Why you need to cut tail of young sheep

D’amour Ntirenganya is an ardent Smart Harvest reader from Rwanda. I met him during a recent visit to Netherlands for an agricultural forum and we interacted briefly.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

How to control foot and mouth disease

The last time I visited my mother in Lunga’anyiro village she was worried. Her cause of concern was that her cattle may be hit by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) commonly known as malenje in western.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

Why your sick cow 'refuses' to get well

Next week is the World Antimicrobial Resistance Week, a period set aside to create awareness on antimicrobial resistance.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

My goats have funny growth inside mouth

James and his neighbours from Siaya County have lost goats in the recent past to a funny disease characterised by wart-like growths around their mouths, ears, teat, scrotum and vulva.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

You can be arrested for transporting that animal illegally!

Chicken carried upside down on racks of speeding buses, matatus and motorcycles are common but disgusting scenes on our roads.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

How dairy support programmes have liberated Kenyans

The public sometimes views veterinary doctors as a people in their own world defined by animals, diseases and accompanying drugs nexus.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

AI is way safer, cheaper than keeping a bull for breeding

Last week, I explored the topic on nutritional causes of infertility in cows. The article elicited a lot of feedback from readers. Today’s article is based on feedback from one of the readers, Mr Chemigin, a farmer from Nandi County.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

Is your cow struggling to conceive?

There are many causes of infertility in cows; ranging from poor handling of semen by the inseminators, anatomical deformities, diseases of reproduction tract, nutritional imbalances or bull infertility (where bulls are used) and a farmer not being observant of the heat signs where A.I is used.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

So you want to start rearing pigs?

A few weeks ago an ardent reader of Smart Harvest magazine Mr Kihara wrote to inquire about pig rearing. He intends to set up a huge farm of up to 100 pigs and he wanted to know how to go about it.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

Beware! Cows also have dental issues

In old age, athletes are likely to experience joint and muscle problems due to extreme usage of their joints and muscles in their heyday. Ruminants too in old age are likely to have “teething problems”.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

My cow is producing red urine yet it’s not even pregnant, is that normal?

Last month, I visited my mother-in-law Aureriah Mndaka in Marima village, Tharaka Nithi County.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

My malicious neighbour fed ‘juala’ to my cow!

Sometime last week, a dear friend, Baba Kamau, called me to handle a peculiar issue. His precious cow had swallowed a polythene bag and according to his investigations, his malicious neighbour was to blame!

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

Yes, you need to kill that precious cow today!

This is the situation I found myself in last month. Mama Shiro; a small scale dairy farmer at Ololua village in Ngong is one of my clients. She called to inform me that one of her two Friesian cows had fallen in a ditch. They pulled it out but it was unable to stand up.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

My cow has developed habit of ‘hiding’ milk

Majority of Kenyans travel to their upcountry home every festive season. Christmas to many of them is not Christmas if it is not celebrated in the village.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

Help! My cow has refused to go for long call

It was a dry December some years ago when I had just left the vet school and was steaming with the zest of a young vet. I came across a case that has ever since stuck in my mind like the memory of a maiden kiss.

By Othieno Joseph 8 years ago

Keep livestock for money, not as pets

There are farmers who practise farming as a hobby; they take pleasure in seeing livestock dot their farms and love to talk about them among their friends. Though they endeavour to get some monetary gain, they quite don’t; nonetheless, that does not bother them in anyway, but it should.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

How to manage swellings with pus and blood in your livestock

Last week, Vet Perspective carried an article on swellings called hernias. The topic elicited a lot of feedback from readers and that is why we will discuss other conditions that cause swellings in animals.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Does your cow have a swelling around the umbilicus? It could be hernia

You may be familiar with hernia in human beings, especially children with protruding belly buttons; but this condition is also common in cattle, pigs and horses.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Why you should never dump old car batteries on your farm

Be careful how you dispose off old or used car batteries on the farm. They pose a great health risk to yourself and animals. Old car batteries contain a heavy metal called lead, which causes lead poisoning when ingested.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Careful how you acquire parent stock

A month ago I visited one of my farmers; Mama Kaburu in Kibuku, Ngong. She is a hard working farmer with a mixed herd of boran cattle and friesian crosses for milk production

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Cows that sleep on rubber mattresses can produce more milk

There is a group of farmers who take dairy production so seriously, they go to great lengths to get maximum yield from their investment.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Let’s all fight antibiotic resistance

This state of affairs has been blamed partly on-farm use of antibiotics to treat animal diseases. Farmers have abused antibiotics through under or over dosing, use of wrong routes of administration and not observing required withdrawal periods during with the animal product isn’t supposed to be consumed.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Kill the ticks, but stay safe as you spray insecticides on your herd

Among the issues raised was control of these external parasites. Today, I will address precautionary measures when controlling external parasites.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Wait a minute, that colourful plant could be poisonous to your herd

A few weeks ago, I discussed strategies farmers can adopt to cope with feed scarcity during dry seasons.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Steps to ensure your livestock stay alive during the drought

Drought is here once again punctuated by low rainfall and hot weather conditions. Pastoralists are feeling the heat.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Easy ways to help keep mastitis at bay

Mastitis is the costliest disease in dairy production because it strikes where it pays most — the udder. It causes losses through reduction in milk production, cost of treatment and culling of genetically superior dairy animals.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Be warned your cattle, goats and sheep can infect you with rabies

Rabies is among deadly animal diseases that is shared with human beings. The disease is commonly transmitted from dogs (95 per cent of cases) to cows, sheep, goats, pig, rabbits and horses. Actually, the disease can be transmitted to virtually all warm blooded mammals through bites.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

How to manage wounds in your farm animals

In medical terms, a wound is defined as any discontinuity on an animal’s skin with or without damage to the underlying body tissues like muscles, blood vessels or nerves.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

What is organic livestock farming?

Animal welfare and organic farming activists are all over the place adding to the information base of this already well informed consumers why they need to consume what has been produced in “good” conditions.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Sheep farming can fetch you riches if driven well

Sheep farming is perhaps the most flexible of all livestock enterprises. You can have a ranch system on many acres, or you can choose to have them on your small farm or even a plot. Sheep farming can turn that waste land into profits just within a year.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Little nutrients that mean more milk and quality beef

They are only needed in small quantities; farmers may think they are inconsequential judging from their minute quantities on the ingredient list but these micro-nutrients play an equally important role just like the major nutrients in the league of proteins and carbohydrates.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Want calf of a specific sex? Try this method

If you have been using natural mating or conventional Artificial Insemination (AI) then you are aware of how frustrating it can be at times when you either wish to have a bull calf or a heifer.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Lantana: The silent cattle killer weed

The plant has permeated the continent with disastrous effects as a poisonous weed, although many still treat it as cattle feed when it is actually a poisonous weed.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

You can save your flock from killer East Coast Fever with this vaccine

No livestock farmer in Kenya either practising intensive zero grazing or extensive pastoral system is new to East Coast Fever (ECF)

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Keeping chicken safe from bloody predators

Every poultry farmer has to endure the headache of chicken and eggs thieves commonly referred to as predators.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

For the record, pigs are clean animals, give them food that you would feed on

There is a myth that pigs are squalid animals, justifying a falsehood that they should be fed on dirty and rejected foodstuff.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Black Quarter: Killer cattle and sheep disease that picks the best and biggest

Black quarter, also known as black leg or quarter ill, is an acute (has a short course), deadly bacterial disease of cattle and sheep but can on occasions affect horses.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Avoid very close contact with animals

Man has a long history of interaction with animals. Although this interaction is mostly beneficial, at times, this relationship brings about diseases.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

What to look out for when your eggs don’t add up

While hens can remain in lay for about 10 years, the hassles of commercial egg production reduces their lifespan to only two years.

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago

Drop that bull and try artificial insemination

Artificial Insemination (AI) as is commonly known is an animal breeding technology that has been in existence for long and applied in many animals and even birds

By Othieno Joseph 9 years ago