How to prevent diseases in nutria farming
For infectious diseases of nutria, in addition to specific prevention, epidemic prevention and quarantine systems should be strictly observed, and the veterinary hygiene order of the farm and the feed mixing room should be maintained at all times. The specific measures are as follows:
(1) Entry of outside personnel into the farm should be strictly controlled or prohibited; when necessary, they may enter only after approval by the veterinarian and farm leadership and after sanitary disinfection.
(2) After finishing work, keepers should send their work clothes and boots to the sanitary disinfection room, and they may be reused only after disinfection. It is absolutely forbidden to wear work clothes home, or to enter the farm without wearing work clothes, so as to prevent pathogens from being brought into the farm.
(3) Disinfection troughs should be set up at the entrances and exits of the farm for staff to disinfect when entering and leaving. Their specifications: 1.5 m long and 1 m wide, with sawdust mixed with disinfectant (2—596 grams of creolin or lysol) placed in the trough. In order to disinfect production motor vehicles, a large disinfection trough is set up at the farm gate, 0.4 m deep, 2.5 m wide and 8 m long, filled with water (in winter, a 2096 salt solution is added); when vehicles need disinfection, disinfectants such as caustic soda and creolin are added.
(4) The farm should always be kept clean and hygienic; the nests and exercise yards are cleaned every other day, the farm is cleaned twice a week, and feeding utensils are frequently washed and regularly disinfected.
(5) Necropsy must be carried out in the veterinary clinic. After dissection, the carcass and its contaminated materials should be burned or buried deep, and the utensils thoroughly disinfected. Cages where diseased nutrias have been kept should be disinfected promptly.
(6) The feed processing room is the “heart” of the entire farm; the feed fed to the whole farm every day is processed and distributed here, so the hygiene of this room directly affects whether the animals are healthy or not. After processing feed each day, machinery and utensils should be disinfected with a 2—396 hot sodium bicarbonate aqueous solution.
(7) Veterinary personnel should strictly inspect all kinds of feed for nutria. They should check the freshness and bacterial culture rate of each batch of feed, and when necessary carry out toxicity tests on salt and minerals. Various feeds entering the feed mixing room are divided into three categories according to their appearance, smell, taste and degree of moldiness, namely fresh feed, slightly deteriorated feed and seriously deteriorated feed. Slightly deteriorated feed may be used cautiously in small amounts after heat disinfection, while seriously deteriorated feed is strictly forbidden.
(8) Drinking water and the water in swimming pools should always be kept clean, and the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms should be strictly controlled. The drinking water and the water in the pools should undergo microbiological examination once every quarter.
(9) In order to improve the resistance of the nutria colony to various diseases, it is very necessary to establish a healthy foundation colony. Once diseased nutrias are found in the foundation colony, such as those suffering from ringworm, tuberculosis, mastitis, severe trauma, chronic gastroenteritis and paralysis, as well as weak nutrias, they should be culled immediately, and breeding nutrias with excellent traits should be selected from the offspring of healthy parents to replenish the shortage in the colony.
(10) Keepers are strictly forbidden to raise livestock and poultry at home, and at the same time vectors of nutria infectious diseases such as cats, dogs, house mice and field mice must be prevented from entering the farm.
(11) Strictly observing the quarantine system is of special significance for preventing infectious diseases. Nutrias brought in and sent out must be placed in quarantine isolation cages for a 30—45 day quarantine observation, and only those without disease may enter the farm or be sold.
For nutrias on the farm, regular preventive vaccination and necessary diagnostic examinations must be carried out in order to effectively prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases. For example, preventive vaccinations of nutria against salmonellosis, colibacillosis and pasteurellosis, and diagnostic examinations for coccidiosis and ringworm. According to the specific circumstances of the farm, when a large group needs vaccination, under the guidance of veterinary personnel, first select 50-100 nutrias for trial vaccination, and only after 5—7 days of observation with no adverse reactions may the large group be vaccinated. If local abscesses or serious illness and death occur after vaccination, the use of that biological product is strictly forbidden, and other products should be replaced immediately.