Keeping Livestock Healthy

Having a healthy population of livestock is an important part of the farming process. Here are some useful tips and tricks to help you keep both you and your animals healthy and happy.

Keep Your Equipment Clean

Disease can spread easily due to the use of poorly maintained equipment. While it may not be feasible to use a separate shearing comb for each individual animal, simple alternatives such as maintaining clean and sterile equipment can go a long way toward preventing the spread of infection.

• Ensure that equipment is cleaned on a regular basis to prevent rust and harmful bacteria from accumulating on the combs and clippers.
• Refrain from allowing farm visitors from handling crucial equipment. Since harmful bacteria can spread from just about anywhere, allowing a select few to handle the shearing equipment will lower the chances of spreading disease to your precious farm animals.

It is important that extra attention is placed on cleaning the sheep shearing clippers and alpaca shearing equipment. This is especially vital when you think about how close the equipment may be brought to the skin of the animals. Any accidental nicks can result in bacteria coming into contact with the sheep’s or alpaca’s blood and potentially spreading unwanted disease.

Keep Livestock Safe

Good quality fencing is equally important in ensuring that your livestock remain healthy. By preventing your animals from wandering into unknown territory, you can be sure that wild animals or neighbouring livestock do not come into contact with them and possibly spread disease through bites and other injuries.

Keeping your animals within your property will also ensure that they do not drink from contaminated rivers and streams. Bacteria from such sources can cause bad diarrhoea which can severely weaken your animals.

For more information on how to keep your livestock in the best possible condition, contact the experts at Shearing and Fencing today.