Assessment of water buffalo health and productivity in a communal management system in the Philippines.

This study aimed to generate a profile of the health and productivity of water buffaloes in a communal setting. Using the Epi-Info version 6.04 for data management, a coded information system was used to accommodate data coming from the reference population. Calves and cows that were born and milked, respectively, were enrolled and monitored for six months. The key outcomes of interest monitored in this study included mortality, morbidity and productivity. Results of the study showed a 93.7 percent probability of the calves surviving up to six months with a calculated mortality true rate of 0.7 deaths per 1000 calf-days at risk. Three calves died during the six month observation period with a mean age at death of 3 days. Analysis of variance on productivity showed that the parasitic load, specifically coccidia, liver fluke and trypanosoma affected the growth rate of the calves. The productivity of cows in the study in terms of milk production was also highly affected by the endoparasitic load and disease condition of the animal. Univariate analysis revealed a significant association between calf scouring and cow's mastitis (MASTITIS)(P=0.066). Meanwhile, for the cows, the parasitic load particularly fasciolosis (P=0.000), coccidiosis (P=0.002) and trypanosomosis (P=0.094) (P<0.10) also significantly affected the milk production. The results give a clearer view of the relationship between the health and productivity profiles of these animals.