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    Animal Health Checklist

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    capsfast
    This document provides signals to assess the health and welfare of cows by observing their anatomy. It lists normal behaviors and physical characteristics of healthy cows such as alertness, steady breathing, glossy coat, and clear eyes. It also describes signs of illness including sunken eyes, droopy ears, swollen joints, arched back, and dirty udders. Physical indicators of an unhealthy environment like bare knees and hocks are also outlined. The document aims to help identify sick or distressed cows by monitoring physical signals.

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    Animal Health Checklist

    Uploaded by

    capsfast
    450 views4 pages
    This document provides signals to assess the health and welfare of cows by observing their anatomy. It lists normal behaviors and physical characteristics of healthy cows such as alertness, steady breathing, glossy coat, and clear eyes. It also describes signs of illness including sunken eyes, droopy ears, swollen joints, arched back, and dirty udders. Physical indicators of an unhealthy environment like bare knees and hocks are also outlined. The document aims to help identify sick or distressed cows by monitoring physical signals.

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    This document provides signals to assess the health and welfare of cows by observing their anatomy. It lists normal behaviors and physical characteristics of healthy cows such as alertness, steady breathing, glossy coat, and clear eyes. It also describes signs of illness including sunken eyes, droopy ears, swollen joints, arched back, and dirty udders. Physical indicators of an unhealthy environment like bare knees and hocks are also outlined. The document aims to help identify sick or distressed cows by monitoring physical signals.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    450 views4 pages

    Animal Health Checklist

    Uploaded by

    capsfast
    This document provides signals to assess the health and welfare of cows by observing their anatomy. It lists normal behaviors and physical characteristics of healthy cows such as alertness, steady breathing, glossy coat, and clear eyes. It also describes signs of illness including sunken eyes, droopy ears, swollen joints, arched back, and dirty udders. Physical indicators of an unhealthy environment like bare knees and hocks are also outlined. The document aims to help identify sick or distressed cows by monitoring physical signals.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Appendix 2.

    Signals for assessing


    healthy and sick cows

    Signals for healthy cows


    A ppendix 2 – Signals for assessing healthy and sick cows 273

    Cow signals to assess health and welfare


    Cow’s anatomy Observation and interpretation
    Whole body Alert, active attitude
    Distracted attitude: indicates poor health, low energy status and possibly rumen
    acidosis
    Steady breathing
    Rapid and shallow: heat stress or pain. Sometimes at start of rumination period as well
    Normal: 10 to 30 times per minute
    Optimum condition
    Too thin: inadequate energy intake
    Too fat: excessive energy intake
    Normal: good flesh cover with a little fat
    Glossy intact coat
    Dull coat: poor health or nutrition
    Skin injuries: cause and result of agitation and reduced disease resistance
    Correct body temperature
    Too high (> 39.0°C): fever
    Too low (< 38.0°C): milk fever or serious illness
    Normal (between 38.0 and 38.5°C): healthy
    Head Clear, bright eyes
    Distracted attitude indicates poor health, low energy status and possibly rumen acidosis
    Clean nostrils
    Mucus with pus/blood and skin injuries: skin of the nose inflamed indicates virus
    or cold
    Clear mucus does not indicate much
    Closed mouth
    Some drooling: usually hunger
    Lot of drooling: swallowing problems or mouth pain
    Coughing: due to cold air, dust or disease
    Strong rumination activity
    Reduced chewing: diet lacks effective fibre
    Spitting out the cud: tooth problems, prickly bits in feed
    Normal: 55 to 75 chews per cud
    Forequarters Undamaged knees with full hair covering
    Bare knees: scraping on ground while getting up
    Swollen knees: bruising when getting up, lack of space in stall
    Sound, fully weight-bearing hooves
    Tiptoeing, standing on tips of hooves
    Injured or swollen coronary band
    Eczema or scabs in interdigital space
    Abdomen Full belly
    Belly too empty: hadn’t eaten enough last week
    Take account of the size of the calf, if any
    Good rumen fill
    Too empty: hasn’t eaten enough yesterday
    No discernible layered structure (apple shaped): not enough fibre in diet
    Straight back
    Arched back: painful hooves or physical wear and tear
    Injuries: usually bruising against stall partition
    (Continued)
    274 B l u e p r i n t s f o r Tr o p i c a l D a i r y F a r mi n g

    Cow signals to assess health and welfare (Continued)


    Cow’s anatomy Observation and interpretation
    Hindquarters Clean hindquarters
    Dung on both sides of rump: dung too thin
    Asymmetric soiling: environment too dirty
    Soft, systematic udder
    Hard: due to oedema around calving or mastitis (painful)
    Enlarged quarter: active mastitis
    Shrunken quarter: previous mastitis
    Undamaged teats and teat tips
    Trodden teats: too much agitation, stalls too narrow or too slippery
    Check milking machine and technique if you see calloused teat tips, swelling,
    redness or tiny blood spots
    Undamaged hocks with full hair covering
    Bare hocks: scraping on stall floor, lack of grip
    Thick hocks: lack of stall space, stall floor too hard
    Scabs: inflammation due to dirt or moisture
    Flat but formed, smooth dung
    Long stems: insufficient rumination activity
    Not too loose or too firm: always relate to ration components (e.g. grazed
    pastures) and lactation stage (dry v peak lactation)
    Use dung feedback to assess the diet: feeding methods, feed intake, digestion,
    water intake and health

    Signals for sick and distressed cows


    A ppendix 2 – Signals for assessing healthy and sick cows 275

    Sickness and distress check list


    Cow’s anatomy Observation and interpretation
    Head Sunken eyes: sick
    Droopy and/or cold ears: sick
    Purulent nasal discharge: rhinitis or chronic lung problem
    Fore quarters Neck bump: neck rail feed fence too low
    Shoulder bump: poorly designed feed fence/feed too far away
    Long curling hoofs: hoof trimming too late or not at all
    Carpal joints swollen, hairless: stall surface too hard, too little head space
    Abdomen Arched back: lame
    Backbone bumps: lying against stall divider
    Empty rumen: has eaten too little
    Broken rib: stall divider
    Uplifted belly/poor gut fill: pain/poor feed intake for days
    Hind quarters Body condition score of 1 to 1.5 and deep holes next to tail: long-term physical
    problems
    Dirty udder: dirty resting area and/or floors
    Teat end callouses: milking machine problems
    Uplifted tail: pain in birth canal
    Manure on pelvis: diarrhoea
    Pus on tail: endometritis
    Wound on flank: wet resting surfaces
    Swollen hocks and hair loss: stall surfaces too hard, abrasive or not enough grip
    Swollen coronary band, crusts, leg lifting, shifting weight: hoof diseases

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