Livestock
Senior 1 · Agriculture
Livestock
Lesson 5 of 5
18 min
Let's begin
Two school rabbit clubs start with the same breed, the same hutch design and the same feed. After a year, one club has sold more than a hundred rabbits; the other has lost most of its young stock to diarrhoea and snuffles. The difference is a daily routine that takes less than half an hour: sanitation.
Farm sanitation means keeping the animals, their housing, equipment, feed, water and surroundings clean, so that disease-causing organisms and pests cannot build up. For rabbits it is the most important form of disease control, because many rabbit diseases spread through droppings, urine and dirty air, and because medicines for rabbits are often hard to find.
| Rule | Reason |
|---|---|
| Buy stock only from healthy, known units | Most disease arrives with new animals. |
| Quarantine new rabbits for about 2 to 3 weeks in a separate hutch before they join the others | Gives time for any hidden disease to show its signs. |
| Isolate sick rabbits at once and attend to them last | Stops the disease spreading on your hands and tools. |
| Limit visitors; do not let them handle the rabbits | Visitors from other farms or markets can carry germs and mites on hands, shoes and clothes. |
| Keep dogs, cats and wild animals away | They carry fleas and disease and frighten the stock. |
| Ventilate without draughts | Ammonia from urine and stale, damp air bring on snuffles. |
Rabbit droppings and urine are a valuable fertiliser for vegetables and banana plantations, but piles of wet droppings under the hutch breed flies and spread coccidiosis. Collect them regularly and put them on the compost heap or directly around crops. Many farmers place a sloping sheet or tray under the hutch to channel urine into a container.
A rabbit that died of disease must never be eaten, sold or thrown to dogs. Bury it in a deep pit away from water sources, or burn it. Note the date and the signs you saw in the records, so the vet can recognise a pattern.
Keep a simple record for each doe (matings, kindling dates, number of kits born and weaned) and a health record (date, rabbit, signs, treatment). Records show when and where problems begin, for example if deaths always rise two weeks after weaning.
A disinfectant label says: use 25 mL in each litre of water. The farmer needs 8 litres to wash a row of compartments and nest boxes.
A club's does weaned 48 kits last term, but only 36 reached market weight. What percentage died after weaning?
Tip
Memory hook, "Check, Clear, Clean, Close": check each rabbit; clear droppings and old feed; clean drinkers, feeders and nest boxes; close the farm to disease with quarantine, isolation and few visitors.
Exam technique: sanitation questions often say "state and explain". Give the rule and its reason together: "Quarantine new rabbits for two to three weeks so that any hidden disease shows before they mix with the herd."
Define farm sanitation.
Solution: Keeping the animals, their housing, equipment, feed, water and surroundings clean so that disease-causing organisms and pests do not build up.
Why must droppings be removed before a hutch is disinfected?
Solution: Droppings and dirt protect germs and inactivate most disinfectants, so the disinfectant cannot reach and kill the germs.
A farmer buys four does at a market. Describe what she should do before putting them with her other rabbits.
Solution: Keep them in a separate hutch for about two to three weeks (quarantine), watch them for signs of disease, check their ears and feet, and attend to them after her own rabbits. Only healthy does should then join the unit.
A label says 20 mL of disinfectant per litre of water. How much disinfectant is needed for 12 litres?
Solution: 20 × 12 = 240 mL.
Out of 30 weaned rabbits, 27 reached market weight. Calculate the mortality after weaning as a percentage.
Solution: Deaths = 30 − 27 = 3. Mortality = 3 ÷ 30 × 100 = 10%.
Summary
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa.
