Introduction
Through the years, man has been able to domesticate animals to their advantage. Through domestication, these animals became pets, working partners, and even convenient food sources for the man. This is also the reason why man has been able to raise animals and even considered it as a business to provide the rest of the human population with more food sources. However, there are times that these animals have been a cause of cross contamination of diseases from animal to man. An example of these livestock diseases are the swine flu and the mad cow disease in which the disease not only affected the animals but the humans as well. In cases like this, treating the very source of the disease should be the number one priority to prevent further spread and infection.
Investigating factors for the cause of the disease
Farmers should be able to observe their livestock animals very well, noticing any changes from their appearance to their behaviour. Initially, the main indicators of livestock diseases are changes in behaviour of the animals followed by changes in appearance depending on the severity of the disease. Livestock animals with livestock diseases have a more different behaviour in eating and other routinely habits than those healthy ones so noticing their behaviour is very important. Once a peculiar behaviour is observed, farmers should be able to have them checked.
If in case an animal suddenly dies, farmers should be able to investigate the cause of death and should also check the condition of other livestock animals as well. The living environment should also be investigated if a disease or death occurs among the livestock animals. Food and water sources should also be investigated to make sure to be able to point out the cause of the disease. Contacting a veterinarian is very important to aid a farmer in doing the investigation.
Treatment
Once the investigation has been done, healthy and unhealthy livestock animals should be separated. Unhealthy livestock animals should be quarantined for further investigation in which of the livestock diseases have affected the animals so that they can be given proper treatment. The living environment of the animals should also be properly decontaminated to prevent further spread of any livestock diseases and to also get rid of any traces of them as well. If the food and water source is found to be the source of the disease, then the water should also be treated and the food supply stock should also be discarded and replaced.
The treatment would also include vaccination of healthy livestock animals for disease prevention, if ever such vaccine for the certain livestock disease is available. A veterinarian should always be consulted for treatment recommendations for infected livestock animals. Treatment for unhealthy or infected livestock animals should also be religiously followed.
Proper Livestock Management
To prevent any outbreak of livestock diseases, proper livestock management should always be observed. The living environment of the animals should always be properly maintained and cleaned. The food and water source should also be always clean. Livestock animals should also be properly taken care of through proper hygiene, vaccination and nutritional supplements that would keep them healthy. Introduction of new livestock animals to the present batch should be inspected first since there is a possibility that the new batch would carry livestock diseases that would affect the present batch.
