Part 1: Summary
With globalization and climate change, there has been an increase in emerging and re-emerging animal diseases, with some diseases transmissible to humans. FAO asserts that the governance of animal health systems must be improved. Its Animal Production and Health Division identifies four major issues related to animal health, including trans-boundary diseases, vector-borne diseases, veterinary public health (including food safety), and veterinary services (1).
In regions where this infrastructure is not yet established, there are basic steps that livestock caretakers can execute (2):
-
Observation (knowing normal behavior of animals is useful when identifying early stages of health problems)
-
Animal restraint (when restraining animals for examination, quietly and gently handle them, to reduce undue stress)
-
Taking and evaluating vital signs
-
Know how to monitor heart rate and respiratory rate
See chart below for normal references for common farm animals (2):
Animal |
Heart Rate- average and range(rate/60 seconds) |
Resting Respiratory Rate(breaths/60 seconds) |
Cattle |
50 (40-70) |
30 |
Horse |
45 (25-70) |
12 |
Sheep |
75 (60-120) |
19 |
Goat |
90 (70-135) |
15 |
Swine |
60 (55-85) |
16 |
-
Basic wound care
-
Restraint of animal is necessary when treating wounds
-
Clean wound location, removing hair if necessary
-
Bandage
-
Check bandages at least twice daily
-
Change bandages every other day
-
-
Ruminant hoof care
-
In regions where animals do not walk on rough surfaces, regular hoof trimming is necessary to avoid discomfort
-
Hoof-trimming calendar can be made to schedule regular trimmings, roughly about every four weeks
-
As hooves grow at different rates, schedule should be made depending on animal needs
-
Part 2: Application to Greenhouses
In an integrated farming system, the health of both the agriculture and livestock should be maintained. An understanding of the basic veterinary systems is of the essence when owning a farm with livestock.
Part 3: Activity
Practice taking the vital signs of each animal on your farm, if applicable. If listed on the chart above, check if at least the pulse and respiratory rate are within the normal range for your animal.
You must be logged in to post a comment.