Investing in livestock is a wise and profitable move. After all, the industry and its products will always be in high demand as the world’s population grows. Additionally, livestock provides agricultural services that no other sector can.
However, taking care of farm animals is no easy task, regardless if you are doing it for business or domestication. They are prone to several diseases and pest issues that threaten their health and your investment.
Take the STAIRS to ensure your livestock remains safe and protected from health problems.
The STAIRS Strategy
The STAIRS approach includes six steps to prevent your farm animals from contracting any illnesses. These processes are Sanitation, Traffic control, Assessment, Isolation, Resistance, and Security.
Start With Sanitation
Everything that enters the farm should be cleaned and disinfected to ensure no disease-carrying organisms reach the animals.
People, clothes, supplies, equipment, and other animals should always receive proper sanitation to reduce contact points for pests and illnesses.
Maintain Traffic Control
Suppose a few microorganisms survive your sanitation process. The next best step would be to control the traffic flow on your farm and keep the carriers away from the livestock.
Traffic control includes deciding who and what enters your premises, which areas they can access, and how close they can get to the animals.
Assessment of Risks and Threats
It's crucial to understand the risks that are present in your ranch. Visitors will bring different risks depending on where they went before coming to your farm.
Similarly, different farm areas should be assigned specific levels of risk for better security protocols. For instance, the parts of the farm where animals are housed should be your high-risk areas for infectious disease transmissions.
Regular testing is advised to detect irregularities in your animals before they worsen. For instance, cows can be screened for ketosis through routine milk testing.
Isolate Whenever Necessary
Occasionally, new animals are brought in or taken to other farms for breeding purposes. To ensure that the new or returning animal will not compromise the health of the others, they are isolated for a short period.
Isolation also occurs when some members of the herd display symptoms of sickness. They are separated from the healthy ones to prevent contagion and minimize losses.
Resistance Is Not Futile
Increasing your livestock's resistance to diseases is the best option if preventive measures fail. You would be lucky if your animals had innate immunity, but you can also build active immunity through vaccinations.
You can also bolster your livestock's immunity by providing a clean and stress-free environment. Animals should be strong enough to ward off minor illnesses as long as they drink clean water and meet their nutritional needs.
Strengthen Security
Finally, applying on-farm security can reduce health hazards for animals. Don’t let unauthorized people or machinery into your premises. Enforce measures to secure pesticides and other harmful substances, keeping them out of the animals’ reach.
Modern Solutions Are Here
There are different methods to prevent illnesses in livestock. Using innovative technology and modern solutions, veterinary labs and clinics can ensure that your farm animals are safe and free of diseases.
For example, it would be easy to treat mastitis if diagnosed early. However, this common cattle disease is challenging to detect manually. Now, monitoring systems with thermal imaging cameras can quickly scan cows for inflammation and other potential health issues.
If your animals are acting unusually and not responding to standard health protocols, don’t hesitate to seek professional help. The veterinary industry plays a critical role in animal disease detection and prevention, and they will surely do what they can to nurse your animals back to good health.
