Immunisation of Small-Holder Cattle against East Coast Fever in Kiambu District, Kenya

Abstract

Immunisation against ECF can be undertaken successfully in small holder farms. However, as the technique uses live parasites which are potentially lethal, the cattle need to be monitored after immunisation. Monitoring is a major constraint and influences the cost of immunisation. During earlier immunisation trials (Mutugi et ai. 1989) the immunised cattle were monitored daily. In this trial, the cattle were monitored once every 3 days. This increased the number of cattle that could be immunised and reduced the cost of the immunisation since the small.holdings were spread over large areas.