Animal Production: Nutrition, Breeding, Health and Welfare
Domain focus
Animal production tests nutrition, breeding, health and welfare as linked management systems for cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry.
Core rules
- Rations must supply water, energy, protein, minerals and vitamins in the right proportions; intake and dry matter matter as much as percentage composition.
- Breeding uses heritability, estimated breeding values (EBVs), selection index and crossbreeding to improve traits; EBVs compare animals within a breed and environment.
- Health management relies on biosecurity, vaccination, parasite control, good housing and early diagnosis; notifiable diseases must be reported.
- Welfare is assessed through the Five Freedoms and animal-based indicators, not just absence of disease.
Worked example
A ration target is 16% crude protein (CP) on a dry matter basis. Maize silage has 8% CP and soya bean meal has 48% CP. Using the Pearson square: maize parts = 48 − 16 = 32; soya parts = 16 − 8 = 8. Ratio maize:soya = 32:8 = 4:1, so the mix is 80% maize silage and 20% soya bean meal. The reasoning works only if both feeds are compared on the same dry matter basis; if values are on a fresh basis, convert first.
Traps
Do not confuse fresh weight with dry matter. Do not treat an EBV as a guarantee for every farm. Do not reduce welfare to health alone. Avoid changing ration abruptly or ignoring water supply.