Embu Veterinary Consultancy

How to identify Good layers from Bad layers in your farm:

Quality egg production is the primary goal for keeping layers.
It is, therefore, important to monitor production of your flock, identifying poor layers that eat into your profits with minimal or simply no benefits.

During this process, you are likely to notice those birds that do not lay as much as others or those that don’t even lay at all.
Physical indicators to help you identify poor or good layers
Now, before starting to point fingers on the birds, ensure you are not the problem. Ask yourself if you are providing good quality feeds, enough light and clean water. Check also if the birds are stressed or probably there are abrupt changes in their routine.

Also, assess the age of the birds because as your flock gets older, their production drops, with some even stop laying altogether.
Well, there are several physical indicators to help you identify poor or good layers.

For a good layer, the combs and wattles should be full, large, waxy, bright red and warm. A poor layer has small, scaly, pale, and shrivelled comb and wattles. This is also a sign of possible illness.

A good layer should have flexible p***c bones, wide apart to allow three fingers to fit between them while those of a poor layer are tight, quite rigid and narrow, not allowing the fingers. This wide p***c bone space normally facilitates easy passage of eggs.
When you pull back the tail feathers of the bird and inspect the vent, it should be wide, oval, moist and warm for a good layer. The poor laying bird will have the vent dry, small/tight, round and cold.

The eyes of a good layer should be large, bright, prominent and sparkling. A poor layer often has small, sleepy/dull and sunken eyes.

Good layers have clean-cut, strong, refined heads while poor layers have coarse, meaty/thin, blocky, weak looking head.
A good layer has an abdomen that is deep and soft, easily pliable without body fat accumulation by probing fingers while a poor layer has a hard and shallow abdomen. This depth of the abdomen is measured between the breast bone and the p***c bones.

Poor layers have dark-pigmented or dull skins, earlobes and shanks, while good layers are generally bleached or bright, though sometimes it depends on when you check them.
The bleaching is due to the diverting of yellow colour from the body portions to be deposited into the egg yolks. The loss of colour/bleaching effect is easily seen in yellow-skinned chicken on diets with sources of the colouring agents. The effect is less pronounced in white-skinned breeds, thus, more difficult to detect.

By behaviour, a good layer is normally alert to her surroundings and is not lazy. The bird is active and exhibits normal chicken behaviour like scratching litter and running around with others.
Poor layers, on the other hand, look dull and are most of the times droopy.

Delaying culling
Moulting period (when birds lose feathers) requires better understanding of the feathers. It is, thus, advisable to delay culling when a significant portion of the flock is moulting, lest you remove some good laying birds.
During this time, most hens stop producing eggs until moulting is complete. Laying for some chicken may not be affected, but their moulting may be lengthened.

Moulting in good layers starts late and is quite rapid while in poor layers, it starts early and is slow, making the latter appear better groomed.

The grooming does not reflect good laying, in fact, in late moulters, the feathers are replaced at the same time they are lost, enabling them to return to their full production sooner.

Dirty and ragged feathers
The feathers of an active laying hen should be dirty and ragged looking. This is because they use much of their energy on producing eggs and are more prone to playing in the dirt or being followed by roosters. A hen that looks clean and perfect most of the time could be a poor layer.

Be careful when dealing with pullets (young hens), lest their size makes you rule them out as poor layers.
Some good laying hens mature late, therefore, allow the pullets to mature and show characteristics suggesting their laying potential. They may develop into good layers.
Egg lay per hen is best described in a flock. A flock of good layers would have a laying percentage of over 80 per cent, then starts dropping laying after molting to about 50 per cent. On average, in a week, a hen in this flock can give about five eggs.

A poor laying flock’s lay is below 60 per cent, after molting, they hardly go above 10 per cent.
In general, all the indicators will help you do away with the unproductive part of the flock, a practice known as culling.
Ideally, culling should be a continuous exercise throughout the entire production period until the whole flock is productive no more.

Benefits of cullings
While disease is not an important reason to cull the unproductive birds, farmers cull to allow more space for feeding and watering the productive lot. Culling enables you to realise an increased growth rate per bird and overall egg lay per hen ratio. It also ensures that resources are not wasted on unproductive flock.
These indicators may, however, vary between breeds and individual birds.

Therefore, before you finally cull, adopt the most obvious method of telling whether a hen is laying or not by separating suspected unproductive birds from the rest of the flock and monitoring their production for a few days under plenty of feed and water. This may sometimes pose stress to the separated birds, but should put the last nail on them before you are sure to cull.

Most chickens that are culled, commonly known as ex-layers, are sold as meat. The best approach is to put them into a separate housing in a free-range setting so that their retirement doesn’t cost you any more feeds.
Proper planning, however, requires that you know best how you will deal with the eventual decline in egg production of your flock.

Keep following Dr Fami

BOVINE CS

Caesarean section(hysterotomy):

Indication:

• relative foetal oversize: immaturity of dam, double muscling (e.g. Belgian Blue), genetic mismatching and prolonged gestation (certain sires)

• foetal deformity (e.g. schistosoma reflexus; ankylosis)

• relative or absolute narrowness of the pelvic canal:immaturity of the dam, traumatic pelvic deformity, e.g. fracture

• foetal emphysema with a narrow birth canal

• foetal malpresentation or posture

• irreducible uterine torsion, uterine rupture

• atresia or hypoplasia of the maternal va**na or v***a

• certain valuable pedigree breeding programmes where safe delivery of a viable foetus is paramount and where management precludes the risks associated with a natural delivery

•over-fatdam,particularlyprimiparousheifers,resulting ina narrow pelvic canal and a high risk of va**nal tea
Contra-Indication
The following will decrease the chance of cow survival:

• cattle in very poor bodily condition(cachectic)
• emphysematous foetus
• uterine infection
Advantages of a caesarean section over
• if the foetus is alive
• often faster and safer
• feasible procedure where embryotomy would be impossible (e.g. cervical

Flank approach
Restraint, preparation and anaesthesia

•a standing patient is preferable
• xylazine sedation is contra-indicated due to an induced increase of myo­ metrial tone and uterine friability, which makes suturing more difficult; also a higher risk of sudden recumbency. However, safety considerations sometimes necessitate sedation

• a uterine relaxant (e.g. clenbuterol HCl) can be slowly injected i.v. to facilitate rotation and partial exteriorisation of the uterus (300–450 μg, depending on the size of the cow)

• administer pre-operative systemic pain relief (NSAIDs)

•if anti biotics are to be used (asisusual), administera pre-operative systemic dose, e.g. amoxycillin or penicillin plus streptomycin i.m.

• caudal epidural anaesthesia (to reduce abdominal straining and rumen prolapsing through incision) is optional; 1ml of local anaesthetic per 100kg bodyweight is usually sufficient to reduce straining

Technique:

• clip, scrub and disinfect the entire paralumbar fossa (last rib to hip); use of sterile drapes is optional (often difficult to use practically in a standing patient)

• make a 30–35cm vertical incision in the middle or caudal third of the left paralumbarfossa incise through theskin only,using a scalpel

•muscle depth can vary considerablybbetween patients(30mmto >100mm); avoid a scalpel; dissect at one point to pe*****te the peritoneum (obvious influx of air into the abdominal cavity) before extending the incision ventrally and dorsally; take care not to incise the rumen wall

• haemostasis of the flank vessels isoptional; sharpand blunt dissection of the muscle layers using scissors reduces bleeding

• insert a hand into the abdomen, pushing the rumen forward and feeling ventrally and caudally

• make a rapid assessment of the foetal position and the condition of the uterine wall

• bring a greater curvature of the gravid horn towards the abdominal incision by gently but firmly lifting the foetus within the uterus; this is easier if pregnancy is in the left horn

•grasp the uterine wall over the protruding part of the foetus(e.g.limb,hock in anterior presentation) and exteriorise greater curvature of the gravid
horn; if the dorsum of the foetus is towards the incision, the uterus should be rotated within the abdomen

• grasp a foetal leg just below the hock through the uterine wall and maintain firmly in a flank incision; grasp the fore limb below the carpus if the foetus is in a posterior presentation

•incisetheuterinewall.1)alongthegreatercurvatureadjacent to the limb and towards the tip of the horn with scissors or a finger embryotomy (fetotomy) knife starting at the hock and extending towards the digits (or begin at the carpus in the fore limb, if in a posterior presentation)

• avoid incising maternal caruncles; avoid a scalpel to reduce the risk of damaging the calf

• extend the incisioncarefully until the limb can be exteriorised without risk of tearing the uterine wall

•manuallydissectthroughthefoetalmembranestofullyexteriorisethefoot; foetal fluids will begin to drain externally

• if necessary, instruct the assistant to maintain a very gentle traction on theexteriorisedlimbsuficient to maintain the uterine wall in the flank incision
•locatethesecondlimbthroughtheuterine incisionand foetalmembranes, which is similarly exteriorised; attachment of sterile calving ropes is optional

• ensure that foetal traction is applied gently and in the appropriate direction, usually initially upwards, the ventrally and caudally;lengthen the uterine incision, if required, with scissors to avoid any spontaneous tearing of the uterine wall

• practise careful and slow foetal manipulation during extraction, especially in cases of schistosoma reflexus, muscle contracture and emphysematous calves, to avoid uterine tears

• in case of gross foetal oversize or ankylosis the skin incision may occasion­ ally require enlargement to 40cm

• permit the umbilical cord to rupture naturally during extraction

• after delivery hold the uterine incision in the flank wound; manually remove any loose protruding portions of the placenta, leaving the remain­ der in situ

• do not attempt to separate the placenta frommaternal caruncles; trimming with scissors may be necessary

• non-crushing uterine clamps (vulsellum forceps) can be used to hold the uterus In position

• intrauterine medication is unnecessary

• while the foetus is being revived and the umbilical cord is checked, undertake uterine repair rapidly

• close the uterus with a continuous Cushing suture, followed by a continu­ ous Lembert or a modified Cushing (Utrecht uterine suture with buried knots)

• sutures should incorporate serosa and muscularis, but not perforate mucosa (risk of contamination); suture knots should be buried

• suture of the uterine wall: start at the caudal ventral commissure of the wound if a single layer closure is intendedor cranially if two layers are tobe insertedSuturematerial:either 5or6 metric PGA, polyglactinor 7 metric chromic catgut

• swab the incision after closure and check for leaks; rapid uterine contrac­.

Keep following Dr Fami

SORGHUM SILAGE

Sorghum is better than maize for making dairy cattle silage

Years ago, sorghum was one of the most important food crops in Africa, but over the years, farmers have abandoned it in favour of maize.

However, what farmers do not know is that sorghum has many advantages over maize and other pasture grasses.

To begin with, it can grow well in both high and low potential areas where maize cannot do well. As a fodder crop, it can be used in place of maize for making silage and grain and even as a fresh chopped forage for various animals, including cows, goats, sheep, pigs and chickens. As animal feed, it has the same energy level as maize or any other cereal.

Due to its higher sugar content, sorghum can do better than maize when it comes to silage making because farmers do not need to add molasses as they do when making silage.

Sorghum can withstand dry conditions (600mm annual rainfall) and remain green at very low moisture level, thus, providing farmers with adequate feeds when maize and other feed sources fail.

Sorghum can still do well in very poor soils where maize, napier and other cereals cannot grow. Most varieties of sorghum produce much more forage than maize.

Another big advantage is that the lower leaves of sorghum do not dry as the plant matures, they remain green and, therefore, retain a higher crude protein content than maize. Unlike maize, sorghum can grow again after harvesting the grain (the second crop that grows from regeneration is called a ratoon). This way, the farmers can reduce the cost of replanting, land preparation, seeds and time.

GOOD CROP

For a good sorghum crop, a farmer should follow the following guidelines:

Land preparation: For both forage and food varieties of sorghum, start preparing the land at the end of the rains (August is a suitable time). Sorghum does well in fine soils. It can also be grown where the soils are not disturbed much (or under conservation tillage practices).

Seed rate and spacing: Farmers should plant sorghum at a seed rate of 2.4-3.2kg per acre. Fodder varieties should be planted at a spacing of 75 by 10cm. Varieties meant for feed and grain (dual-purpose sorghum) requires a spacing of 60 by 20cm, which allows for a higher grain-fodder ratio.

Sowing: Sorghum should be sown at the onset of the rains. Drill seeds along the furrows (trenches) and plant them 3cm deep when dry planting to avoid germination during false rains but 2cm deep if the ground is wet.

Manure application: Well-composted manure or fertiliser should be applied during land preparation and worked into the soil. Foliar feeds can be added when the plant is knee-high.

Thinning: The crop should be thinned when it is 30cm high or 30 days after planting, whichever comes first, to ensure a spacing of 10cm between rows for fodder sorghum and 20cm between rows for dual-purpose varieties.

Weeding: Hand weeding should be done at least twice. A sorghum field should be kept weed-free especially in the early stages of growth.

Pest and disease-control: Control of cutworms, aphids, shoot-fly and stalk borer is necessary. Birds like sorghum especially at milk stage. They prefer white-seeded varieties and will feed on it before eating the brown-seeded type. Sorghum is generally disease-tolerant, but control diseases.

Harvesting: Sorghum meant for seed production should be harvested at maturity stage. On the other hand, that meant for fodder can be cut when still green and fresh. Leave it in sun for it to wilt for 12 hours then chop and feed to the animals. To make silage, start harvesting at dough stage (when the grain is at milky and hardening stage). For dual-purpose sorghum, cut the head with a knife or use a combine harvester.

Get it quick: Sorghum varieties

E6518: Matures in 230 days (about seven-and-half months). It produces about 33 90kg bags of sorghum grain and 230kg bags of fodder per acre. The plant attains a height of 3m. This variety is suitable for fodder.

E1291: Matures in 160 days (about five months). One acre produces 66 90kg bags of sorghum grain, 66kg of sorghum matter and 200kg dry matter. It grows to 1.7m. The variety is suitable for food and fodder.

Ikinyaruka: Matures in 160 days. It produces 77 90kg bags of sorghum and 200kg dry matter per acre. The variety is suitable for both food and fodder. It grows to a height of 1.7 metres.

BJ28: Matures in 110 days and produces 156 bags of fodder and 33kg dry matter per acre. It grows to 2.5 metres. The variety is good for food and fodder.