Farmer estimation of live bodyweight of cattle: Implications for veterinary drug dosing in East Africa
Farmer estimation of live bodyweight of cattle: Implications for veterinary drug dosing in East Africa
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DOI：
10.1016/j.prevetmed.2008.06.001
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发表时间：
2008-11-17
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Eisler, Mark C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Machila, Noreen;Fevre, Eric M.;Eisler, Mark C.
小农和动物卫生工作者估计活体重的能力可能会严重影响分散系统中兽药化合物剂量不足或过量的可能性，其中农民管理了很大一部分兽医治疗。在肯尼亚布西亚地区对170名农民拥有的324头牛进行了调查。在标准校准秤上对牛进行称重，并要求所有者估计其动物的活重。体重还由称重带和当地动物卫生工作者估计。牛主一直低估了他们牛的体重; 85.7%的牛的体重被低估，平均低估了其真实体重的46.9%。此外，这些农民对极少数牛（19.0%）的体重估计准确度在其真实体重的+/- 20%范围内，这是一个对药物给药很重要的准确度范围。这一发现引起了人们对杀锥虫药和其他兽药对牛的普遍剂量不足的担忧。动物保健人员对牛的活重估计准确率较高，76.6%的牛的活重估计准确率在其真实体重的± 20%以内，通过适当的培训可以提高农民和动物保健人员对牛活重的准确估计能力。动物卫生工作者提供了这方面的证据，他们的估计随着时间的推移而改善，因为他们收到了标准秤上不同大小牛的真实体重的反馈。(c)2008 Elsevier B. V.保留所有权利。
The ability of smallholder farmers and animal health workers to estimate live bodyweight can critically affect the likelihood of under- or over-dosing of veterinary compounds in decentralised systems where farmers administer a significant proportion of the veterinary treatments. A survey of 324 cattle owned by 170 farmers was conducted in Busia District, Kenya. Cattle were weighed on a standard calibrated scale and owners were asked to estimate the live weight of their animals. Weights were also estimated by a weigh-band and by local animal health workers.Cattle owners consistently underestimated the weights of their cattle; 85.7% of the cattle had their bodyweights underestimated by an average of 46.9% of their true weight. Furthermore, very few cattle (19.0%) had their weights estimated accurately to within +/- 20% of their true weight by these farmers, an accuracy range important for drug dosing. This finding raises concerns of widespread under-dosing of cattle with trypanocidal and other veterinary drugs. Animal health worker, were better at estimating live bodyweight of cattle; 76.6% of cattle were estimated accurately to within +/- 20% of their true weight.It is possible to improve farmers' and animal health workers' ability to estimate accurately live bodyweight of cattle with appropriate training. Evidence of this was provided by animal health workers whose estimates improved over time as they received feedback of the true weights of different sizes of cattle from the standard scale. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.