ANIMAL HEALTH
A healthy plot will keep your animals well
A
holistic approach to
animal wellness on a
smallholding goes a
long way to creating optimum
conditions for the good health
of its livestock.
Looking at the whole
smallholding, instead of just
the animals, gives the
opportunity to observe the
interactions between soil,
plants, animals and weather;
and to recognise the changes
that occur when any of one of
those components changes.
Diseases are more than just
infections, but include
anything that adversely affects
the health of an animal.
The first step is frequently and
comprehensively walking the
plot, which should be seen as
a whole entity. What do the
grasses and other pasture
plants look like? Are they
desirable plants? Are they
strong looking or yellowed
and weak? Are there bare
spots in pastures or is there
good ground cover? Are some
pastures in better shape than
others, or are they all
uniform? Are they overgrazed
or undergrazed? What colour
is the soil? Does it have a
good earthy smell? Are the
livestock contented and
performing satisfactorily?
Similarly, the smallholder
should walk among his
animals regularly to observe
how alert they are, what their
coats look like and what their
body condition is like.
By walking the plot and
through the livestock, the
smallholder learns what is
normal and healthy. This gives
an important tool in determining what changes need to
be made in the whole
smallholding to ensure
continued good health and
wellness.
Health and wellness occur
through good nutrition and
low stress. In winter one
needs to pay extra attention
to ensure that the animals
receive enough good food,
through controlled grazing
and supplementation. Good,
balanced nutrition is also
important in building up the
immune system of the animal.
The immune system's function
is to ward off disease, so the
stronger and healthier they
are, the less likely they are to
contract diseases.
The ability of the immune
system to fight and kill
disease-causing agents is
impaired by stress. Stress is
the effect of change on an
animal. It increases the
susceptibility to disease and
decreases the vitality or life
force of the animal. If animals
aren't fed well, are too
crowded, have dirty places to
sleep, are too pulled down
from calving, or the weather
is too stressful, then they
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won't be profitable. How they
are handled, weaning,
parasite management and
how new animals are
introduced are also important.
Parasite stress can be alleviated through integrated
parasite management (IPM)
involving the animal, soils,
pasture and weather.
One should guard against
using antibiotics as one's
response to all animal health
problems. Rather regard
therapeutic antimicrobial
products as complementing
good management, vaccination and plot hygiene.
Good management of pets
and livestock includes the
responsible use of medicines.
A programme aimed at
protecting animals from
disease includes inoculation,
deworming and dipping.