Morbidity and mortality rates in small ruminants in Himachal Pradesh, India

The present paper deals with the morbidity and mortality rates and examine the effects of age, sex, environmental conditions, management practices and other factors on morbidity and mortality in small ruminants in rural conditions of Himachal Pradesh using suitable statistical techniques. A total 540 livestock owners constitute the ultimate sample from thirty six villages and twelve veterinary hospitals for the study. The sampling scheme followed in the present study was Stratified three-stage random sampling. Morbidity and mortality data were collected from all selected bovine owners in the state for period of one year (January 2011 to December 2011). Overall morbidity and mortality rates were 19.99 per cent and 6.37 per cent respectively. The morbidity rate was highest for specific diseases 14.4 per cent followed by injury & accidents 2.84 per cent, digestive diseases 1.56 per cent and parasitic diseases 0.89 per cent. The mortality rate was highest for specific diseases 3.73 per cent followed by injury and accidents 1.09 per cent, digestive diseases 0.91 per cent and parasitic diseases 0.45 per cent. The above diseases can be minimized by adopting necessary action regarding deworming, vaccination, proper ventilation, balance feeding and good management practices.