Theory question 106
Reproduction in Farm Animalsa. Complete the table below on the gestation period of farm animals.
Animal | Gestation period (days)
Sheep | (i):
Rabbit | (ii):
Cattle | (iii):
b. State five ways in which a good housing is important for farm animals. c. Explain each of the following management practices in animal production. i. teeth clipping: ii. foster mothering; iii. docking d. Define the term dystocia. ii. State four causes of dystocia in farm animals.
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a. (i) Sheep: about 145–150 days; (ii) Rabbit: about 30–32 days; (iii) Cattle: about 280–285 days
b. Any five: protects from bad weather; protects from thieves and predators; makes feeding, watering and management easy; helps disease control; allows separation by age and sex; helps record keeping; makes collection of eggs/manure easy; improves productivity
c(i) Teeth clipping: cutting the sharp needle teeth of newborn piglets so they do not injure the sow's teats or one another
(ii) Foster mothering: letting a young animal be reared by a female that is not its mother, e.g. when the mother dies or has too many young
(iii) Docking: cutting off part of the tail (lambs, piglets) for hygiene and to prevent fly strike or tail biting
d(i) Dystocia: difficult or abnormal birth that needs help
(ii) Any four: large foetus; wrong position/presentation of the foetus; narrow pelvis/immature female; weak uterine contractions; twins coming together; diseases or deformities of the foetus; over-fat female; uterine torsion
Give approximate gestation lengths in days.