By: Emma Adams, Carissa Grove, and Hannah Quilty
Week 2 of the Dairy Health rotation started at full speed. The three of us took a “divide and conquer" approach, each heading out with a different team into the field, one with kuku (poultry), one with ng’ombe (dairy), and one with punda (donkeys). The plan for the week was to gain more exposure to the different projects happening with FHF, before coming back together on Wednesday for our first ever FHF One Health clinic.
With the poultry team, we each spent some time learning from Dr. Bowes about reportable avian diseases, the common conditions being seen in Kenya, and how to carry out thorough coop evaluations in the field (see photo), including the key parameters assessed during these visits (nesting box side, material, hanging enrichment, water and feed access). Most of the coop evaluations were done in Nkando on some of the rockiest roads imaginable; at times, it felt less like fieldwork and more like we were test-driving a rover on Mars. All in all, we had a clucking good time!
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| A typical chicken coop Wednesday this week was a whirlwind day of education, nutrition, cows, and some singing at the first-ever Farmers Helping Farmers One Health Clinic. Held in Muruguma, the clinic housed tented displays for education on poultry and small ruminant husbandry, nutrition, first-aid, and a station providing blood pressure monitoring. Along the roadside was a vaccination station where dog-owners could bring their dogs for rabies vaccination and farmers could have their cattle dewormed, vaccinated for Anthrax, Blackquarter (AKA Blackleg), Lumpy Skin Disease, and BVD, as well as seen and treated by veterinary volunteers (see photo of cow and photo of calf). We even had one of AVC’s alumni, Dr. Daniel Muasyawho is now a professor at the University of Nairobi, join us for the fun. Visited by women’s groups, farmers, and their families, the clinic provided a one-of-a-kind opportunity to focus on the health of people, animals, and the environment through a single lens. Over 40 dogs and 300 head of cattle passed through, bringing with them many curious visitors from the community, and a chance to share the One Health message across the Naari Dairy area. |
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| Carissa with Daniel pregnancy checking a cow |
It was a busy clinic week as we also had a donkey health clinic in Machaka on Thursday(see photo). The donkeys here are used for work and are seen hauling carts to and from the forest. They stopped by throughout the day, often on their way home from a hard-day's work to receive rabies and tetanus vaccinations, and dewormer. If owners had other concerns, we would assess them at this time and provide any additional care that we could. In addition to this, welfare assessments were performed as part of an ongoing project, and we got to see the newest version of the cart and harnesses in action. What shocked us the most about the clinic was that we had just as many dogs show-up to get rabies vaccines as we did donkeys. All-in-all a very successful day with over 120 animals vaccinated!
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| Donkeys waiting for their turn at the donkey clinic |
Having spent the past few days focused on our work throughout Meru, it’s hard to believe that two weeks have gone by already! We’re learning so much, both through our professors and Kenyan mentors, and from the locals we’ve met along the way. They’re teaching us new Swahili phrases every day, and our vocabulary has improved greatly since just last week! With only one week to go until our departure, we’ve been savouring the Kenyan sun (and lathering on as much sunscreen as humanly possible). There’s still more work to be done, more farms to be seen, and many more mangoes to be eaten. Until next week, Tatuonane (see you later)!
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| The three dairy girls with an adorable calf |
Xoxo,
The Dairy Girls
Vet Student Team
This important work of Farmers Helping Farmers is made possible with funding from Global Affairs Canada through the Gender Responsive One Health Project with Alinea International
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