis on the basis of herds size was 41/102 (40.2%), 186/400 (46.5%) and 281/534 (52.6%) in small, medium and large herds, respectively. Mastitis has greater economic losses in the dairy industry and it can be minimized by improving management and milking practices. It is concluded from the present study that mastitis increases when herd size increase. It order to control the mastitis, it is mandatory to screen the mastitis cases at quarter and herd size level.