Agribusiness tips and fact

Tick damage and tick-borne diseases Tick damage   Ticks can cause severe damage to cattle , particularly around the udder and ears. The wounds will often get infected with bacteria and might be attacked by flies some ticks cause greater damage than others, such as the ones which infect cattle with heartwater Prevention is by tick control. You could either use a pour-on or a plunge dip or spray dip if you have the facilities for this. Pour-ons can be easier to use and you do not need additional facilities, but these are more expensive, You may need to treat for ticks as often as once a week in the wet season and then every second week in the dry season, You may be able to treat less often if you vaccinate the cattle against tick-borne diseases. Tick-borne diseases Ticks can also infect cattle with redwater, gallsickness and heartwater, European breeds tend to be at greater risk from these diseases than indigenous and Brahman type breeds   Older animals are more at risk th

Diseases that come from milk Some diseases that people get, such as brucellosis and tuberculosis come from microbes that come out in an animal's milk. Microbes also get into milk from the air, the hands of a milkier, an animal's skin or from dirt in the place where animals are milked. Microbes breed very fast in warm milk. How to treat milk to stop diseases •  Heat milk and keep it very nearly boiling for twenty minutes then let it cool before drinking it. • Do not drink milk from sick animals. • Keep the place where animals are milked clean. Keep the milk clean. Only put milk into clean containers. Wash milk containers clean and put them upside down so the water comes out and they dry. Some herders clean milk containers by smoking them over a fire. Smoke kills some microbes. • Cover a milk container after you have filled it. If you can cool milk down (preferably to below 4°C) as soon as possible after milking, it will keep for long