Survey of Rumen Impaction in Goat from Katsina Metropolis, Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate rumen impaction in goats slaughtered at Katsina Metropolitan Abattoir by administering 147 questionnaires and making weekly visits to the abattoir for information retrieval for eleven weeks. In addition, live-weights of sampled animals, weight of rumen contents and empty rumen were determined. The data indicated that 60% of the animal keepers allow their animals to scavenge on refuse and majority (93%) of the respondents observed some effects of rumen infection, which include death of the animals (34%). The result revealed that the problem was more common among the age range of 16 and 18 months of age and that sex also has effect on the rate of impaction occurring more in females. Types and quantity of non-degradable materials in the affected animals were identified and polythene materials occurred more. Frequency of non-degradable materials was also observed in goats. The study recommends cleanup of the environment in that, it will substantially reduce foreign bodies syndrome in goats, proper feeding, addition of mineral constituents in the diet, hence there is need for state legislature to enforce proper disposal of non-degradable synthetic polythene materials to make the environment safe for ruminants.