Precautions for Animal Introduction, Breeding and Rearing, and How Farmers Can Avoid Economic Losses
Introducing superior breeds from one place to another for breeding and rearing is routine work in livestock production, but in practice, introduction often leads to animals failing to adapt, or the productivity of the introduced breed failing to reach the production standard of the original breed, or the introduced animals dying, or triggering an epidemic of animal disease, creating a long-term hidden source of infection, posing a major threat to the breeding industry, and in some cases even ruining farmers financially and causing major economic losses. The precautions that should be taken in animal introduction work are introduced as follows:
1. Formulate a realistic introduction plan. According to production needs and purposes, formulate a practical and feasible introduction plan and scheme, with the purpose of the introduced breed clearly defined and the requirements consistent. The environmental and natural conditions of the place of origin of the introduced animals must be broadly consistent with the local environmental and natural conditions. For example, tropical animal breeds cannot be raised in cold zones, while breeds from cold zones are difficult to raise in the tropics, and animals from dry-climate regions find it difficult to adapt to the environmental conditions of regions with abundant rainfall and humidity, and so on.
2. Make preparations before introduction. First, prepare the forage and feed for the introduced animals, with adequate, nutritious and fresh feed ready; second, prepare isolation pens for the introduced animals. The isolation pens should be far from the animal herd at the rearing site, and the isolation pens should be thoroughly spray-disinfected and fumigation-disinfected according to the situation to ensure they are clean and hygienic; third, strictly disinfect the vehicles used to transport the animals, ideally with a 3-4% caustic soda solution for spray disinfection; fourth, prepare the vaccines and medicines for the introduced animals.
3. Selection of the breeding farmers for introduction. The farmers at the destination and the location should be in a non-epidemic area designated by the national animal husbandry and veterinary department, with a complete and sound on-farm veterinary epidemic prevention system, standardized animal hygiene procedures and strict management; when selecting farmers for introduction, try to choose newly built breeding animal farms, preferably established no more than 5 years ago, and the larger the scale and number of the introduced breed the better, for ease of selection. The selected farmers should have legal qualification certificates for selling breeding livestock and poultry issued by the functional departments, such as the "Animal Epidemic Prevention Qualification Certificate" and the "Production and Operation License for Breeding Livestock and Poultry (Animals)", and at the same time the selected farmers should have a high production level, high supporting service quality and a relatively high reputation.
4. Reporting, registration and certificates. When transporting introduced animals, an introduction application and registration must be submitted to the local animal epidemic prevention supervision agency to obtain its consent; at the same time, the animal epidemic prevention supervision agency at the place of origin must be notified, and the introduced breed must undergo origin quarantine by the animal epidemic prevention supervision agency at the place of origin, which issues an "Origin Quarantine Certificate" for qualified animals. Use the origin certificate to exchange for an "Animal Transport Quarantine Certificate for Leaving the County", and carry the "Disinfection Certificate for Animal and Animal Product Transport Vehicles" and the "Certificate of No Major Animal Epidemic Area" for transport. Transported animals must wear immune identification marks.
5. Selection and introduction of breeding animals. First, select breeding animals with obvious characteristics of the breed, and consult the production-level archive records of the introduced animals, consulting records from at least 3 generations; for the same breed, introduce strains with high production performance, with clear pedigrees, stable genetic performance and pure bloodlines. When introducing female livestock, require a large number of teats, no blind teats, a large vulva, a straight back and loin, and well-developed hindquarters; when introducing male livestock, require thick and strong limbs, large and symmetrical testicles, and obvious male characteristics.
6. Do a good job of transport to reduce stress. The transport vehicles selected should be moderate in size and strictly cleaned and disinfected. Sawdust or sand and soil and other bedding materials that buffer shocks and impacts should be spread on the vehicle to prevent the animals from being injured by jolting and collisions during transport. When loading, pay attention to the body weight of the livestock and divide the animals as much as possible according to body weight. For individuals that are strong-willed and particularly restless, tranquilizers may be appropriately injected; when transporting animals, try to create environmental conditions and opportunities that reduce stress, such as choosing cool weather for summer transport, avoiding excessively hot temperatures, preventing heatstroke, and paying attention to the water supply for the animals; for winter transport, keep them warm and protected from the cold, prevent drafts, and try to drive at a uniform speed during transport to reduce the stress caused by emergency braking.
7. Standardize the handling of disease and death reports. If an infectious disease or suspected infectious disease is found during the transport of breeding animals, report it to the nearest animal epidemic prevention supervision agency and take emergency measures; animals that die of disease during transport must not be slaughtered and sold at will or discarded randomly, and must be handled under the supervision of the local animal epidemic prevention supervision agency in accordance with relevant requirements and regulations.
8. Immunization testing to prevent disease entry. Farmers at the place of origin must carry out programmed immunization according to the animal disease immunization program and have immune identification marks attached, and farmers should provide immunization records and related materials; for some animals, laboratory testing should be carried out before introduction when necessary, such as brucellosis and tuberculosis in dairy cows.
9. Make preparations to prevent disease. Make constant-temperature preparations for the introduced animals, especially in winter, ensuring the temperature inside the animal house. According to the age and requirements of the introduced animals, prevent disease caused by excessively low temperatures. Make a good feed transition for the introduced animals. Farmers should provide 3-5 days of feed for the introduced animals, so that after returning to the destination the feed can gradually transition to adapt to the new rearing environment and prevent disease.
10. Isolation observation and strengthened immunization. When the introduced animals return to the rearing site, they should be raised in isolation and observed for 20-30 days, and for some individuals even longer. During this period, it is necessary to carry out another immunization injection against some Class I infectious diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, swine fever, highly pathogenic avian influenza, Newcastle disease, etc.
11. Strengthen rearing to ensure health, and do a good job in the feeding and management of the introduced animals. Because long-distance transport and relocation to a different place for rearing cause great stress to the animals, after the animals enter the facility, first supply clean drinking water and add electrolytes and vitamins (VC, VE, etc.) to the water for them to drink freely, and at the same time let the animals rest fully for 4-8 hours before feeding a small amount of feed, preferably the feed from the original farm. Do a good 4-6 day feed transition, and the animals can then enter a normal state.
12. Treat diseases as soon as they occur. Once the introduced animals become ill, treat them as soon as possible and isolate them well. For other healthy animals, antibiotic drugs may be appropriately added to the feed, create suitable environmental and hygienic conditions, strengthen management, and ensure health.