(a) Explain four of the following management practices in animal production: (i) steaming up; (ii) culling; (iii) candling; (iv) tattooing; (vi) creep feeding. (b) List five signs of heat in animals. (c) Mention three reasons for castrating farm animals
Explanation
(a) Explanation of management practices in animal production: (i) Steaming up: This is a process of giving highly nutritious diet to a pregnant animal for a few weeks before parturition to stimulate milk synthesis and secretion. (ii) Culling: This is the removal of unproductive or diseased or abnormal animal from the flock to prevent spread of diseases or create enough space for better production/performance. (iii) Candling: This is the process by which hatchable eggs are placed on a device called candler with a high light source below it in a dark room to reveal the presence or absence of developing embryo. This is normally done before the eggs are placed in an i incubator and mid-way during incubation to detect the presence of dead embryos. (iv) Weaning: This is the separation of the young animals from their mothers so that they can feed on their own and be independent of their mothers breast milk. (v) Tattooing: This involves the imprinting of signs/numbers/letters on the body or ears of animals and rubbing the imprinted marks with dye or paints to bring them out clearly for easy identification. (vi) Creep feeding: This is the placement of more nutritious feed for young animals out of the reach of their mothers in a compartment within the same pen called cribs for good growth and early weaning.
(b) Signs of heat in animals: (1) Restlessness (2) Mucus discharge from vulva. (3) Attempting to mount other animals in the herd. (4) Reddened vulva. (5) Loss of appetite. (6) Tendency to urinate fequently. (7) Undue noise making/grunting. (8) Standing still to be mounted. (9) Slight increase in body temperature. (10) Frequent tail shaking in goat.
(c) Reasons for castrating farm animals: (1) Helps to control indiscriminate mating. (2) Helps to quicken the fattening up of the animal. (3) Removes the characteristic male odour caused by the production of testosterone. (4) Animal becomes more docile and easy to handle. (5) Leads to better carcass quality. (6) Leads to higher feed conversion ratio. (7) To prevent male animal with bad trait from being used for breeding purposes.