Animal Health (Animal Husbandry II)

Learn online about Animal Health and Husbandry

This animal husbandry and health course is -

• studied by online or e-learning
• is self-paced
• includes tutor support
• can be started at any time to suit you

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Animal Health -
   • Learn to describe common diseases affecting farm animals and the circumstances under which animals contract these diseases - the healthy animal, causes of ill health, preventing ill health
2. Signs & Symptoms of Diseases -
   • The physical symptoms of diseases in farm animals - common methods of handling animals during health assessments, recognising ill health, restraining a horse, sheep handling facilities
3. Disease Classification -
   • Methods used in classifying animal diseases –
   • viral diseases, bacterial diseases, parasitic diseases, protozoal diseases, disease types in beef cattle, diseases in sheep
4. Causes and Diagnosis of Disease -
   • The causes of disease and the relevant methods of diagnosis - examining cattle, examining a horse, ticks, tick-borne diseases, diagnosis of diseases
5. Treatment of Disease -
   • Methods used in the treatment of diseases in farm animals - vaccination, the animal first aid kit, tetanus antiserum, animal nursing, quarantine, slaughter, post mortem, disease prevention in cattle, disease prevention in sheep, treatment of parasites in sheep
6. Inflammation -
   • Outline the nature and causes of inflammation in farm animals - the inflammatory response, causes of inflammation, types of inflammation, symptoms of inflammation, inflammatory exudate, treatment of inflammation
7. Fever and Immunity -
   • The biological mechanisms underlying fever and the immune system in farm animals - the fever mechanism, other temperature related disorders, effect of temperature on enzymes, immunity
8. Tissue Repair -
   • The biological mechanisms underlying tissue repair in farm animals - healing of a clean incised wound, healing of an open wound, common horse ailments to recognise
9. Wounds -
   • The biological mechanisms of wounds in farm animals and address different treatment methods for repair of common ailments - types of wounds, first aid treatments, bandaging horses, emergencies
10. Cell changes -
    • The causes and biological mechanisms of cell change in farm animals - neoplasms, tumours and cancers, the course of an infectious disease, death, cancers etc.

Aims

• Explain common health problems affecting animals, including the circumstances under which animals contract health problems, and methods used to prevent the development of ill health
• Identify physical indicator symptoms of ill health in animals.
• Describe the taxonomic class of animal pests and diseases.
• Describe the diagnostic characteristics of the main types of animal pathogenic microorganisms.
• Describe the methods used in the treatment of pests and diseases in farm animals.
• Explain the role of inflammation, including its symptoms and causes, in animals.
• Describe the biological processes which affect and control the immune system in animals.
• Describe the biological processes which affect and control tissue repair in animals.
• Describe procedures for the management of wounds to animals, on a farm.
• Describe the processes involved in cellular change in animals.
• Explain how to diagnose simple health problems in farm animals.

What You Will Do

• List criteria used to assess the health status, including ill-health, of animals.
• Describe the different causes of ill-health in animals.
• Explain the methods used to prevent ill-health in animals.
• Write a standard procedure for a routine health examination of a chosen farm animal.
• Describe the symptoms of ill-health in animals.
• Compare the causes of two symptomatically similar health problems for a specified farm animal.
• Diagnose a health problem from a given set of symptoms.
• Distinguish, using labelled illustrations, between different taxonomic classes of animal pest and disease organisms.
• Describe identifying characteristics of four different disease carrying agents of specified farm animals.
• Classify commonly occurring pests and diseases of three different animals, into their taxonomic classes.
• Describe the characteristics of viruses, using illustrations and a report.
• Describe the characteristics of bacteria, using illustrations and a report.
• Describe the characteristics of protozoa, using illustrations and a report.
• Describe the characteristics of parasites, using illustrations and a report.
• Describe the characteristics of nutritional disorders, using illustrations and a report.
• Analyse the relevance of ten specified factors, to determining the health of a chosen species of farm animal.
• Describe the veterinary treatments available over the counter for on-farm use.
• Explain the vaccination programs used to treat two different specifies of farm animal.
• Describe the applications and techniques used for dips, to control external parasites in a specified farm animal.
• List the essential items for a First Aid Kit for a specified farm animal.
• Write guidelines for general procedures to follow when nursing sick farm animals.
• List the procedures employed in quarantine, using a chosen animal as an example.
• Describe the procedures for slaughtering a diseased ruminant in order to conduct a post-mortem examination.
• Prepare an illustrated, one page report on the post-mortem procedures of a ruminant.
• Compare two different methods used to control a specified disease in farm animals.
• Identify a suitable method of control for ten different, specified pests and diseases of farm animals.
• Differentiate between at least five factors which cause inflammation in animals.
• Develop a checklist for analysing inflammation in a chosen farm animal species.
• Explain the inflammatory response in a specific case study.
• Compare the different methods used to control inflammation in animals.
• Describe the function of the immune system in animals.
• List the agents which can cause fevers in animals.
• Explain the biology of fevers in a specified case study of a farm animal species.
• Explain the methods used in treating fevers in animals.
• Explain at least five factors which influence immune response in animals.
• Explain the characteristics of the immune system in a chosen farm animal species.
• Describe the composition of tissues at three different body sites, in terms of susceptibility to different types of internal and external damage.
• Compare the characteristics of different types of tissue damage.
• List factors, in terms of both rate of, and quality of repair; which influence tissue repair.
• Explain the biological processes, which occur as damaged tissue heals in animals.
• Compare the different effects of wounding, including psychological, physiological and anatomical, to three different parts of a specified animal's body.
• Explain the different biological processes which occur following wounding, including: tissue repair and infection.
• Develop a checklist for the treatment of wounds in farm animals.
• List an appropriate treatment for each of five different types of wounds to 4 different species of farm animals.
• Describe post care treatment of the wounds as discussed above.
• Determine the potential causes of wounding of farm animals.
• Develop guidelines for prevention of wounds to farm animals, based on the potential causes identified above.
• Describe the different causes of cellular change in animals.
• Explain the general processes associated with cancer at a cellular level, in animals.
• Explain the cellular processes associated with death of animal tissue.
• List the factors which influence the rate and extent of cellular change in diseased animals.
• Monitor the health condition of a farm animal over a four month period.
• Observe, and prepare a report, on the veterinarians diagnostic process/ health assessment methodology, when inspecting three different farm animals.
• Diagnose the cause of three different health problems, detected in three different genera of farm animals.
• Develop a checklist of the diagnostic indicators of common health problems, which occur in three different farm animal species.

Introduction to Animal Health

A farmer needs to be familiar with the normal, vital signs of his animals, so that he can recognise health and ill health.

The vital signs include:

• Pulse rate
• Respiration rate
• Body temperature.

These signs should be measured at rest.

In addition to vital signs, the farmer should continually observe the natural habits and behaviour of stock. Any changes in behaviour should be investigated immediately as it could be due to illness.

The earlier a farmer can treat sick animals, the better. Illness causes individual cells in the animal to break down and die. If treatment is started quickly, the cells can be stopped from degenerating. If treatment is delayed, the damage done by illness can be considerable; especially if the affected cells make up an organ.

The Healthy Animal

The healthy animal is interested in food. It will graze as normal, or in the case of penned animals, look forward to the next feed. The healthy animal will drink its normal amount of water (this is easily checked with penned animals), but more difficult with animals out grazing).

The healthy animal appears bright and alert. It will show its normal response to humans (ie. probably moving away as you approach if it is a grazing animal, or approaching if it is very used to human company). Brightness is most apparent in the eyes. The animal will show interest in unusual noises and sights.

The healthy animal's coat and skin will be supple and in good condition. Hair is one of the first parts of the body to register ill health, and it will also look dull if the animal is lacking some essential vitamins or minerals).

The colour of the mucous membrane is a good indicator of health, as it shows the condition of the blood. Mucous membrane is found around the eye, on the gums, inside the mouth, and at the entrance to the anus. In healthy animals, it should show a salmon pink colouring (but not vivid red).

The healthy animal will pass the normal number of droppings per day; and the droppings will be neither too loose or too dry for the type of livestock, and will be passed easily. If you press your ear to the side of the animal, you should be able to hear rumbling noises -signs that the digestive system is working. The healthy animal will also pass normal coloured urine.

Ruminants which are in good health will spend the normal number of hours chewing the cud. Healthy animals will also spend a normal number of hours resting each day. Normal vital signs are as outlined below:

Physiological Values for Other Animals

(Data adapted from Duke's Physiology of Domestic Animals, 9th & 10th Ed., Swenson, M.J., Ed., respectively, Cornell University Press).

Who is this course suitable for?

This course is useful for people working/wanting to work in -

• agriculture
• animal health and wellbeing, such as veterinary staff
• pet shops

Basically,

• anyone who wants to work with animals and understand more about their health and wellbeing
• or people already working with animals, but wanting to improve their knowledge of animal health

Why Study This Course?

Study this course if you want to -

• Work at your own pace. This course is self-paced.
• Start at any time to suit you.
• Work when and where you want to.
• Learn more about animal health and wellbeing
• Improve your knowledge
• Improve your job and career prospects

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about the course, our Animal Husbandry tutors are more than happy to help.

Click here to ask a question.

Request a Handbook here.