Every farming enterprise should be focusing on animal health. It should be the priority to ensure wellbeing, productivity, and the quality of the products. What you need here is an effective plan to keep animals healthy. We want to have a closer look to see what you need to think about and include in plans. So, read on to learn more.
Three crucial factors
Firstly, there are trio of things you should start off with. Begin by checking the condition of the farm, including any diseases or parasites causing issues. It will give you a fantastic baseline and a better understanding of the conditions.
Next, once you have a better picture of the situation on the farm, you can look at ways to control or prevent issues. There are lots of different options here, including vaccinations and medications, closing the herds, and ensuring animals have a good diet.
Finally, look at farm level modifications you can do to improve animal health. This involves things like carefully looking at housing and handling. Ultimately, you should ensure there is as little a chance as possible of disease on the farm.
Some essential elements
There are a number of other things that will help you to develop a great animal health plan. For one, make sure you are aware of different organisms that cause disease. Look at their lifecycle as well as the best way to treat health problems.
It is also a good idea to keep expanding your knowledge of different potential treatments. This includes current ones, experimental ones, and alternative medicines. It can be even more important if you are producing organic products because over-reliance on medication can mean a loss of organic status.
Another thing you can do is look at different ways to break the lifecycle of organisms that cause disease. Every organism will follow the same simple cycle; infection, reproduction/replication, and spreading. If you can break it, you can control the disease and also minimise the spread.
One more thing you must remember is the best plans evolve over time. There will always be room for improvement as well as a need to change things. Crucially, make sure you react if there is a health outbreak on the farm. Identify the cause, treatment, and what you could do to prevent a similar issue in the future.
Speak to us about animal health
JS Hubbuck Ltd has been working in the agricultural industry for generations. As a result, we’ve seen the real impact of issues like disease outbreaks on farms. We know how crucial it is to manage herds and lower the risk. It can be the difference between a successful farm and one that struggles with lost productivity and high costs.
If you need help with animal health, make sure you keep in mind how many different resources you have, including vets. We’re happy to assist too, providing information about the various products we offer and sharing our knowledge. So, get in touch with us today.