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Tanzania's 1.58 million pigs represent 3.7 per cent of the national population of quadruped meat-producing animals. Some 99.5 per cent of pigs are kept by small producers in units averaging 3.04 animals (range 2-48). About 18 per cent of households with livestock own pigs, 93.7 per cent of these having a herd of less than 19 and 69.2 per cent own 9 or fewer head. Scavenging is the main feed source. Maize bran is the principle supplement but some owners provide oilseed cakes and minerals. Domestic pigs are not indigenous to Tanzania and derive mainly from late 19th/early 20th century introductions. There have been few imports of breeding stock since 1961. Poor management, in-breeding, inadequate nutrition and rudimentary veterinary attention lead to low output from late ages at first farrowing, long inter-birth intervals, small litters, slow growth and high mortality. Government policy is not applied in practice. Animals are slaughtered in primitive private facilities or household compounds with little concern for welfare or hygiene, often with no official inspection. Pigs can make a greater contribution to society but public and private sectors must provide additional support with particular attention to management, nutrition, health, welfare and food safety to achieve this.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an acute zoonotic viral disease of domestic ruminants in mainland Africa and Madagascar. The disease may exist in non-clinical form in apparently health animals. This study was designed to investigate the existence and spatial distribution of non-clinical form of RVF virus (RVFV) activity in wild and domestic animals in six districts in northern Tanzania. A retrospective cross-sectional study involved testing a total of 285 and 100 serum samples from domestic ruminants and wildlife species, respectively. The samples were subjected to IgG and IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as well as to the Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Based on ELISA test, the seroprevalence of RVF-specific IgG antibodies was: African buffalo (40.9%,n=22), African elephant (33.3%, n=3), cattle (11.8%, n=93), sheep (11.3%, n=97) and goats (8.4%, n=95). Two serum samples from goats tested positive for IgM. All samples tested were RVFV-negative based on RT-PCR test. The highest intravillage sero-prevalence of IgG was observed in two villages (Kimotorok and Lormorije) of Simanjiro district. Domestic ruminants from herds that were located at an elevation below 1000m were at higher risk (OR=2.32, 95% CI 1.05 – 5.16, p=0.04) of RVFV infection. Findings of the current study indicate existence of a wide range of domestic and wildlife hosts which could serve as potential reservoirs of RVFV during inter-epidemic period. This calls for adoption of one health approach in responding to RVF epidemics as well as during implementation of RVF controlling measures with the ultimate goal of eradicating RVF in Tanzania.Key words: Rift Valley fever, inter–epidemic period, seropositivity, spatialdistribution, ruminants, Tanzania.

Body condition scoring (BCS) using 5-point scale with half point divisions was performed on 179 crossbred dairy cows in Amani Division, Tanga region, Tanzania, during the period of November 2003. The overall mean ± SE body score was 2.60 ± 0.04 and majority of the cows (59.3%) had a body score ranging from 2.5 to 3.0. Results of univariate regression model revealed that BCS was significantly (p