Animal Health, Hygiene and Common Disease Management
Health questions test recognition of common diseases, the vaccination calendar, hygiene routines and what a worker should do first when an animal looks sick.
Prevention first
- Vaccination: FMD every six months; HS and BQ annually before the monsoon (May–June); anthrax annually in endemic belts; brucellosis in female calves at 4–8 months where permitted.
- Hygiene: clean floor, dry bedding, clean water troughs, disinfection of calf pens, foot bath at the gate, separate bucket and cloth for each animal.
- Quarantine: new animals isolated for 21–30 days; sick animals separated and attended last.
- Deworming on schedule and tick control by spraying or pour-on.
Common conditions
- FMD: fever, drooling, blisters on tongue and feet, lameness; report to the veterinary officer, restrict movement, offer soft feed and water.
- HS and BQ: sudden death, swelling of the throat (HS) or crepitating muscle swelling (BQ); vaccinate before the season and treat early with the vet.
- Mastitis: hot, hard quarter, clots in milk; strip the quarter, do a CMT, treat as advised, discard milk during withdrawal.
- Metabolic: milk fever (down after calving, cold ears, calcium slowly IV by the vet), ketosis (sweet smell, off-feed), bloat (left flank distended; trocarise only in an emergency).
- Parasites: fascioliasis from wet grazing, ticks, lice, roundworms.
Worked example
A cow salivates, has a fever of 40.5 °C and blisters on the dental pad; two more animals are lame. Reasoning: this is a herd-level vesicular disease, so the first step is not antibiotics but isolation, stopping animal movement and informing the veterinary officer, since FMD is notified. Milk from affected animals is not sold.
Traps
- Confusing HS (throat swelling, rapid death) with FMD.
- Puncturing a bloated animal before trying a stomach tube and anti-foaming agent.
- Selling milk during antibiotic withdrawal.
- Using one needle for the whole herd.