Role of livestock parameters on cattle vulnerability to drought in the coastal semi-arid areas, Kenya

Livestock keeping forms main occupation in arid and semi-arid lands. Increase in drought frequency and intensity globally negatively affect livestock production and livelihood. Cattle are the most drought sensitive livestock due to size, grazing behavior and nutritional requirements. Factors for vulnerability of cattle to droughts are individual cattle parameters, health and husbandry practices. This cross sectional study aimed to those factors in semi-arid Kaloleni sub-county. Data on household (HH) head demographics, cattle and production collected from 194 enrolled HH using structured questionnaires. Cattle ages were grouped into young (<1 year old), growers (1-2 years old) and adults (>2years old). Data was analyzed using STATA 12 software. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis conducted and reported in Crude Odds Ratio (cOR), Adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) and Confidence Interval (CI). We used Pearson product-moment correlation to determine relationship between HH head, cattle herd, individual cattle characteristics and drought characteristics, p = <0.05 being significant. Mean age HH heads was 40.7 {+/-} 12.6 years, 44.3% (86) had basic education, males were 65.3% (n=126). Mixed livestock production was practiced by 69.1% (134), while 86.1% (167) practiced free range communal grazing. Adult cattle were 54.1% (1295). Female cattle were 72.7% (1741). Average body condition score was 3.0 {+/-} 0.6, and calves had 2.6 {+/-} 1.3. About 20.6% had various forms of illness, calves mostly affected at 29.1%. Up to 63.4% HH, spray cattle at home, 93.3% HH reported no vaccination history. Home straying was protective (cOR 0.3, 95% CI 0.14 - 0.53). Herd size (aOR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5 - 5.5) and having no disease control method (aOR 2.8, 95% CI 1.85 - 9.19) were contributing to reporting disease. We report positive correlation between drought outcomes and HH head (r=0.076, p>0.01), cattle herd (r=0.216, p=0.003 and individual cattle characteristics(r=0.139, p>0.01). The findings on cattle conditions exacerbate their vulnerability in presence of stressful conditions like droughts especially in calves and cows. This study demonstrates weak disease control efforts and unorganized husbandry practices. We propose strategic and focused disease control plans to improve cattle resilience and further research on livestock based factors as drought response metrics for the livestock livelihood.