Animal Science and Livestock Management
What the exam tests
Animal Science and Livestock Management tests nutrition, feed conversion, breeding and reproduction, health and vaccination, housing, and livestock production economics for cattle, buffalo, goat and poultry in Nepal.
Core rules
- Feed conversion ratio (FCR) = feed consumed ÷ body weight gain or product output. Lower FCR is better; feed efficiency is its reciprocal.
- Pearson square balances two feeds to a target crude protein (CP) level. Parts of each feed are the absolute differences between each feed's CP and the target.
- Ruminants use microbial fermentation; young ruminants need colostrum in the first hours and a functioning rumen develops with roughage and concentrate.
- The estrus cycle of cattle and buffalo is about 21 days; gestation is roughly 280–285 days for cattle and about 310 days for buffalo.
Worked example
Mix maize (9% CP) and soybean meal (44% CP) to make 18% CP. Maize parts = 44 − 18 = 26; soybean meal parts = 18 − 9 = 9; total = 35. Maize = 26/35 = 74.3%; soybean meal = 9/35 = 25.7%. Check: 0.743 × 9 + 0.257 × 44 = 6.69 + 11.31 = 18.0% CP.
Traps
Inverting FCR; using the Pearson square with more than two feeds without checking minerals; ignoring colostrum; and confusing oestrus with gestation length.