Prevalence of Major Gastrointestinal Tract Parasite of Cattle at Municipal Abattoir of Jimma Town, Oromia, South Western Ethiopia

Gemechu Regea*

Prevalence of Major Gastrointestinal Tract Parasite of Cattle at Municipal Abattoir of Jimma Town, Oromia, South Western Ethiopia.

Livestock systems occupy about 30 per cent of the planet’s icefree terrestrial surface area and are a significant global asset with a value of at least $1.4 trillion. They are important source of animal protein in many countries of the world, supplying a good percentage of the daily meat and dairy products in cities and villages, flexible income for family units, employment, farm energy
and manure. According to Herrero et al, the total demand for livestock products might almost double by 2050, mostly in the developing world owing to increases in population density, urbanization and increased incomes.

Ethiopia is one of the African country that possess about 59.5 million cattle, 30.7 million sheep, 30.2 million goats and 59.5 million chickens. They contribute about 16.5% of the national
gross domestic product (GDP) and 35.6% of the agricultural GDP. In spite of the large population of cattle, productivity in Ethiopia is low due to poor nutrition, reproduction insufficiency, management constraints and prevailing animal disease.  It is one of the major causes of wastage and decreased productivity exerting their effect through mortality, morbidity, decreased growth rate, weight loss in young growing calves and late maturity of slaughter stock, reduced milk and meat production and working capacity of the animal mainly in developing countries

Furthermore, the abattoirs are instruments for the insurance of wholesome meat and meat products as well as providing abattoir by-products for livestock base industries. More importantly, abattoirs are used for the purpose of surveillance against animal and zoonotic diseases.

Vet Med Open J. 2019;4(1): 36-44. doi: 10.17140/VMOJ-4-134