Livestock Health I (Introduction to Livestock Health) - Agriculture Form 2 Notes

• Introduction
  • Importance of Keeping Livestock Healthy
  • Predisposing Factors to Livestock Diseases
  • Signs of Ill-Health in Livestock
• Causes of Diseases
• Categories of Diseases
• General Methods of Disease Control
• Appropriate Methods of Handling Livestock

Introduction

• Health is the state of the body in which all the organs and systems are normal and functioning normally.
• Disease is any deviation from the normal health of the animal.

Importance of Keeping Livestock Healthy:

• Healthy animals give high income due to low treatment
• The productive life span of a healthy animal is longer.
• High production.
• Healthy animals can multiply regularly.
• Healthy animals give high quality products for example eggs.
• Safety of consumers of livestock products.

Predisposing Factors to Livestock Diseases

• These are conditions within or around the animal that make it easy for an animal to contract a disease.
• They include:
  • Animal factors such as;
    - species,
    - breed,
    - age,
    - sex
    - colour of the animal.
  • Environmental factors such as;
    - chilling,
    - being rained on,
    - exposure to hot sun
    - dampne
  • Management factors such as;
    - poor feeding,
    - housing,
    - handling
    - hygiene,
    - overcrowding.

Signs of Ill-Health in Livestock

• Abnormal behaviour for example separation from the rest of the herd and restle
• Abnormal posture for example limping and lameness.
• Alimentary canal disfunction such as blood stained faeces and abnormal defecation, diarrhoea and dysentery.
• Urination: high frequency or too low and having strange colour.
• Skin: rough with scaly skin, blisters on the skin and hair loss.

Causes of Diseases

• Pathogenic causes ;
  • viruses,
  • rickettsia,
  • bacteria,
  • protozoa
  • fungi.
• Physical causes;
  • fractures,
  • dislocation,
  • sprains .
  • Nutritional disorders for example milk fever.
  • Chemical causes for example poisoning by agrochemicals.

Categories of Diseases

• Notifiable diseases ;
  • These are diseases which cause high economic losses.
  • Any case should be reported to the Chiefs, D.O.s, veterinary officers or the police.
• Tick-borne diseases - Transmitted by ticks.
• Breeding diseases - Transmitted through mating.
• Nutritional diseases for example milk fever and bloat.
• Parasitic diseases for example ascariosis.

General Methods of Disease Control

• Quarantine.
• Vaccination.
• Control of vectors by use of acaricides and rotational grazing.
• Disinfecting the equipment and buildings.
• Use of preventive drugs.
• Proper feeding of livestock.
• Culling of the animals which are carriers/slaughtering the affected animals.
• Use of artificial insemination to control breeding diseases.
• Proper selection and breeding of animals.
• Proper housing and hygiene,
• Isolating sick animals.

Appropriate Methods of Handling Livestock

- Animals are handled for the following reasons:

• When inspecting the animal to ascertain any abnormality or signs of diseases.
• When administering any form of treatment such as drenching, injection and mastitis control.
• When spraying or hand dressing the animal with chemicals to control external parasites.
• When milking the animal.
• When performing some of the management practices such as dehorning, disbudding, castration, hoof trimming .
• When carrying out these activities animals should be restrained in a crush.

- Other methods of restraining animals include the use of;

• halters,
• ropes,
• bull ring
• lead stick.