Poor Thrift Flashcards

1
Q

What is poor thrift?

A
  • failrue to acheive target weight gain at a certain age
    OR
  • very low BCS
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2
Q

When are most thrift problems identified?

A

Slaughter time - most farmers do not routinely weigh

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3
Q

Why is poor thrift important in young animals?

A

Even small ^ weight gain can be economically important in herds of large number

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4
Q

Why is poor thrift in adults a problem?

A

> economic cost if thin at key times of year eg.
- mating: ^ anaeostrus length, v concenption, v ovulation
- early preg: v placental development
- late preg ^ metabolic disease
- lactation: v milk production
welfare

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5
Q

What are the 2 methods of assessing thrift in adults and how effective are they?

A
  1. weighing - also affected by age, breeed, gut fill, stage of production cycle
  2. BCS - cattle, sheep, goats, alpaca, 1-5 scale
    horses and cattle sometimes 1-9 scale
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6
Q

What is the logical approach to assessing weight loss in a herd setting?

A
  1. Whole group affected or only some?
  2. Appetite normal?
  3. (if yes => a) Nutrition adequate?
  4. (if no => b) Cant wat/wont eat?
    4a. (if yes) maldigestion, malabsorption eg. parasitism, johnes, tumours
    4a. (if no) underfeeding or trace element deficiency
    4b. cant eat - dental disease or lamenss
    4b. wont eat - parasitism
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7
Q

What is the main cause of poor thrift in the whole herd? (± normal apetitie and adequate nutrition)

A

Maldigestion or malaabsorption due to parasitism

- nemotodes, liver flukes or coccidiosis

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8
Q

What is the main cause of poor thrift in a few animals (normal appetite, adequate nutiriton)

A
  • johnes
  • tumours
  • chronic disease eg. pnumonia
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9
Q

What 2 forms of under feeding may be occouring?

A
  1. Amount and quality

2. Trace element deficiency (grazing aniamls rely on soil/plant levels, usually whole group affected)

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10
Q

What is the most common cause of whole herd “wont eat” weight loss in grazing animals? What is the problem with this?

A

GI parasitism - nematodes

> appetitie resuctino usually not noticed by farmer!

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11
Q

What is the most common causes when a few individuals “cant eat” ?

A
  • Dental disease (usually only adults)

- lameness

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12
Q

How can poor thrift be defined?

A
  • numbers eg. weight loss daily, time to slaughter
  • age/groups affected
  • no. animals affected
  • severity
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13
Q

How can poor thrift problem be refined?

A
  • whole group/subgroup

- nutirtion adequate?

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14
Q

What is the problem of older sheep losing incisors termed?

A

Broken mouth

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15
Q

What aspects of the history are important when looking at poor thrift?

A
  • farming system, feed management
  • time of calving/lambing and weaning
  • reproductive rate and spread
  • worming regime and anthelmintics
  • previous TE problems, supplements
  • observations of clinical signs
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16
Q

What should be assessed in the “environment examinatioin”?

A

Pasture and feed availabitily across farm

17
Q

What can be assessed from the distance examination?

A
  • variation in size and weight
  • scouring
  • lamenss
  • coughing
  • pruritits
18
Q

What aspects of the physical exam can be undertaken quickly when getting thorugh a large group of animals>

A

weight, BCS, MMs

19
Q

When may PME be useful? What can be looked at?

A
  • Large no.s affected, low individual calue eg. sheep
  • chronic cases shoing no improvement
    -> eutahanise severely affected
  • check with VLA first
    > collect liver for TE analysis
    > liver fluke
    > GIT worms
    > lungs resp disease
20
Q

What sheep GIT worms can be seen with the naked eye?

A

Heamonchus
Ostertagia
Trichostrongylus

21
Q

What other tests may be performed? What should be considered when advocating these tests?

A

> sample size and which animals to test? ]

  • FEC
  • Liver/blood - TE analysis
  • ± feed analysis
22
Q

Are there often multiple factors affecting poor thrift in a group?

A

YES! Try to assess relative importance of each.