**3. Cattle and manure management practices**

Observations and face-to-face interviews conducted during field visits to 119 households keeping cattle generated data which were analyzed by descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and cross-tabulations by using SPSS 15.0. Information about herd characteristics and management, manure management practices and awareness on cattle manure-related zoonotic pathogens was obtained from the cattle keepers and Livestock Officers.

From observations and interviews, a total of 806 cattle were kept by study participants (minimum = 1, maximum = 36, mean = 7, median = 5, SD = 5.85), 95.8% of whom also kept animal species other than cattle in same residential premises. These animal species, with percentage of participants keeping these species in brackets, include chicken (80.7%), dogs (62.2%), goats (50.4%), pigs (27.7%), ducks (23.5%), cats (21.9%), sheep (10.9%), guinea fowls (9.2%), turkeys (5.9%), guinea pigs (1.7%), rabbits (1.7%) and monkey (0.8%). Cattle and manure management practices were carried out either by family members (46.2%) or by hired laborers (53.8%). Most cattle houses (71.4%) had concrete floor and the rest (28.6%) had floor made of earth. It was observed that majority of cattle houses (84%) had roofs and 16% were open cattle "boma." Cattle kept in earth floor houses with open or broken roof stayed on mud during rainy season. Three out of 119 respondents (2.5%) put grass on the floor of cattle house as bedding material, one of them had a house with earthed floor. All respondents kept their cattle in a confinement near to their residence for security reasons. Cattle were fed by "cut and carry" method under intensive system (47%) or were allowed to go around foraging (53%) where they mixed with livestock from other herds. There was sharing of water sources between cattle and humans. Free range cattle (40.3%) used surface water such as rivers, ponds and wells, while intensively kept cattle (59.7%) were provided water from taps also serving the people [15].

Overnight confinement of cattle resulted into manure accumulation which necessitated collection and storage/discard. Various methods were employed to collect, convey and store or discard manure. These included uses of utensils like spade, bucket or plastic bags, use of water splash and use of bare hands. Manure was collected by bare hands by a few respondents where there was direct contact with the manure. However, the majority of respondents used utensils such as spades, hand hoes and rakes to collect manure into a pile within the cattle house. Some respondents used a water hose to collect manure (**Table 1**). Manure was removed from cattle house at different rates per day, week or month to storage or disposal site by using utensils (plastic bags, buckets, raw hides, spades and hand hoe and wheelbarrow), bare hands or water. The use of rubber boots was an observed practice by less than a half of the respondents, while the remaining fraction wore ordinary shoes, e.g., sandals or were barefooted while handling manure (**Table 1**). In all these different manure collection or conveyance methods, people did not use any protective measures such as special clothes or gloves and were observed to have direct skin contact with manure. A large proportion of respondents stored manure into piles before disposal as fertilizer or waste, whereas a few respondents threw fresh manure from cattle house direct into the surroundings. Most cattle keepers disposed manure within a radius of 10 m from their residential houses, especially those with land area of more than 1000 m2 . Respondents who did not spread manure on land opted for burning or giving it away to friends in plastic bags. Allowing effluent from cattle house to leach into immediate land was a common practice among cattle keepers although a few cattle keepers directed the effluent into a pit (**Table 1**).

for non-cattle keeping households, any member was eligible. On the evening before sample collection day, a stool collection container was given to an appropriate person for collection of stool in the following morning. All samples for a cluster were collected on the same day and immediately placed in an insulated box with cooling elements and transported to the labora-

Ethical clearance was approved by Sokoine University of Agriculture Ethical Committee to handle animals and animal samples. Approval was also obtained from the Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) Ethical Board (NIMR/HQ/R8a/Vol. IX/927) to handle and process human sample. All conditions for research approval were observed throughout

Observations and face-to-face interviews conducted during field visits to 119 households keeping cattle generated data which were analyzed by descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and cross-tabulations by using SPSS 15.0. Information about herd characteristics and management, manure management practices and awareness on cattle manure-related

From observations and interviews, a total of 806 cattle were kept by study participants (minimum = 1, maximum = 36, mean = 7, median = 5, SD = 5.85), 95.8% of whom also kept animal species other than cattle in same residential premises. These animal species, with percentage of participants keeping these species in brackets, include chicken (80.7%), dogs (62.2%), goats (50.4%), pigs (27.7%), ducks (23.5%), cats (21.9%), sheep (10.9%), guinea fowls (9.2%), turkeys (5.9%), guinea pigs (1.7%), rabbits (1.7%) and monkey (0.8%). Cattle and manure management practices were carried out either by family members (46.2%) or by hired laborers (53.8%). Most cattle houses (71.4%) had concrete floor and the rest (28.6%) had floor made of earth. It was observed that majority of cattle houses (84%) had roofs and 16% were open cattle "boma." Cattle kept in earth floor houses with open or broken roof stayed on mud during rainy season. Three out of 119 respondents (2.5%) put grass on the floor of cattle house as bedding material, one of them had a house with earthed floor. All respondents kept their cattle in a confinement near to their residence for security reasons. Cattle were fed by "cut and carry" method under intensive system (47%) or were allowed to go around foraging (53%) where they mixed with livestock from other herds. There was sharing of water sources between cattle and humans. Free range cattle (40.3%) used surface water such as rivers, ponds and wells, while intensively kept cattle (59.7%) were provided water from taps

Overnight confinement of cattle resulted into manure accumulation which necessitated collection and storage/discard. Various methods were employed to collect, convey and store or discard manure. These included uses of utensils like spade, bucket or plastic bags, use of water splash and use of bare hands. Manure was collected by bare hands by a few respondents where there was direct contact with the manure. However, the majority of respondents used

zoonotic pathogens was obtained from the cattle keepers and Livestock Officers.

tory where bacteriological analysis was initiated.

**3. Cattle and manure management practices**

the study.

76 Livestock Science

also serving the people [15].


**Table 1.** Manure management practices among 119 Morogoro urban and peri-urban cattle keepers.

Out of 119 respondents, 5% reported to have heard about manure-associated pathogens which can infect human. There were 125 responses to problems related to manure management which respondents encounter. Out of these 125 responses, 77 (61.6%) said they encounter no problem, while 15 (12%) responses reported that poor infrastructure impedes manure management practices. Lack of working facilities such as utensils and transport was reported in 13 (10.4%) responses as one of the problems cattle keepers face, whereas land scarcity appeared in 6 (4.8%) responses. Health problems related to respiratory tract, injuries and foot rot to manure handlers were mentioned in 5 (4%) responses, same as for the presence of poor cattle housing facilities. Odor and water scarcity were each mentioned in 2 (1.6%) responses as among problems of manure management practices in urban and periurban areas of Morogoro.

During the interview, Livestock Officers presented documents such as "Environmental Sanitation By-Laws" and "Animals in Urban areas By-Laws" which give directives on animal keep in the area and how to deal with wastes including manure. From interviews and the documents, the guideline which allows maximum herd size of four cattle per herd in urban area does not give area requirement specification and is not observed, and cattle manure is regarded by the by-laws and treated like any solid household waste [15]. It was observed that cattle keeping households are randomly distributed among non-cattle keeping households and there are no preconditions for a household to start keeping cattle. Anybody can start a herd of cattle anywhere in urban and peri-urban areas of Morogoro at any time.

The current manure management practices differ from those methods used a few decades ago in both the actual practices and resource base available which is shared between humans, animals and manure. Increased manure production in populated urban and peri-urban areas has resulted into the problems mentioned by cattle keepers. Some of these problems such as land scarcity odor and increased flies population have been previously reported to be due to exclusion of livestock farming during urban and peri-urban land use planning [4]. Increased manure production in a shrinking space has forced cattle keepers to collect, convey, store and finally dispose manure. Diverse cattle and manure management practices are determined by customs, convenience and availability of resources including land and equipment. Some farmers said that they keep cattle and handled the manure by the same methods since childhood; others opted for a particular cattle and manure management practice because it was easy to execute. Generally, there was direct contact between humans, cattle and manure and there was environmental contamination by fresh manure. In this scenario, humans, animals and environment are exposed to manure-related pathogens.
