ABC of animals buyers beware! Look out for disease

Dr Jenny Turton gave advice on animal health at a farmers' day held at the Onderstepoort Institution for Veterinarians.

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She said farmers with a basic knowledge of animal health are able to select healthy animals when buying new ones. It is important to know the history of any animal you are buying. If you don't know whether the animal you are thinking of buying has been sick recently, you need to ask a number of questions.

Are any of the other animals in the same group sick? If the animal is an adult, what is its breeding history? If a female is aged and has never had young, or a male has never managed to make females pregnant, there could be a problem, and these animals should not be kept for breeding purposes.

Is the animal with the rest of the group, or is it standing alone? If herd animals are separated from the group, this can be a sign of disease. Is the animal eating and drinking normally? If it has a calf/kid/lamb, is it feeding its offspring? Is the animal behaving normally, or does it seem excited or depressed? What is its temperature like?

CLOSER LOOK AT THE WHOLE ANIMAL