Animal Production and Veterinary Public Health
Animal Production and Veterinary Public Health tests the link between nutrition, reproduction and health on the one hand, and milk/meat safety and zoonoses on the other - with Cyprus's sheep and goat dairy sector, the halloumi PDO chain, poultry and pig units as reference systems.
Nutrition and performance
- Dry matter intake (DMI) scales with body weight (roughly 3–5% of live weight for ruminants, higher for high-yielding dairy animals) and is limited by forage quality.
- Rations balance energy, crude protein, minerals and vitamins. Rumen microbes need degradable nitrogen plus fermentable energy; excess rumen-degradable protein is wasted and raises milk urea.
- Feed conversion ratio (FCR) = feed consumed / gain or milk produced.
Reproduction
Sheep oestrus cycle about 17 days and gestation 147–150 days; cattle 21 and 280 days; pigs 21 and 114 days. Seasonality in sheep (short-day breeders) is why Mediterranean flocks use the ram effect and flushing to tighten lambing.
Health and public health
Mastitis is the costliest dairy disease; somatic cell count (SCC) is both the monitoring tool and a milk-payment lever. Zoonoses - brucellosis, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, echinococcosis - are controlled by surveillance, vaccination, pasteurisation and movement rules. Drug withdrawal periods work like pesticide PHIs: milk or meat cannot leave the holding before the stated time.
Worked example - feed cost per kg gain
60 lambs, 120 days on feed, target 250 g/day gain, FCR 4.5, feed €0.40/kg. Feed per lamb per day = 0.25 × 4.5 = 1.125 kg. Total feed = 60 × 120 × 1.125 = 8,100 kg; cost = 8,100 × €0.40 = €3,240. Total gain = 60 × 120 × 0.25 = 1,800 kg; feed cost per kg gain = 3,240 / 1,800 = €1.80/kg. Reasoning: FCR turns biological efficiency into money; always scale through the whole flock, not one animal.
Traps
- Confusing FCR with daily feed intake.
- Using the wrong gestation length (114 days is a sow, not a ewe).
- Ignoring the withdrawal period when treating mastitis.
- Assuming more protein always raises yield; energy is usually first-limiting.
- Treating SCC as a production issue only - it is also food safety and payment.