Page 146 - Agriculture_Form_Three

Agriculture for Secondary Schools

Activity 6.1
In groups,
1. Visit your school animal farm, nearby homestead or institution and identify
healthy and unhealthy conditions of the animals.

2. Discuss and prepare a report on the common unhealthy animal conditions and
vices commonly observed in your places.
Causes of poor health in livestock
Poor health in livestock is associated with several causes which include poor
feeding, poor hygiene, parasite infestation, injuries due to poor handling as well as
microorganisms or pathogens.
(a) Poor feeding
Feeds and feeding play a major role in the provision of good health. Inadequate
feeding and poor-quality feeds can lead to nutritional disorders like cannibalism and
egg eating in chicken. Excessive feeding may lead to bloat, diarrhoea or constipation.

(b) Poor hygiene
Hygiene refers to cleanliness of animal houses, equipment, environment and
attendants. Poor sanitation encourages growth of microorganisms as a result may
infect the animals.

(c) Parasite infestation
Parasites, whether internal or external, cause different effects to their host. Some
of the effects caused by internal parasites are competition with the host for food
especially gastrointestinal worms, reducing host appetite as well as causing
ulceration and dehydration due to diarrhoea. These effects lead to poor health of the
affected animal.

(d) Injuries due to poor handling
Injuries are physical or traumatic conditions to the body tissues or organs caused by
different sources. For example, slippery floor, cruel treatment by attendants, animal
fighting, poorly constructed crush and accidents. All these sources of injury may
cause fracture, wounds and other ill conditions to the animal.

(e) Microorganisms or pathogens
Pathogens of importance are bacteria, virus, protozoa, fungus, mycoplasma, and

rickettsia. Some mode of their transmission or spread to infect healthy animals is
through contaminated water, feeds, pasture, air droplets and bedding materials. Others
include coitus, vectors and contact with the infected animal. When the pathogens
come into contact or enter the body of the healthy animal, they cause different

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