BOTULISM IN HORSES!!!

Clostridium botulinum lives in moist soil and areas with high humidity and prevalent in decaying matter.The toxins that are produced are very potent resulting in death within 3-5 days of onset of signs. Clostridium botulinum is related to tetanus but more potent than tetanus.The source of infection is usually contaminated pasture that has dead/decaying bodies of animals.The spores are ingested with pasture, the spores can also be consumed from contaminated hay,there is also the possibility of wound contamination by spores. Botulism affects old and young horses, although young horses are very susceptible with a resultant malady disease referred to as shaker foal syndrome. The shaker foal syndrome occurs at 3-8 weeks of age and symptoms include weakness,inability to rise, profound muscle tremor.The uncontrollable shaking often cause the foal to tumble and remain recumbent,death occurs as a result of respiratory paralysis. The classical signs of botulism include;1) muscular tremors and stilted gait. 2)difficult eating and swallowing. 3)progressive muscle weakness 4)decreased tail and tongue tone 4)respiratory paralysis followed by death. The botulinum toxin reproduces repeatedly and rapidly in the horse's gut. Treatment; isolation of affected horse . 2)injection of antitoxin to all horses in the stables.

AGRIBUSINESS : EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND FOOD SECURITY.

Emotional intelligence refers to a person's ability to recognize his or her own and other people's emotions, understand the effect of these emotions, and to use that information to provide better working conditions to promote success in any enterprise.

  Agriculture is broad and plagued by numerous problems that are hindering production and promoting food insecurity.The administrator should go pass normal work rules,they should inject emotional intelligence to their routine .

The best workers are the highly motivated, you can only get the best out of workers if your rules,laws have a human face. The agri business that will be productive must ensure good working conditions for staff to prevent sabotage of venture. 

Food security. The farm hands that are poorly paid,neglected or relegated and unappreciated carry out their duties shabbily.The routine vaccinations,medications and other biosecurity protocols are neglected resulting in losses of animals. 

When workers are not properly compensated ,this will result in a lot of theft/compromise on their part and financial losses on the part of investors. 

Emotional intelligence. We have all heard the devastating news of the cyanide poisoning that has claimed the lives of 71 elephants at Hwange national park in recent weeks,” “We need to motivate our rangers so that they do not engage in poaching activities,” “It was noted that a number of issues such as low staff morale, lack of community benefits and hunting quota anomalies are fuelling poaching in Zimbabwe,” Oppah Muchinguri told a meeting of conservationists, government and security officials on Thursday while calling for improvements in their working conditions.

 This is a classical case of lack of emotional intelligence and the cascading effect on economic growth.( culled from the guardian). Food security. Working conditions are very important to the growth of any economy.

The poaching in the various parks also stem from poor working conditions; salaries, health insurance,conducive environment will motivate workers on all spheres resulting in desired economic growth. Emotional intelligence. #emotional intelligence #foodsecurity

AGRICULTURE : A NEW APPROACH.

The raising of birds can be a tedious task, or outright stressful if you dont know how to raise birds.The myth in the chain can be broken with proper education and hands-on work through with professionals. There are various methods of investing in the poultry value chain, these are direct and indirect investment.The common mode of investment here is the direct type; here the investors are involved in various stages of production that resonant with them. Agriculture The indirect phase,the investors pay a certain amount of money depending on level of investment such as gold,bronze and diamond.The investors partners with agri investors,that raise the birds,sell and give profit to the investor. This is an easy way of investing in the value chain,just pay required amount according to level of participation.Its with so much excitement that i announce the participation of a foreign agri-investment company to the investors forum.The company are coming down with all their expertise ,partnering with farmers to ensure food security.I was amazed at their track records, fast delivery,monitoring of progress of business online, broilers the Ross type, ready for market at 2.6kg at 6 weeks,and the investment is safe and covered by agreements backed by law. This is a new approach to the poultry value chain, another MDGS goal realized by partnering with foreign bodies for growth and development. Yes, you can be a silent partner in the poultry value chain and still make profit. The march towards food security and sustainability is on,and the call for investors to the value chain is on-going.The players in this value chain have been highlighted and our network increasing daily. These group of investors bring all the players of the chain on a platform; a central data pool. This platform will be multifaceted,it will bring all the aspects of the chain together,providing a tracking and tracing model,which will be a planning tool,marketing tool and learning platform. How will it work?? the platform will have data of those involved in the various aspect of the chain,their location, the aspect of production they are involved in and the population of the birds. This information will give data on vaccination/medication, so that at any point in time the health status of various sets of birds can be accessed. The platform will be a marketing tool,where manufacturers of drugs,feed,farm tools can reach out to customers.The platform will be a vital tool for planning,because you know the number of birds in chain,the vaccines can be acquired, medications/vitamins can be sourced and distributed.Each chain operator will have a code,this will allow tracing,tracking and tailored medical interventions. The platform will grant open access to all strata of the chain; linking all aspects together so that customers can access all sale information on the site.Training and learning will be available on site,with hand outs,webinars and interactive forum;where producers can be tutored and new interested producers can be trained. The platform will make access about the chain easy,the platform will also be a money market where goods and services can be accessed and paid for by using your phone.This platform will provide an onsite information about the value chain. Partnership with local and international companies for exchange of technology will be easy using this inter phase.The value change is broad and a platform for bringing all investors together is so vital to the success.

DOGS AND POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER.

Dogs are usually a therapy aid for people with post traumatic stress disorder, helping them to stay balanced and healthy.Post traumatic stress disorder is a mental condition provoked by traumatic experiences usually associated with war and military personnel. The military dogs that accompany the officers to war, are now showing signs of the PTSD. A recent report confirms this and also the fact that not only war dogs are susceptible; read more here http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/11/canine-ptsd-us-military-working-dogs

THE FORCE OF THE COCKROACH'S BITE.

A cockroach's bite packs a lot of force,at least 5 times stronger than a human's teeth.The cockroach bite can exert a force 50 times the body weight.The cockroach has the ability to activate muscle fibers in their jaws to boost their bite. The cockroach's bite ranges from quick and feeble bites to powerful, long-lasting ones. “The weaker and shorter bites are generated by relatively fast muscle fibres, while the longer and stronger bites were possible by activating muscle fibres that take time to reach their maximum force to cope with heavy duty tasks. This just further emphasizes the need to keep our environment pest free, the economic loss due to these pests are enormous.The use of insecticides should be encouraged to reduce loses , proper storage of feed and food materials are important. Read more of this study;http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/11/cockroaches-grind-jaws-five-times-stronger-than-humans-says-research.

BIOTECHNOLOGY : A PARADIGM SHIFT.

Biotechnology making better crops and livestock by careful selection of traits to increase yield,produce disease and pest resistance and drought resistance products. This entails a collection of specific technique to improve plant and animals. Every living form; plants,animals and even micro organisms have codes called genes, which are information about what that living form.These genes represent traits about that living form that cannot be easily recognized by looking at the organism.Welcome to genetic engineering!!!. 

 The work on genes dates back to sir Mendel; who explained how traits can be transferred and also what traits to expect in selective breeding both in plants and animals.This method was adopted to produce desired progeny. 

 The work has progressed over the years with enormous technological development....resulting in biotechnology in agriculture. Agriculture has evolved over the years with many innovations to solve pressing issues such as food scarcity, diseases, environmental factors (such as flood,drought and arid region ),food preservation and lower yields. 

These issues have been identified as major causes of lack of food security thus various solutions have been proffered typically biotechnology; which is the use of genetically engineered strains of plants and animals to produce better strains with higher yield and enhanced flavors. Farmers have been improving plants and animals through selection and breeding desirable traits.

Bio technology enhances breeders ability to make improvement in crops and livestock,this is achieved through various techniques used to improve plants and animals. Bio technology use gene modification,genetic improvement and genetic engineering.

Crops improved with transferred DNA referred to as genetic improvement have been developed to aid farmers to increase productivity . Biotechnology holds the key to food security with higher yield and better products Genetic modification/genetic improvement/genetic engineering; refers to the process where there is transfer of useful characteristics into plants and animals. 

This process allows transfer of specific traits to plants or animals to produce improved and better versions.Crops improved with genetic modification aid farmers to increase productivity by reducing crop damage from weeds,diseases and insects. 

 Molecular markers; the use in agriculture involves the use of DNA of a plant/animal that posses desirable trait,even when not visible.This has resulted in breeding that are more specific and ensure better products. This process has been used by the international institute of tropical agriculture to produce cow pea resistant to bruchid, disease resistant white yam and cassava resistant to cassava mosaic disease. 

Molecular markers is useful to identify undesirable genes that can be eliminated in future generation. Molecular diagnosis are methods to detect genes/gene products that are very precise and specific.Molecular diagnosis are used in agriculture to accurately diagnose crops and livestock diseases

.The application in agriculture is vaccine production,these vaccines are cheaper,better and safer.They are stable at room temperature,hence refrigeration is not necessary making it very acceptable in remote villages. In the Philippines, biotechnology has been used to develop an improved vaccine to protect cattle and water buffalo against hemorrhagic septicemia. Tissue culture; this is the regeneration of plants in laboratory from disease-free plant part.

This technique allows for the reproduction of disease free planting material for crops.This method has been used to produce improved crops such as pineapples,bananas,pawpaws and avocados. This tissue culture has also been used in food production especially cheese making,,also in animal husbandry where a sheep(dolly) was produced from mammary cells. 

 The potential of biotechnology is explosive and can solve food scarcity issues and environmental pollution and food poisoning from use of pesticides.The process of biotechnology have produced crops that have been engineered to produce their own Bt protein(bacillus thuringiensis) a soil bacterium that contains a protein

JUTE LEAVES, VITAMIN C AND DOG FOOD.

Jutix rice!!! what is this ??? well its a highly nutritious delicacy that your dogs will love. Jutix rice is a recipe made from jute leaves and rice. Jute leaves also called "EWEDU", is a highly nutritious vegetable packed with vitamin A,C,E; this makes them very valuable in preventing free radicals from damaging body cells. The vitamin A,also has added value in improving vision,vitamin C also helpful in stimulating appetite,curing cancer, reduces cholesterol levels. The vitamin C essential for old and young dogs.The jute leaves can be an energy boost for lethargic animals,debilitated and sick animals. Jute leaves has a low caloric value,so you can incorporate it in diet without excessive weight gain, these leaves can also be used to control diarrhea.The benefits of jute leaves are enormous and these can be prepared and served with other feed stuff to provide a balanced meal for your dog. JUTIX RICE; INGREDIENTS;jute leaves. fish/meat/chicken. rice. PREPARATION 1) pick the jute leaves,rinse and set aside. 2) get a pot,pour some water in it,add stock/fish broth. 3)put a pinch of potash. 4) put the jute leaves and allow to boil. 5) after 5 minutes, use the kitchen broom to cut the jute leaves,continue beating with the broom until all are cut to small bits and with a drawy texture. 6)set the jute leaves aside. next prepare the already washed and cooked meat or fish; these can be cut to bits, or cubes or shredded,and set aside. Rice, wash the rice,then boil.The final stage is when all the various feed stuff are mixed; put the rice in a bowl,then pour the jute leaves stew and mix.The last phase is to add the fish or meat ,mix properly and serve. The jutix rice is ready.