Prevalence and associated risk factors of ectoparasite of sheep and goat in debub bench district of bench maji zone in southwestern Ethiopia

Ectoparasite in sheep and goats are causing a serious problem in tanning industry and economic growth in Ethiopia. A cross sectional study was conducted in Debub Bench district of Bench Maji zone to determine prevalence and associated risk factors of ectoparasite in sheep and goats from December 2016 to December 2017. A total of 627 small ruminants (559 sheep and 68 Goats) were randomly selected and examined for presence of ectoparasites. The prevalence of ectoparasite in sheep and goats were (78.0%) and (39.7%) respectively. The overall prevalence of ectoparasite was 73.7% (462/627) in the study areas. The infestation of ectoparasite was highest due to tick (47.0%) followed by fleas (46.7%) and mixed infestation (30.5%) with lice (21.5%) being the least in the area. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified body condition, age groups and origin of sheep and goats as risk factors (P<0.05) for ectoparasite in the study area. However, there were no statistically significant differences observed between species and sex of sheep and goats (P> 0.05). The study showed that ectoparasite is one of the constraints to sheep and goats production in study area. Hence, there is a need to create awareness about impact of parasite on sheep and goats production, and appropriate control methods of ectoparasite should be designed and implemented.