VHS Vet Medicine Week 11: Farm Animals

What is the greatest challenge associated with successful livestock management?

Animal nutrition

What is the most important item in a farm animal’s diet?

Energy

What are the four different types of energy?

Gross Energy, Digestible Energy, Metabolize energy, Net Energy

What is gross energy? (GE)

The amount of energy in the feed

What is digestible energy? (DE)

Provides an indication of the actual amount of energy from a feed that can be available for use by the animal

What is metabolizable energy? (ME)

The amount of energy in the feed minus the energy lost in the feces and urine

What is net energy? (NE)

The total energy content minus all loss and expense of utilization

Why is control of parasites and disease needed in livestock production, and what are the tools for preventing and controlling the spread?

Parasites and disease reduce performance and reduce profitability of animals, some diseases may also threaten human health.

Parasites and diseases increase susceptibility to disease and increase mortality.

Prevention tools- Keep animals clean and dry, pay attention to nutrition, keep feeding and watering areas clean, isolate diseased animals

What are advantages and disadvantages of controlled breeding?

Advantages- Improved quality and higher productivity for foods and other products, may make animals better at certain tasks

Disadvantages- Reduced genetic diversity, animal discomfort, death

What are the signs and symptoms of foot and mouth disease?

Body temp increase, loss of appetite, reduced milk yield, lameness, drooling saliva, and chomping jaws

What are the signs and symptoms of foot and mouth disease?

Depression, lethargy, decreased appetite, fever, dehydration, redness on udders, defects in milk

What is the difference between clinical and subclinical mastitis?

Subclinical- Presence of an infection without apparent signs of local inflammation or systematic involvement

Clinical- Inflammatory response to infection

What are the important steps to treating cows with mastitis?

Regularly changing and cleaning bedding, reducing heat stress, removing udder hair, preventing teat trauma, reducing udder edema in periparturient cows by nutritional management of potassium and sodium intake

What is the significance of the somatic cell count?

Somatic cells are always present in milk, the higher the somatic cell count the worse the infection

What are techniques used to treat mastitis?

Inserting intramammary antibiotics into the compartments with mastitis tubes, controlling the source and the spread of the mastitis