DIY CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR DOGS.

Its the Christmas season and joy is the word of the season. Malls are decorated,gifts purchased and several gift patterns are in the parks,but wait have you bought any gift for your dogs? 

Now is the time to shop or better still make great toys using old stuff: yes your dog will love it. See this, 

 Did you know you could turn old plastic bottles to toys? 

FOOT ROT IN RUMINANTS.

Foot rot is the common cause of lameness in ruminants and the effects are devastating both physically and financially. Lameness affects productivity,fertility and longevity of the animals on the farm. Foot rot is a common cause of lameness on farms. Foot rot causes economic losses through reduced live weight gain, reduced fertility and reduced mobility, it is a debilitating and painful condition and it is highly infectious and spreads easily from animal to animal on farm. Foot rot is easily recognized by a foul, very distinctive smell and under-running of the hoof causing the sole and the hoof wall to separate. Foot rot is caused by Fusobacterium necrophorum, the bacteria that causes scald,and it is found in the intestines of ruminants and is usually passed out with dung onto the field. This bacterium infects the hoof space first, particularly when it is damaged due to trauma or wet conditions. Foot rot occurs where scald is already established and the animal now comes in contact with a second bacterium called Dichelobacter nodosus. This second bacterium is able to enter the hoof and cause significant damage. Foot rot is an animal-animal disease and control and prevention must focus on a whole flock health plan. Control measures include :1) bio security plan for farm to include isolation and physical examination of newly acquired animals to farm. 2) provision of foot baths and regular hoof examination 3)Ensure the stalls are clean and dry. 4)Early detection will spur early treatment,thus observe animals and start treatment immediately. Animals that have persistent infection and lame and don't respond to treatment should be culled.

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea .

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted from infected animals. BVD is widespread amongst herds and many farmers are unaware of the virus circulating in their herds. The signs of infection vary and majorly include fertility problems such as abortions and birth defects, scour and reduced milk yield. Other less directly associated illnesses, due to the effects of infection on the animals’ immune response, include an increased incidence of other diseases such as pneumonia, lameness or mastitis within the herd. BVD is spread by nose-to-nose contact between infected cattle within the herd, mixing with infected animals from another farm, and during transportation. Cattle can also be infected indirectly by exposure to contaminated equipment, other ruminants especially sheep or by visitors to the farm. Bio security protocols are important to ensure safety of herd and prevent infection. The infection type could be persistent or transient,where the transient infection occurs any time after the animal is born and the persistent type occurs when a dam is infected with BVD for the first time during the first 4 months of pregnancy and the developing calf born is persistently infected with the virus and sheds high levels of virus thereby been a ready source of virus on the farm. The control measure is to test herd and remove carriers,vaccination is major key to a safe and clean herd. Vaccination of dams before breeding season is important.

Rare co-joined twin calves.

A Western Australian farmer was shocked to discover a set of Speckle Park conjoined twin calves had been born on his farm in Napier, on the state's south coast.It is unknown exactly how common conjoined twin calves are, however it is thought to be an incredibly rare occurrence known as 'parapagus'. The rare occurrence is expected to have been caused by an incomplete splitting of a single embryo, resulting in a set of twins "hung up" on each other. Esperance veterinarian and former president of the Australian Cattle Veterinarians Association, Dr Enoch Bergman, said it was unknown what caused an embryo to split, however it was expected to be genetic. There must be a couple of cells that didn't quite separate, and depending on where that happened they could have two heads, they could share a heart, they could have two hearts and four legs, it just depends on what's hung up. Dr Bergman said it was fairly common for a calf to be born with extra limbs, caused by a genetic disease called 'developmental duplication' or 'heteropagus twins'.Parapagus twins share the same pelvis, but have individual thoraxes, and front legs.Dr Bergman said he had never seen one split quite like this case. The cow is young and due to the size of the calves, and where they were joined, Dr Bergman believes they may have been delivered breech.He said it was "phenomenal" the mother was able to calve without help. source

Orange mucus in poultry dropping.

Orange mucus in dropping is an indication of damage to intestinal damage.This could be caused by malabsorption when birds are not fed regularly or when there is coccidiosis. The lining of the intestine can also be damaged if feed given is not easily digested,so ensure thee feed is not hard or coarse and give adequate water as well. Early detection of disease is an advantage that saves money and flock.The key to action is listen.... observe....act. more

Poultry farmer and chicken droppings.

When blood is seen in cecal dropping this is indicative of coccidiosis, treat entire flock immediately and ensure bio security measures. When chicken droppings contain white and green substances….. what does that mean for the chicken? Droppings with urates (white) and bile (green). The bile indicates an empty intestine (starvation) and/ or an infection (such as IBD). The urates are a waste product of protein break-down (proteolysis). The health status of birds could easily be accessed from symptoms,signs and most definitely from appearance of droppings hence observation is key in poultry management.The success of the poultry business is hinged on the rapid interpretation of signs,symptoms and an active prevention and treatment protocol. The faster diseases are diagnosed or outbreak prevented the higher the profit margin and turn over of business. The watch word is listen--observe--act ..

Snakes and medical benefits.

Snakes as creepy but help preserve the ecosystem by the predation on rodents and smaller mammals. The snakes make up a significant proportion of the middle-layer predators that keep our natural ecosystems working, without them the numbers of prey species would increase to unnatural levels and the predators that eat snakes struggle to find food will turn to other species thus endangering other species thus tilting the ecobalance. Snakes keeping the number of rodents and other reptiles under control are also beneficial to man directly because of the venom. Snake venom has been reported to provide treatment in certain disease conditions. Snake venom though awkward to comprehend its usefulness is basically protein and some enzymes,so the building,repairing and regenerative properties of protein is the key to the usefulness of the venom. The snake venom is categorized based on the site of action thus it could be neurotropic,hemotropic cardio tropic and this information is the platform that sets the stage as which venom to use in the case of any medical conditions. Snake venom's are collected purified ,processed and tested before use in medicine. Snake venom has been found to have hemostatic properties thus useful to stop excessive bleeding during surgery.see Snake venom has ability to break blood clots,this has been used in treatment of stroke patients.The neurotropic venom have been used in treatment protocols for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. The use of the venom has been explored in treatment of certain cancers such as breast cancer,and also in the cosmetics industry as anti aging cream. The fashion industry have benefited from snakes by using the skin for fashion accessories such as bags,shoes and belts racking in a lot of forex.