Procedures

When we look at herd and health welfare for your business we first have to look at the five main procedures that will help you achieve this. These five main procedures are:

1. Disease Prevention.

2. Vaccinations.

3. Keep watch.

4. Biosecurity strategies.

5. Welfare management.

 

We will briefly go over these five main procedures before assessing them in more detail.

 

1. Disease Prevention: You need to choose the right management practice and corrective treatment to prevent common diseases and disorders. Guidelines to ensure this are to:

  • Know the common cattle diseases in your locality.
  • Use local and vetinary advice to develop a disease management plan.

 

2. Vaccinations: Vaccination is effective in preventing some common cattle diseases.

  • Assess the risk of cattle diseases infecting people.
  • Regularly assess the disease status of your herd
  • Vaccinate against specific diseases if it is cost effective or a human health risk.

 

3. Watch for sporadic diseases and disorders: To ensure this;

  • Keep records of diseased cattle and map areas where deaths occur.
  • Good records are the basis of quality assurance.
  • Collect abattoir feedback whenever possible.
  • Seek veterinary advice for unexpected health problems.

 

4. Adopt biosecurity strategies to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases: Establish biosecurity measures to prevent the transfer of infectious diseases onto the farm. To do this you can:

Reduce the risk of introducing an infectious disease by:

  • Quarantine introduced stock to prevent transfter of infectious diseases.
  • Check the disease risk of all introduced cattle.
  • Closed herds are easier to manage against common productionand reproduction diseases.

 

5.Manage the welfare of all cattle: Managing the welfare of your cattle is an essential tool to managing your farm. To do this successfully you should:

  • Check all health,climatic and management factors that can affect cattle welfare. 
  • Meet nutrition targets for all cattle classes.
  • Keep animals free from important diseases.
  • Follow national and state codes of practise.
  • Follow guidelines for the transport of cattle.
  • Undertake routine husbandry procedures correctly.
  • Manage breeding heifers to minimise dystocia.
  • Design an effective livestock handling system.
  • Use low stress stock handling techniques.