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Health checks

Importance of health check s

Health checks are important for the general wellbeing of livestock because it is a preventative

measure which allows potential problems to be agged and stopped and current problems to be

treated before they get to bad.

Frequency of health checks

Health checks are done daily this is done by sight checking the livestock for any obvious visual or

behavioural signs, for instance a cow with mastitis may have hungry looking calves or be swinging

its legs wide of the aected teat. These checks consist of wondering round the animals preferably

on foot to make it less likely to miss anything. Trying to get all the animals to move is also good as

it allows you to tell if the animals are lame or not.

Dierent animals require dierent things to look out for

Cows

!ilment Things to look for

"astitis !voiding teat contact, hungry looking calves andteats looking swollen or irritated.

#ameness $efusal to move, limping and lying down a lot.%rass staggers Drunken like movement and weakness"ilk fever Downer cow, can&t stand.

Pigs

!ilment Things to look for'eed for tooth clipping (leeding irritated teats!naemia $ed eyes and pale ears

#ameness $efusal to move, limping and lying down a lot. Tail docking )ight marks and damaged bleeding tails

Sheep

!ilment Things to look for)ly strike Dirty rears ys#ameness $efusal to move, limping and lying down a lot

Main causes of disease

*arasites, bacteria, viruses, microbes and fungi are all ma+or causes of disease in animals. iruses

and parasites are usually transmitted to livestock from dierent farms through sta and new

animals that interact with those animals.

-ays to prevent this can be vaccinations boot dipping and new animal isolation, also not

interacting with a dierent farm until at least days from previous farm visit. *ersonal hygiene

also goes a long way

 Treating disease

 Tb and other serious diseases such as foot and mouth can&t really be treated and have to lead to

the animal being culled

/f a disease is caused by bacteria, then antibiotics can be used to treat it under the supervision ofa vet. De0ciency diseases will be treated by giving them a dose of what they are de0cient from

e.g. calcium ,glucose ,sodium...

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  http11www.nda.agric.2a1docs1/nfopaks13ausedisinanimebook.pdf 

common predisposing factors are;

animals and workers having poor hygiene , having damp living areas for the animals ,young animals having poor colostrom intake after birth, poor diet and high stress.

Preventing disease

there are many ways to help prevent disease in animals notable ways are4

vaccinations, clean living conditions, closed herd1ocks buying animals from a single

reliable source, early colostrom intakes, all in all out systems, and a good diet can all

help.

http://www.nda.agric.za/docs/Infopaks/Causedisinanimebook.pdfhttp://www.nda.agric.za/docs/Infopaks/Causedisinanimebook.pdf