Monitoring of body weight, body condition and observation of wound on working equines in HuletEjuEnese district, East Gojjam, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

A study was conducted in urban and rural areas of HuletEjuEnese district to describe body weight, body condition, causes and location of wounds on different body parts of donkeys and mules. A total of 150 donkey and mule owners were selected and interviewed on equine wound management, injury occurrence and the fate of wounded equines. Visual observation and measurement was made on body condition and location of injury on 300 equines. Data was analyzed using the descriptive statistics and general linear model. The major causes of external injury of equines were improper harness (63.4%), over working and over loading (58.9%) and multi factorial causes (32.2%). Observed causes of external injuries were not significantly different (p>0.05) between mules and donkeys. The mean body weight of donkeys in age group 5-15 years (107.2 ± 32.6) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those below 5 (92.7 ± 19.3kg) and above 15 years (93.7 ± 23.5 kg. Donkeys providing cart pulling had lower mean body weight (98.2 ± 27.9 kg) compared to those involved in pack services (107.3 ± 33.5 kg). The body condition of equines did not vary significantly (p>0.05) with age and sex but significant differences (p<0.05) were observed with work type, working hour and feeding condition. In general, in the study district the body condition of donkeys and mules were poor. Therefore, proper management like optimizing working hours and load, proper harness, and health management are crucial for increasing the performance of working equines. Awareness creation on equine welfare and management is required to alleviate discomfort, pain, occurrence of injuries and other related welfare problems of working equines.

Keywords: Body condition; Body weight; External injury; Equine; HuletEjuEnese