Livestock management practices are practises that are carried out on livestock to enhance their productivity. While some affect their health status, others affect their emotional status, productivity and quality of their products.
In this article, we will take a look at the various livestock management practices which include the following:
Castration
Artificial Insemination
Heat Period
Dehorning
Disbudding
Destoning
Dipping
Dubbing
Debeaking
Despurring
Toe Clipping
Culling
Chick Sexing
But today, i will take you on castration, artificial insemination, heat period, dehorning,
disbudding, destoning and dipping.
Castration is the removal of the male reproductive cells to disallow breeding and is carried out in calfs that are not wanted for breeding. Bull calf that are not wanted for breeding can be castrated, at the age of 18months. Once the calf is castrated, it is referred to as steer or Bullock.
Methods of Castration: The method used for castration depends on the age of the calfs. Young calf's can have their testicles removed by a simple incision using a sharp knife like surgical scalpel with a detachable blade. In older animals, castration can be done by cutting off blood supply to the testicles with strong elastic rubber rings or with Burdizzo castrator. It may be necessary to dummy -mate the castrated animal to be sure that breeding is completely avoided. Castration is usually carried in the early hours of the day except when the weather is very favourable; say later in the evening. The castrator should disinfect his hand and equipment and it should be carried out in a clean environment else, the animal could be infected.
Advantages of Castration
Steers are calmer, less vicious and easier to handle in large numbers that have not been castrated.
Steers fatten more quickly.
They produce better quality meat than bulls.
Poor breeders are prevented from producing themselves within the herd.
Castration may be used to eliminate unwanted breed from the herd.
The major disadvantage of castration is that it irreversible.
As the name implies, this is the method by which spermatozoa in form of semen is been deposited into the reproductive track of the female livestock through an artificial means rather than natural copulation.
Advantages of Artificial Insemination
Cross breeding is enhanced.
The semen of one bull can be used to inseminate many cows thereby making breeding easier and faster.
Body contact during copulation is avoided thereby controlling the transfer of ectoparasite and disease.
The semen can be collected and stored for future use, thereby ensuring service at any time and any day.
Indiscriminate mating can be controlled.
Importation of exotic breeds can be carried out through artificial insemination hence the cost of importing live animal is avoided.
It is an improved way of livestock breeding.
Selection of breeds can be easily done.
Disadvantages of Artificial Insemination
The heat period of the livestock must be studied for artificial insemination to be successful.
It is an effect on the emotional status of the livestock.
This is the period a female animal will readily accept the male for copulation (sexual procreation). It is necessary to notice the heat period if artificial insemination and breeding will be successfully carried out. The following are the signs of heat.
Front mounting.
Side mounting.
Back mounting.
Chin resting.
Redness of the vulva.
Mucus discharge at the vulva.
Sniffing of the vulva.
Standing freely to be mounted.
Restlessness.
Crying.
Increase in the body temperature.
Lowering of the back quarters
Drop in feed intake (sometimes).
Dehorning
Dehorning is the removal of horn from the head of the animal. This is could be done by knife or saw to cut off the horn from the head of the animal. This process is dangerous as the animal may bleed to death especially when fully matured. Hence dehorning is carried out at the early stage of maturity of the livestock or disbudding is done.
Horns are external projections of the bones on the head of the animal. They may be useful in preparing bone meal for the livestock, making of bottom shoes, for drinking palm wine, aesthetics purposes; such as making decoration of homes and palaces.
Advantages of Dehorning
Injuries from animal to animal are reduced on the farm.
Injuries from farm animal to the handler are reduced.
Dehorned animals are less aggressive.
Infestation of diseases especially through the horn is eliminated.
More space are created especially during transportation.
Disadvantages of Dehorning
It leads to excessive bleeding of the animal.
It may lead to death of the animal.
It could serve as port infection. It could lead to pest, insects and disease attack.
Disbudding
The bud is the hard cap from where the horn grows. It is always associated with young animals. For as the animal grows the bud develops into horn.
Disbudding is the removal or burning off of the bud from a young livestock such that the horn will not grow. This is done by using hot iron, electric disbudder and caustic soda, hot rod or chemical method.
Advantages of Disbudding
It is the best way of preventing injuries from the horn.
It is bloodless.
Infection is reduced.
It is cheaper.
It is easier in the sense that young animal rarely struggle.
Disadvantages of Disbudding
If not handled properly it could lead to the death of the animal.
The advantages of horn is lost when an animal is disbudded.
Destoning
Destoning is a method of demoblizing the animal before slaughtering. It could also be described as a method of making the animal unconscious in preparation for slaughter. Destoning is more practiced in pigs.
Destoning could be done mechanically, electrically and chemically. In the mechanical method, a hammer could be used to hit the animal in the direction head. In the electrical method, the animal is taking to an electrical field where it will receive electric shock that will render it unconscious. And lastly the chemical method is done by introducing fumes of chemicals such as chloroform into the nosetril of the animal to render it unconscious.
Advantages of Destoning
It reduces the risk of injury during slaughter.
Reduce time wasted struggling with the animal during slaughtering.
Quality of meat of destoned animals are better than that of animals that struggle during slaughter because destoning disallows internal bleeding which affects meat quality.
Disadvantages of Destoning
If not properly handled it may lead to injury to the handler.
It may affect the character of the destoner thereby making him a nuisance to his neighbors.
Dipping is the process of making an animal to pass through water such that all part of the animal is dipped in the water which is usually treated with anti-parasitic chemical or disinfectant. This is done constrom ecto-parasite in livestock as against drenching which is dosing of livestock with appropriate drug to control diseases. Dipping is difficult to carry out in a large farm because most animals detest passing through water. The livestock farmer therefore is to decide the best method of making the chemicals go round the whole body of the animals.
