Large Animal Clinical Procedures for Veterinary Technicians E-Book

Kristin J. Holtgrew-Bohling

• Publisher: Mosby
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780323569040
• eBook ISBN: 9780323569071
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Veterinary Medicine

- NEW! Tables on Temperature, Pulse, Respiration (TPR) data and vaccine schedules provide a quick, at-a-glance reference for important information.- NEW! Expanded regulatory information for livestock provides details on OCV vaccination, Health Certificate forms, Brucellosis and Tuberculosis testing, and Scrapies tags.- NEW! Four new chapters on Poultry provide detailed coverage of the breed.

Section 1

The Livestock Industry

Outline

1. The Importance of Livestock

2. Livestock Safety and Handling

3. Livestock Reproduction

4. Livestock Nutrition

1

The Importance of Livestock

1. The Importance of Livestock for the World,
2. The Importance of Livestock in the United States,
3. U.S. Livestock Trends,
4. The Importance of Veterinary Medicine Within the Livestock Industry,
5. The Dairy Industry,
6. The Beef Industry,
7. The Pork Industry,
8. The Mutton/Chevron Industry,
9. Harvesting Processes,
10. The Fiber Industry,
11. The Horse Industry,

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will be able to

• List and explain the functions of livestock

• Describe the economic importance of livestock

• Describe the size and scope of the large animal industry

• Describe the normal cycle that exists within the dairy industry

• Describe the structure within the meat industry

• Describe the basic components of the fiber industry

Key Terms

Artificial insemination

Backgrounding

By-products

Calving interval

Claw

Clip

Commercial farming

Commodity

Connecting air

Creep feeders

Dry lot

Farrow to finish

Farrowing

Free stall barn

Freshening

Grid

Milk replacer

Milk tubes

Milking unit

Nursery

Order buyers

Parlor

Pasture

Quality grade

Slivers

Streak canal

Suspension cup

Teat cup assembly

Thermal neutral zone

Vertical integration

Yield grade

Key Abbreviations

• USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
• TNZ: Thermal neutral zone

The Importance of Livestock for the World

Agriculture is one of the oldest sciences and one of the most important. Without a firm understanding of agriculture, all humans would struggle to find enough food, shelter, and clothing to survive. The main reason for maintaining our agricultural animal populations is to provide a nutritious and desirable form of food for human consumption. Only approximately 11% of the world’s land area is suitable for the production of foods that can be directly consumed by humans. Approximately 75% of energy intake consumed by ruminants and 30% consumed by nonruminants is from waste materials that cannot be consumed directly by the human population. With world food production already inadequately able to provide balanced diets for the people of the world, it is important that we continue to use livestock (Fig. 1.1).

Supplies of protein are particularly scarce and costly for the populations of most developing countries. The World Health Organization has reported that hunger and related malnutrition are the greatest threats to the world’s public health. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 795 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, or one in nine, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014 to 2016 (see http://www.worldhunger.org/).

The Malthusian theory is that the increase in the world population will outpace increases in the means of providing food. For example, in terms of the global population crisis, in the time it takes you to read this sentence, 24 people will be added to the earth’s population; within an hour, the number will reach 12,000; by the day’s end, the number will be 288,000; and in 48 hours, the human population growth will be enough to fill a city the size of San Francisco. The world population will jump from 7.3 billion to 9.7 billion by 2050. Farmers will need to double food production by then to keep pace.

Providing food to meet caloric intake is not enough. Adequate protein is also required for normal body function. Protein is needed for growth, maturation, pregnancy, lactation, and recovery from disease. It has been well established that nutritionally, animal proteins are superior to vegetable proteins for humans. The superiority results primarily from the better balance of amino acids in animal products.

Fig. 1.1 Total landmass available for the production of food that can be directly consumed by humans.

The Importance of Livestock in the United States

The United States is the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products. In 2016 agricultural exports were valued at $129.7 billion. Farmer and rancher families comprise 2% of the U.S. population. According to the 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agricultural census, the total value of agricultural products sold from farms in the United States was $394.6 billion, a record high. This value is 33% higher than that of 2007. The value of the livestock and livestock products themselves that were sold in 2012 was $182 billion. The percentage of livestock products sold from farms in the United States constituted 42.6% of the total market value of agricultural products sold in 2012.

Livestock producers also create income for the United States and stimulate the economy with the purchase of goods to raise livestock. According to the USDA 2012 agriculture census, producers spent $351.8 billion on production expenses in 2012, an increase of 10.4% since 2011. Of those production expenses, 16% was spent on feed, and 11.3% was sp...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Section 1. The Livestock Industry
• Section 2. Large Animal Hospital Management
• Section 3. Horses in Veterinary Practice
• Section 4. Cattle in Veterinary Practice
• Section 5. Sheep and Goats in Veterinary Practice
• Section 6. Llamas and Alpacas in Veterinary Practice
• Section 7. Swine in Veterinary Practice
• Section 8. Poultry in Veterinary Practice
• Index