C: Animal Management Flashcards
Horses (common housing)
- Space for exercise
- Access to paddock + shelter (espec for less hardy breeds)
- Communal barns, loose boxes, stalls
Sheep/ cows (common housing)
- Extensive/ mixed systems
- Housed indoors for winter/ calving/ medical treatment/ save space
- Large open barns
Pigs- complex (common housing)
- Breeding sows: indoors/outdoors, small groups, access to paddock
- Farrowing: farrowing crates or individual pens
- Grower/ finisher: mostly indoors, groups
Poultry- complex (common housing)
- Primarily loose housing in large groups (4-32K)
- Colony cages for laying hens (not common)
- Access to range (60% only for layers)
Types of housing (3)
- Climatic: naturally ventilated, warmed with body heat, for hardy animals (sheep/cow), cheap
- Controlled environment: Highly automated, heavily stocked, well insulated
- Micro environment: small modules, heavily stocked, naturally ventilated, insulated, body heat
How is heat lost (4)
Convection (body heat to surrounding), radiation (heat leaving animal), conduction (touching cold objects), evaporation/ respiration
Thermoneutral zone (TNZ)
external temperature that has negligible effect on metabolic rate (ideal)
- Narrow TMZ, maintained through feed: pigs and poultry
- Broad TMZ, maintained through coat/behaviour: ruminants
Insulation methods to fight heat loss
- Conduction: Use materials that trap air (which has low thermal conductivity (inclu. rockwool, expanded polystyrene, polyurethane foam)
- Radiation: reflective materials
- Convection: controlled ventilation
Supplementary heating options
Heated air ducts, space heaters, brooders
Ventilation purposes
temp regulation, humidity and air hygiene
Stack effect
Body heat moves up, ventilation pushes away
Ridge outlet design (and changes through seasons)
Natural ventilation through inlets and heat escape through top
- Winter, passive heat out
- Winter with wind, slow overturn of ventilation to slow stack effect
- Summer: Big inlets to speed stack effect
Types of mechanical ventilation (4)
- pressure (fan air out, -p draw air in, cold + warm mix before reaching animals), + pressure (fan air in, +p air out), side ventilation, tunnel ventilation.
Air speed for young animals
Max = 30 cm/sec
Temperature lift
Lower critical temp- outside temp.
- Used to maintain TNZ
Humidity
% saturation of air with water vapour
Common air pollutants
noxious gases, organic dust particles, microorganisms, toxins, allergens
Gaseous pollutants
Ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, CO2, methane, CO, H2S
Lighting intensity species adjustments
- Measured in Lux
- Adjusted based on specific species (and how they evolved)
- pigs/poultry = low, cows = high
Photoperiodicity impact
- Higher daylength stimulates reproduction (horses, cows, pigs), and milk/egg production
- Lower daylength stimulates reproduction (sheep and deer)
- All need dark period
- at least 200 Lux for mammals and 10 Lux for birds to have effect
Light wavelength (+ rods and cones)
Some depend on UV
- Rods: sensitive to light receptors, wide wavelength range
- Cones: less sensitive, restrict wavelength
- Humans = red, green, blue
- Most mammals = dichromatic (blue + green)
- Birds = tetrachromatic
Lighting factors (4)
Light intensity, photoperiodicity, light wavelength and flicker frequency
Flicker frequency
Many animals have higher flicker frequency than humans
Types of flooring (7)
- Solid/ slatted concrete (cheap, uncomfortable)
- Concrete slatted floors (Better drainage, less heat loss, can’t fully clean/ use bedding)
- Metal T-shaped slates (less abrasive, easier to clean, more slippery)
- Expanded woven mesh (medium stock, easily broken)
- Plastic slats (Light animals, better thermal/cleaning, expensive)
- Wooden slats (very light animals, cheap, can’t fully clean)
- Rubber (good comfort, easy clean, not long lasting, expensive)
Bedding types (4)
- Straw (cheap if local, chopping increases absorbency, can release dust/ fungus spores)
- Sand (dairy cow cubicles, waste drains, tricky to dispose)
- Wood shaving (more absorptive, expensive, more hygienic)
- Hemp fibre (super absorbent, no fungal spores, EXPENSIVEEEE)
