Introduction
- Health is the state of the body in which all the organs and systems are normal and functioning properly.
- Disease is any deviation from the normal health of the animal.
Importance of Keeping Livestock Healthy
- Healthy animals generate higher income due to lower treatment costs.
- The productive lifespan of a healthy animal is longer, allowing for extended use and productivity.
- Healthy animals have higher production rates, yielding more meat, milk, eggs, or other products.
- Healthy animals reproduce regularly, ensuring a steady supply of offspring.
- Healthy animals produce high-quality products, such as nutritious eggs and milk.
- Maintaining livestock health ensures the safety of consumers of livestock products by reducing the risk of disease transmission.
Predisposing Factors to Livestock Diseases
These are conditions within or around the animal that increase the likelihood of contracting 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,
- dampness.
- Management factors such as:
- poor feeding,
- inadequate housing,
- rough handling,
- poor hygiene,
- overcrowding.
Signs of Ill-Health in Livestock
- Abnormal behaviour: for example, separation from the rest of the herd and restlessness.
- Abnormal posture: for example, limping and lameness.
- Alimentary canal dysfunction: such as blood-stained faeces, abnormal defecation, diarrhoea, and dysentery.
- Urination: unusually high or low frequency and abnormal colour.
- Skin conditions: rough or scaly skin, blisters, and hair loss.
Causes of Diseases
- Pathogenic causes:
- viruses,
- rickettsia,
- bacteria,
- protozoa,
- fungi.
- Physical causes:
- fractures,
- dislocations,
- sprains.
- Nutritional disorders, for example, milk fever.
- Chemical causes, such as poisoning by agrochemicals.
Categories of Diseases
- Notifiable diseases
- These are diseases that cause high economic losses.
- Any case should be reported to the Chiefs, District Officers, veterinary officers, or the police.
- Tick-borne diseases – transmitted by ticks.
- Breeding diseases – transmitted through mating.
- Nutritional diseases such as milk fever and bloat.
- Parasitic diseases for example, ascariosis.
General Methods of Disease Control
- Quarantine of new or sick animals to prevent disease spread.
- Vaccination to protect animals against specific diseases.
- Control of vectors by using acaricides and practicing rotational grazing.
- Disinfecting equipment and buildings to eliminate pathogens.
- Use of preventive drugs to reduce disease incidence.
- Proper feeding to maintain animal health and immunity.
- Culling carrier animals or slaughtering affected animals to control disease.
- Use of artificial insemination to control breeding diseases.
- Proper selection and breeding of animals to enhance disease resistance.
- Providing proper housing and maintaining hygiene.
- Isolating sick animals to prevent transmission to healthy ones.
Appropriate Methods of Handling Livestock
Animals are handled for the following reasons:
- Inspecting the animal to detect any abnormalities or signs of disease.
- Administering treatments such as drenching, injections, and mastitis control.
- Spraying or hand dressing animals with chemicals to control external parasites.
- Milking the animal.
- Performing management practices such as dehorning, disbudding, castration, and hoof trimming.
During these activities, animals should be restrained in a crush to ensure safety and control.
Other methods of restraining animals include:
- halters,
- ropes,
- bull rings,
- lead sticks.
