Prevalence of bovine abortion in selected areas of central Uganda

Abstract

A survey of the prevalence of bovine abortion was carried out in the area covered by the Ambulatory clinic of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University. Data was collected from 100 selected farmers using a self administered questionnaire between January 1991 and December 1995. The farmers kept 914 heads of cattle of which 79 (8.6%) were indigenous, 57 (6.2%) crosses and 778 (85.1%) exotic breeds. Artificial insemination (AI) was exclusively used by 81.0% of the farmers, 8.0% used natural service and 11.0% used both. Out of the 1,594 pregnancies during the five years of the study, 99 abortions occurred among 54 animals giving an average annual abortion rate of 6.2%. The abortion rate per year ranged from 4.3% (1994) to 12.4% (1992). Fifty (92.5%) of the animals which aborted were exotics and most (60.0%) of the abortions occurred during the third trimester. Though most (45.0%) of these abortions occurred during the first pregnancy, in most cases the causes were not established. The annual abortion rate of 6.2% exceeded the acceptable range of 2-5%. A study covering a wider area of the country is recommended to establish the situation and the common causes of abortion in cattle in Uganda.