Developing large, disease free herds
how to help producers start or grow operation with success
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20133795Keywords:
sheep, goats, small ruminants, disease, productionAbstract
Sheep and goats differ from cattle with respect to the diseases which infect them. In general, small ruminant diseases are chronic and incurable. There are a multitude of diseases that will decrease production and efficiency of feed conversion, while increasing cull rates and death loss. On a large-scale operation, these diseases must be prevented in order for a farm to be economically viable. In this article, we discuss how to successfully develop large herds and prevent future spread of disease or introduction of disease into the herd.