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Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a fatal viral disease of cattle prevalent in farms bordering wildlife conservancies and national parks where cattle and wildebeests cohabit. The behaviour of the diseases and its related contribution to cattle mortalities has been poorly studied in the smallholder sector. A study was therefore conducted to established trends of occurrence and contribution to animal losses in 97 smallholder farms and eight commercial farms bordering Rhodes Matopos National Park (RMNP). A structured questionnaire and secondary records were used to gather the data in the smallholder and commercial farms, respectively. In the smallholder sector, cattle farmers from three villages were chosen as respondents in a survey to provide information on the impact and extent of losses in their cattle herds. Epidemiological data from January 2006 to April 2014 was extracted from farm records from two Matopos Research Institute farms. A seasonal pattern in MCF occurrence was observed. Most cattle mortalities were recorded during summer (February to May), with highest mortalities recorded from March to April. Sporadic cases were however recorded in October and November in year 2007, 2010, and 2012. The study further revealed that MCF caused 71 and 21 % of cattle mortalities in the commercial and smallholder sector, respectively. Deferred grazing of wildebeest hotspots by restriction of cattle movement during summer or November to April period avoids wildebeest-cattle contact. This can alleviate cattle mortalities due to MCF.

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of supplementing Moringa oleifera leaves (MOL) on growth performance, carcass and non-carcass characteristics of crossbred Xhosa lop-eared goats. A total of 24 castrated goats aged 8 months, with a mean initial weight of 15.1 ± 2.3 kg, were randomly divided into three diet groups with eight goats in each. The duration of the trial was 60 days. All goats received a basal diet of grass hay (GH) ad libitum and wheat bran (200 g/day each). The MOL and sunflower cake (SC) groups were fed additional 200 g of dried M. oleifera leaves and 170 g of SC, respectively. The third group (GH) did not receive any additional ration. The crude protein of MOL (23.75%) and SC (23.27%) were higher (P < 0.05) than that of the GH diet (14.08%). The attained average daily weight gain for goats fed MOL, SC and GH were 103.3, 101.3 and 43.3 g, respectively (P < 0.05). Higher (P < 0.05) feed intakes observed were in SC (491.5 g) and MOL (490.75 g) compared with GH (404.5 g). The hot carcass weight was higher (P < 0.05) for SC (10.48 kg) and MOL (10.34 kg) than for the GH group (8.59 kg). The dressing percentage in SC (55.8%) and MOL (55.1%) were higher (P < 0.05) than that of the GH (52.9%). The growth performance and carcass characteristics of SC and MOL goats were not different. Feeding MOL or SC improved the growth performance and carcass characteristics of goats in an almost similar way, which indicates that M. oleifera could be used as an alternative protein supplement in goats.