Professional Frameworks for Dairy Herd Health Management in Smallholder Systems in Katsina State

This study develops and evaluates a professional dairy herd health management framework tailored to smallholder dairy production systems in Katsina State, located in Nigeria's North West geopolitical zone. Smallholder dairy herds in Katsina face multiple concurrent health challenges including reproductive disorders, mastitis, parasitism, and nutritional deficiencies that individually and collectively suppress milk production and herd profitability. Using a professional programme development methodology, the study conducted baseline assessments of herd health status, management practices, and veterinary service access on 40 smallholder dairy farms. Key performance indicators including milk yield, calving interval, mastitis incidence, and calf survival rate were measured for six months. A standardised herd health programme incorporating scheduled veterinary visits, preventive medicine protocols, reproductive monitoring, and nutritional assessment was designed and piloted on 20 selected farms, with the remaining 20 serving as a comparison group. Findings revealed that farms implementing the structured herd health programme showed 28 percent improvement in six-month milk yield, 22 percent reduction in mastitis incidence, and 18 percent improvement in calf survival rate compared to the comparison group. Farmer compliance with protocol recommendations was highest for vaccination (82%) and lowest for dry cow therapy (44%). The study concludes that structured professional herd health management produces measurable productivity improvements and recommends scaling through subsidised veterinary herd health services in Katsina State. Keywords: herd health management, dairy, smallholder, Katsina State, professional veterinary services.