Buffalo Health Care:

Buffaloes are an integral aspect of the Asian landscape just as bison are to the American Indians on the American plains. For over centuries, buffaloes have helped humans in moving loads by drawing and pulling. More importantly the species has supplied man with buffalo milk, meat, skins, leather, horn, and fuel through its dung, especially in remote and inaccessible places, mainly in the absence of other essential sources. Hence buffalo care is essential in ensuring the preservation of this versatile animal. Buffaloes are still widely seen in Asian countries especially in the rural segment in North and South Vietnam, Phnom Penh, and most parts of Southeast Asia.

How to care for a buffalo:

Buffaloes flourish on bare forage and rough vegetation while consuming a small part of the feed that is otherwise needed to cultivate cattle. Simple care for buffalo can ensure a healthy and flourishing herd, as buffaloes are usually undemanding and do not require exceptional care and treatment. However, they love their caretakers’ attention and thrive on it. Since water buffaloes are accustomed to water, it is important not to leave them unattended for long periods in the sun or make them travel for long distances in the heat. Buffaloes love water as it helps them to cool off especially in sweltering tropical climates. Buffaloes are content in wallowing in cool water, but in the absence of water pools, watering them with a hose them with cool water two to three times a day is normally adequate.

Caring for buffaloes involves taking them out to graze for feeding early in the morning before the sun hits its peak as well as in the evenings, just before sunset. During midday it helps to cover the buffaloes in thick covers made of leaves or immersing them in muddy puddles of water. The midday heat can be particularly nasty to buffaloes owing to their low density of sweat glands and thinly scattered hair on their bodies. Buffaloes love to float in ponds, or muddy pools, and can even stay below water, appearing to be completely underwater, with only its nostrils being seen. In order to ensure optimal buffalo care, ensure that the buffaloes are allowed to wallow during the day, as it not only helps them to cool off but also gets rid of skin pathogens, irritating insects and flies and other such nuisances on their body.

The most serious menaces to buffalos are hybridization with ferine and domesticated buffaloes; loss of home ground or surroundings, and killing or capture. Other equally serious dangers include illnesses and sicknesses caused by parasitic beings (transferred through domestic farm animals) and competing for fresh produce between wild and domestic buffaloes. Care must be taken to ensure than buffaloes do not fall prey to any of the dangers mentioned above.

Buffalo Health:

There are two common domesticated breeds of buffaloes, namely the American bison and the Asian water buffalo. The African buffalo although slightly larger to the wild Asian water buffalo is highly unpredictable in nature and hence has remained wild because of the dangers it poses to humans. Water buffaloes are widely used in transport, agriculture, for meat and for dairy purposes. 95% of the world’s population of water buffaloes resides in Asia, and more than half of them can be found in India.

Buffalo disease usually strikes newborn calves and hence buffalo healthcare must be carefully maintained and scrutinized by the caretakers. In most cases newborn buffalo calves become susceptible to external virus, harmful bacteria and poor diet. During the first two months of its life, optimal management and diet must be taken into consideration to ensure that the calf does not suffer from buffalo health problems later in life.

It is dangerous to deprive a young calf of its mother’s milk, as the loss of its mother’s milk can expose the young buffalo to harmful external stimuli and waterborne pathogens. Buffaloes are also highly susceptible to direct heat and extreme sunlight. Even if they are exposed to direct sunlight for a few hours in a day it can cause them to suffer from the heat. This is because buffaloes have one-tenth the density of sweat glands otherwise seen in cattle and a thin coating of hair that provides them only minimal protection from the sun. In order to preserve buffalo health, buffaloes must be refrained from being taken for long walks or made to walk long distances, when the heat is at its highest, during the day. As much as possible, buffaloes must be given ample time for wallowing in the water, throughout the day. Making buffaloes walk for long distances in the sun can eventually cause extreme heat fatigue and even death. Newborn calves are greatly affected by direct sunlight, and death can take place suddenly without warning. As compared to other forms of cattle, buffaloes are considered to be non-immune to only a few diseases and tolerant to a few others. Depending upon the environment and the region in which the buffaloes are reared in, reactions to diseases and differences between immunity can be seen.

Till a while ago, it was believed that buffaloes were immune and resistive to diseases such as tuberculosis. However, off late, researchers have seen that water buffaloes are highly sensitive to the bovine strain of TB. Both cows and buffalo herds are equally susceptible to infections diseases, especially if they are made to live in unhygienic conditions. One of the most important requisites for buffalo healthcare is sanitary living conditions with access to clean and non-polluted water pools.

Another grave buffalo disease that is considered to be dangerous due to the nature of consequences it inflicts among cattle herds is Pasteurellosis. This particular disease caused by Pasteurella multocida can easily spread among buffalo herds and cause them to die in large numbers. An effective way of preventing Pasteurellosis is to ensure that buffaloes are vaccinated against the disease.

Cow Diet:

Surprisingly a cow’s diet is complex although at first it may appear that all that a cow needs is grass. Some of the key ingredients in cow nutrition include fresh green grass, whole grains, fiber and clean water. It is important that dairy cows or milking cows are fed a balanced and nutritionally wholesome diet throughout the year in order to ensure superior milk production. Typically a diet for cows includes a blend of organic whole grains such as corn meal, flaxseeds, soya, rice or wheat bran, silage (Coarse food for livestock composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop which is gleaned while green and kept juicy by incomplete fermentation as in a silo) and the hay of alfalfa or lucerne.

In order to ensure that silage retains its superior nutritious value over time, it is important to cut the fodder consumed by the cattle while they are still green and naturally ferment it in order to prevent spoilage. Most of the times, feeding the cows grass alone is not quite possible throughout the year as grass is not grown all year round, especially during monsoons which makes feeding difficult for cattle when the fields are wet and marshy. Research indicates that cows that are fed natural healthy diets produce milk that is far more superior to cows who are fed a diet supplemented with artificial supplements or vitamins; which is an indication that dairy caretakers need to improve their understanding of bovine nutrition and accordinglybuild the positioning of their products.

One particular study revealed that cows who are encouraged to graze and feed on green local grazing land such as perennial seed of the cereal grass and dutch clover or shamrock bore milk with greater densities and properties of polyunsaturated fatty acids as compared to cows that were fed less grass. Another method of ensuring cow nutrition is the general practice of providing straw to the cows in order to improve their intake of fiber and enhance the density of fats in their milk.

Cattle researchers believe that fresh green grass fed to cattle helps maintain a competitive advantage in the given region by producing milk with good health characteristics. The best diet for cows would be to improve natural produce and fodder without adding any artificial or external supplements to their food, which in turn helps to produce better milk, instead of fortifying the final product, that is milk with added nutrients.

Breeds of Cow:

There are believed to be over 900 cow breeds throughout the world, most of which have been bred to adapt to daily life, while others are specially bred by people for more specific functions. Breeds of cows are typically placed into two main categories, which are considered to be either two closely linked species, or two subspecies of a particular taxonomic category. For example, Bos indicus (or Bos taurus indicus) cattle, also known as zebu, are bred specially to fit in hot environmental conditions. On the other hand, another cows breed Bos taurus (or Bos taurus taurus) are bred to adapt to colder climates such as the ones typically seen in Europe, North East Asia, and colder parts of Africa. These cattle are commonly cited to as taurine cattle.

In warmer regions of the populated world, special hybrids such as taurus hybrids or indicus hybrids that combine the features of both categories are widely bred. In other parts of the world, people are known to have bred wild and domesticated cattle together to bring about different breeds of cows and species. Still other cow breeds are interconnected and related so closely to taurine and indicus cattle that inter-specific crossbreeds have been multiplied. some such cow breeds examples include the Dwarf Lulu cows found in the Nepal hills that have been bred with large long-haired wild oxen of Tibet, the Beefalo found in North America that have the genetics of American bison, and the Selembu breed seen in India and Bhutan that have Asian wild ox genetics.

In Indonesia, one particular cow breed known as the Madura breed is likely to have the wild ox of the Malay Archipelago in its parentage. Another specific cow breed that has been superficially bred for agricultural work is the Dzo of Nepal which is a sterile cattle-yak crossbred cow. Since the Dzo cow breeds are incapable of reproducing, they have to be repeatedly multiplied from the parent stock. According to history, current domesticated cows evolved from a single prehistoric ascendant, the aurochs. Today, cow breeds belonging to Taurine, Zebu, and hybrids are used for multiple purposes, including, dairy, beef and agricultural purposes.

Although one may want to single the best cow breed in the world, it is not easy nor possible to discern which cow breed has the most positive qualities or is the best. Cattle experts opine that the best cow breed may never be known due to each breed’s identity and the gains it provides for the breeder as well as for the customer markets.

Cow Health:

Dairy cow health is an important issue among herders and breeders alike as cattle are considered to be the foundation for a multi-million dollar industry across the world. The milk or dairy industry’s future is greatly dependent upon the improvement of cattle and enhancement of livestock. In order to ensure more milk from fewer cows research studies are on To genetically enhance the efficacy of dairy cattle.
Much emphasis is being placed on genetics to improve the efficiency of dairy cattle for the production of milk and overall traits such as health without diseases.

Most cow health problems take place between lactations and is important that their caretakers ensure adequate nutrients as well as rest periods for their well being. As increasing numbers of cows are being pushed for higher production, cow health is likely to be compromised and occasional health issues such as acidosis can indicate a warning signal in the feeding system of cattle. In order to prevent the onset of cow disease or infections such as mastitis and intramammary conditions, it is important that caretakers go through a proper procedure of drying-off their cattle. Maintain a rest period between lactations as it can prevent future milk production and lactation issues. During the dry period, the cow must be put in clean and dry enclosures and must be isolated from lactating cows.

From the very start itself, a newborn calf has to face numerous challenges as it starts to live on its own. One of the most prominent challenges of a newborn calf is to find its feet and its mother’s teat, which is a good indication that it would be able to survive as sustain life. Newborn calves are usually susceptible to enteric disease or calf scours. In order to prevent calf scours caretakers must ensure minimum exposure of enteric pathogens to newborn calves. Cow health is highly dependent upon keeping cattle areas clean and ensuring that calving is maintained on a clean pasture.

One of the greatest scares of the early 90s was Mad Cow disease also referred to as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or disease of the brain. Due to its highly infectious nature and high mortality rate, cow disease gained great prominence. Mad cow disease symptoms, however are extremely frightening and given the fact that there is no treatment for the disease, it is highly impossible to cure or diagnose the condition.

Goat Health Disorders:

Knowing how to maintain goat health and identifying issues regarding goat health problems is a vital part of the goat meat and dairy industry. It is extremely vital to be able to discern goat disease and nip it in the bud before it spreads to the rest of the goat herd. With optimal administration, most goats maintain health and may need minimum health care. However, initial identification of goat disease and problems are likely to help bring down costs of health care and avoid unneeded losses.

To begin with, it is important to recognize the behavior of your herd in order to identify ill health. One good indicator of health is appetite, and since goats have a healthy appetite, a non-eating goat is a sure sign of ill health. In most cases, a goat who does not consume food is either injured or sick. Another sign could be to watch out for the slowest goat approaching the feeder; this is usually a sign of the animal on its way to becoming sick. Another sign of goat disease or injury is one that distances itself from the remaining goats in a herd.

Healthy goats when they are not eating are usually chewing cud which is healthy behavior and an indication that the first compartment of the stomach ruminant is functioning well. Healthy goats hold up their tails but a sign of a low hanging head, tail or ears indicates that there is something wrong with the goat. Goats usually have healthy hair coats, so a sign of loss in hair, wool or abnormal discharge from the mouth, skins, gums, nose or teats must be investigated immediately for signs of infection that could endanger the herd. Loss of hair is usually an indication of a poor diet, internal or external infection, stress and other illnesses.
Goats, when satisfied and contented and free from bodily disease, are usually peaceful creatures, filled with vigor, frolicking, nosey, robustious as well as naughtily playful. When goats bleat incessantly for no obvious explanation, it most often points out to something being amiss. However, there might be exceptions to this rule - some kinds of goats might be inclined to forming different types of noises such as a moan or a groan that are not exactly regarded as bleating; and are likely to signify that these animals are actually making sounds of being content. Becoming used to such sounds can be tough but it helps to understand their sounds that could point out to their overall well-being. Some goat breeds like the Nubian are believed to be noisy breeds.

Pet Goat Info:

Goat information: Goats are considered to one of the earliest cultivated and domesticated species. Goats are extremely useful for their nutritious milk, for meat, wool, and skins all over the world. In recent years, goats have also gained in popularity for companionship or amusement. Female mammals in goats are known as ‘does’ or nanny-goats, while mature male goats are referred to as bucks or Billy goats; the young ones of goats are known as kids. Male sheep that have been castrated are known as wethers.

Goat facts: Goats are cud-chewing hoofed mammals with a stomach that is divided into four or three sections. Their diet usually involves rough or ground edible cornmeal blended with cereals, food grains, fodder and green herbage. Some stock raisers and breeders choose to confine the quantity of edible corn in the goat’s selection of foods, opting for specified diet feed blends, with the bulk of the goat feed being blended leguminous plants and other grasses, young shoots, twigs, shrubs, and leaves optimal for the goat’s nutritional requirements. Goat breeders need to be wary of two sicknesses that can wreak havoc in a goat herd, namely infestation with coccidia (parasites infecting the digestive epithelium) and pneumonia. Other concerns to stockmen and breeders are pathogens, worms and parasitic agents.

Goat breeds: Goat breeds fall under extended and distinctive categories. Depending upon the need and requirement of the breeder, the primary use and the demands of the consumer market, selective breeding among goat breeds take place for milk, wool, mutton, skins production, and in recent cases as companion animals. Some breeders also develop certain breeds for pack goats. Among the domesticated category there are a numerous distinguished breeds such as the Capra aegagrus hircus that are particularly noted in Iran and adjacent regions. Goat breeders’ societies often hold events, where specific goats and breeds are determined on distinguishing features or attributes concerning with conformity, udder caliber, indication of high milk production, long life, anatomy and muscle, wool production and the quality of wool itself.
Breeders or pet owners who like to display their goats normally maintain a recorded breed as the progeny of award-winning breeds or stock dictate a higher cost. Officially recorded or certified goats by a recognized breed association are often priced much higher, even if there might be no other reason other than the records that prove the goat’s bloodline and line of descent and other information regarding the goat’s ancestors, does and other roots.