Prevention is better than cure because treatment is much costlier and involves risk factor. Preventive measure is less cost effective and reliably cheaper to protect animal from infection /disease. The secret of disease control in a livestock farm lies not in the use of medicine and vaccination but mostly in good sanitation practices.
Many diseases of animal can be preventive to a great extend if farmer practices good sanitation measure. Effectiveness of sanitation depends on thoroughness of cleaning and disinfection. Farm sanitation usually begins with a clean sanitized shed, it also include proper drainage system around farm premises to avoid water logging since stagnation of water help in propagation of microbes on the farm.
To have a farm with disease free healthy animal and to get maximum output some good sanitation practices to be followed are-
- The animal shed should be well-ventilated, airy and dry with sufficient floor space
- The bedding materials should be routinely exposed to sunlight
- The animals should be exposed to direct sunlight everyday for some hours
- Thorough daily cleaning like brushing of walls, floors and spraying disinfectant like phenyl, bleaching powder to keep the animals shed free from infective parasitic eggs and micro organisms
- Regular grooming, clipping of long body coat and bathing of the animals is very effective to prevent skin/ecto- parasite infection
- The feeder/water trough must be clean daily to avoid caking and fungal growth on it
- Clean and cold portable water must always be available in ample quantity to the animals
- Disposal of excreta, feeds and fodder waste should be arranged at some distance away from the animal shed
- Provide well balanced good quality diet according to age, size, breed and purpose of rearing
- Segregation of diseased animals from healthy ones
- Restrict the entry of visitor, arrangefoot dip(i.e. water mixed, disinfectant) at the entrance of the farm to prevent spreading of diseases from one farm to another.
Veterinary Hospital Kohima
