Infection and Herd Health Flashcards
Describe the traditional approach to health management?
- Based on the treatment of sick animals
- Vet is called out to farm to treat sick animals
- Approach is mostly medical management and less prevention
Define herd health management approach?
PROACTIVE approach to health management.
-Method to optimize health, welfare, and production in a population of animals (normally beef, dairy, pigs, and poultry) through the systematic analysis of relevant data and through regular objective observations of the cows and their environment, such that, informed timely decisions are made to adjust and improve herd management over time.
Herd Health management is based mainly on?
Prevention
What is prevention based on?
Identification of risk factors for disease
- Agent: different strains
- Animal: age, breed, …
- Environment: hygiene, ventilation, nutrition
2 direct transmission states
Infection
Disease
agent in body tissue or fluid?
Infection
clinical manifestation of infection?
Disease
Describe the order of infection (4 steps)
- Susceptible
- Latent period (infection settling in, agent is multiplying)
- Infectious period-spreading to other animals)
- Noninfectious removed, dead recovered, immune carrier, susceptible
Describe the order of Disease?
- Susceptible
- Incubation period: infection not showing clinical signs
- Symptomatic period
- noninfectious removed, dead recovered
Name the objectives for Herd health management?
- Optimize health status by preventing health production and repro. problems.
- Optimize productivity by improving herd management practices
- Optimize animal welfare and ecological quality of environment
- Optimize the quality and safety of dairy and meat products
- Optimize the profitability of the enterprise
What does the farmer need to know to utilize herd health management?
- Needs to know modern farming methods
- Practice good planning both strategically (vision where does he see the farm in 5 years and operationally daily farm activities: feeding, cleaning, disease management)
- Practice accurate and up to date data recording
- Animal health records
- Production records
- Financial records
- Individual animal identification important
Vet needs to have a broad knowledge and interest in?
- functional structure of the farm in relation to health, production, economics, animal welfare and the environment
- Pathophysiology, diagnosis, disease prevention, and production deficiencies
- Epidemiological skills-diagnostic test parameters, outbreak investigation, surveillance (disease and production parameters), interpretation of results
- Data processing techniques
- Communication and farmer education
- Meat quality and food safety/public health aspects
May provide a reflection of both clinical/subclinical disease. Suboptimal husbandry (imbalances diets, stressors like too much heat or cold, animals fighting). May provide monitoring of disease alone is not sufficient in ensuring optimal production, computer software used in big farms
Production of data monitoring
Examples of production indices
Average daily milk production
Average days calving to first insemination
Average number of inseminations per pregnancy
Average number of piglets weaned per sow
Average weaning weight
Main farm operational areas
- Animal nutrition (feed supply and rations, body condition)
- Health care (disease programs, vaccinations)
- Reproduction (heat detection, pregnancy diagnosis)
- Milk production
- Herd replacement (culling decisions, where to get replacement)
- Fixed assets and labor (acquisition of machinery and appliances, maintenance, hiring of employees)
- Cash management (where does farmer get his money?-Borrow, roughly how much will he/she make by selling farm animals or produce)
