Veterinary · Pre-clinical and foundation · also MSVE LPM-122
Management of pigs, horses, rabbits, laboratory rodents and companion animals: breeds, housing, farrowing and young-stock care.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF core group 05 (LPM); NAVLE porcine 5%
This subject covers the management of the animals that do not ruminate: the pig, the horse, the rabbit, the laboratory rodents and the dog and cat. Poultry, hatcheries and bird lighting programmes are taught in Poultry Production Management, and nutrient requirements in Applied Nutrition of Non-ruminants, so neither is repeated here. This manual covers what a farm manager or veterinarian does day to day: breeds, housing and environment, breeding, farrowing and young stock, records and performance indices, biosecurity and economics.
The pig carries most of the weight. Pig farming ranges from a backyard sow in north-east India, Vietnam or Uganda to integrated units of tens of thousands of sows in China, the United States, Brazil and the European Union. The biology is the same everywhere; the law and economics are not, and the manual says where practice differs by country.
Horses, rabbits, laboratory animals and companion animals are covered at the level a general veterinarian needs, including the law and ethics of animal experimentation.
In India this is MSVE course LPM-122 and is examined in the Livestock Production Management block of ICAR AIEEA (PG), ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF core group 05, ASRB NET and the state public service commission papers. Elsewhere it appears inside husbandry, welfare and production-medicine questions: NAVLE's porcine block, the RCVS Statutory Membership Examination, the Australasian Veterinary Examination, the SAVC examination, the Philippine zootechnics paper and the pig section of China's comprehensive paper. Questions centre on the numbers that drive management and on why each practice is done.
Pig farming falls into three broad systems. In the backyard system a family keeps a few pigs on household waste and scavenging; inputs, output and disease control are low, which is why smallholder pigs have been central to the spread of African swine fever. In outdoor or extensive commercial systems, sows live on free-draining land in paddocks with huts (arcs) and wallows, and piglets are weaned to indoor or outdoor finishing; this is common in parts of the UK and in organic production. In intensive indoor systems, pigs are housed throughout on slatted or solid floors in buildings designed for each stage. Large units are often multi-site: site one holds the breeding herd and farrowing, site two the nursery, site three the finishers, separated by distance so that disease in one site does not reach the others. A farrow-to-finish unit keeps all stages on one site; a breeder-weaner unit sells weaners; a finishing unit buys them in. Production is organised in batches (weekly, three-weekly or other intervals) so that each room can be emptied, cleaned and refilled all-in/all-out.
Modern commercial pigs come from a few breeds selected for either maternal or terminal traits. Maternal breeds give large litters, good milk and mothering. The Large White (called Yorkshire in North America) is white with erect ears, prolific and hardy, and is the most widely used maternal breed. The Landrace is white with large lop ears and a long body, and is also a maternal line; the F1 Landrace x Large White gilt is the standard commercial sow in much of the world because hybrid vigour improves litter size and sow longevity. Terminal sire breeds give growth rate, feed efficiency and carcass lean. The Duroc is red, hardy and fast growing with good intramuscular fat; the Hampshire is black with a white belt over the shoulders and forelegs and is lean; the Pietrain is white with black spots and very heavily muscled, and many Pietrains carry the halothane (stress) gene, a mutation in the ryanodine receptor gene RYR1 that causes porcine stress syndrome and pale, soft, exudative meat. The Berkshire is black with six white points (feet, face and tail tip) and is valued for meat quality. Chinese breeds such as the Meishan are exceptionally prolific and mature early but are fat and slow growing; they have been used in research and in some synthetic dam lines. In commercial practice most pigs are three-way crosses: an F1 Large White x Landrace sow is mated to a Duroc, Pietrain or synthetic terminal boar, and all the offspring go to slaughter.
Many countries keep indigenous pigs that are small, black or coloured, slow growing and low in litter size compared with commercial lines but hardy, tolerant of poor feed and heat, and suited to low-input systems. India's registered breeds include the Ghungroo of West Bengal, a black, prolific pig; the Niang Megha of Meghalaya; the Agonda Goan of Goa; the Doom of Assam; and the Nicobari of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; north-east India holds most of the country's pigs. Crossbreeding local sows with exotic boars is a common improvement route. In large integrations, genetics flow down a breeding pyramid. Nucleus herds at the top keep purebred lines under the highest health status and do the selection, using records of growth, backfat, litter size and, increasingly, genomic information. Multiplier herds cross the purebred lines to produce F1 parent gilts. Commercial herds at the base buy those gilts, or semen, and produce slaughter pigs. Disease spreads downwards with animals, so nucleus and multiplier herds keep the strictest biosecurity. When a commercial herd replaces its own gilts by mating some sows to maternal-line semen, the system is called internal multiplication or a grandparent scheme; it reduces the number of live animals brought in, which lowers disease risk.
The pig has no functional sweat glands and a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, so adult pigs cope poorly with heat; they cool themselves by panting, lying on cool or wet floors and wallowing. Newborn piglets have the opposite problem: they are born wet, with little body fat, limited glycogen and no functional brown adipose tissue, so they chill quickly and become hypoglycaemic. The lower and upper critical temperatures bound the thermoneutral zone, inside which the pig spends no extra energy on heat production or heat loss. Approximate comfort zones are about 30 to 34 degrees C for the newborn piglet, falling as it grows; about 26 to 28 degrees C for a weaner just after weaning; and about 15 to 21 degrees C for growing-finishing pigs and for dry and lactating sows, the lactating sow preferring the cooler end because heat stress cuts her feed intake and milk yield. These figures vary with floor, bedding, air speed and feed intake; they are guides, not limits. The farrowing room therefore has two climates: the room is kept cool for the sow while a covered creep area with a lamp, heat pad or heated floor gives the piglets warmth. Piglet behaviour is the best thermometer: huddled piglets are cold, piglets spread away from the heat are too warm. Pigs in hot climates need shade, sprinklers or drip cooling for sows, evaporative cooling pads, adequate air speed, and, outdoors, wallows; white pigs outdoors also sunburn.
Each stage of production has its own accommodation. Boars are kept in individual pens with enough space to turn and to mate, close to the service area so that their presence stimulates oestrus in sows. Weaned sows and gilts are housed in a service area, traditionally in stalls, increasingly in groups. Pregnant sows are kept in stalls, tethers or groups; tethers are banned in the EU and many other countries, and EU law (Council Directive 2008/120/EC) requires sows and gilts to be kept in groups from four weeks after service until one week before expected farrowing, with at least 1.64 square metres of unobstructed floor per gilt and 2.25 square metres per sow. Stall rules differ elsewhere. Sows farrow in a farrowing crate or pen. Weaned piglets go to nursery (flat-deck or weaner) pens, and growing-finishing pigs to pens on slatted, part-slatted or solid bedded floors. The EU minimum floor space for weaners and rearing pigs rises with weight: 0.15 square metres up to 10 kg, 0.20 to 20 kg, 0.30 to 30 kg, 0.40 to 50 kg, 0.55 to 85 kg, 0.65 to 110 kg and 1.00 above 110 kg. Other countries set different figures or none, and many welfare schemes require more. In Indian textbooks floor space is usually given as covered plus open area per pig for each class, and the guard rail in a farrowing pen is set about 20 to 25 cm above the floor and 20 to 25 cm from the wall so that piglets can escape the sow lying down. Feed and water must be accessible to all pigs in the pen without excessive competition.
Fully or partly slatted floors let dung and urine fall into a pit below, keeping pigs clean with little labour, but bare slats give no comfort or rooting material, and slat and gap widths must suit the size of pig to avoid foot and claw injury. Solid floors with straw improve comfort and allow rooting but need more labour and straw. EU law requires all pigs to have permanent access to manipulable material such as straw, hay, wood or sawdust, to reduce tail biting. Ventilation removes moisture, heat, gases, dust and pathogens. Natural ventilation relies on wind and the stack effect through ridge openings and side inlets; mechanical ventilation uses fans and controlled inlets. The minimum ventilation rate in cold weather is set to remove moisture and gases; the maximum rate in hot weather is set to remove heat, and is many times greater. Ammonia irritates the airways and should be kept low; codes commonly aim for less than about 20 ppm at pig height. Hydrogen sulphide is released in dangerous amounts when slurry is agitated or pumped, and it can kill pigs and people within minutes; buildings must be fully ventilated, and people should leave the house during agitation. Slurry is stored in pits, lagoons or tanks and spread on land at rates that respect nitrogen and phosphorus limits; in the EU these are governed by the Nitrates Directive. EU law requires at least 40 lux of light for eight hours a day.
Replacement gilts are the future of the herd, and a typical commercial herd replaces 40 to 50 per cent of its sows each year, although the figure varies. Gilts are selected for sound feet and legs, a straight topline, at least six or seven pairs of evenly spaced functional teats with no inverted or blind teats, a normal vulva, and growth and backfat appropriate to the genetic line. Puberty normally occurs at about five to seven months of age and is advanced by daily direct contact with a mature boar from about 160 days of age, a response called the boar effect. Gilts are usually first bred at their second or third oestrus, when they have reached the bodyweight and backfat recommended by the genetics supplier, often given as roughly 130 to 150 kg at around 7 to 8 months, although targets vary by line and country. Breeding at the first oestrus gives smaller litters. Incoming gilts from another herd must be isolated, tested and acclimatised, being exposed in a controlled way to the pathogens of the home herd before they join it. Flushing (generous feeding for 10 to 14 days before mating) raises ovulation rate.
The sow is a non-seasonal polyoestrous animal with an oestrous cycle of about 21 days (range about 18 to 24). Standing oestrus lasts about two to three days in sows and is usually shorter in gilts; ovulation occurs about two-thirds of the way through oestrus. Signs include a swollen, reddened vulva, restlessness and the standing reflex: the sow stands rigid when firm pressure is applied to her back, especially in the presence of a boar, whose pheromones (androstenone in the saliva) and sight and sound strengthen the response. Heat checking is done at least once and preferably twice a day with a boar in front of the sows. Most weaned sows return to oestrus four to seven days after weaning. Sows are commonly mated or inseminated two or three times at intervals of about 12 to 24 hours during standing oestrus. Artificial insemination is now the dominant method in commercial herds worldwide. Boar semen is cold-sensitive and is stored at about 15 to 18 degrees C, not refrigerated like bull semen. Cervical AI deposits the dose in the cervix with a catheter that locks into the cervical folds; post-cervical AI passes an inner catheter into the uterine body and allows a smaller dose. In natural mating herds, the sow is taken to the boar's pen, mating is supervised, and a young boar is used lightly at first; ratio guides of about one boar to 20 to 25 sows are quoted but depend on the mating system.
Gestation in the sow is about 114 days, remembered as three months, three weeks and three days, with a normal range of about 112 to 116. Pregnancy is confirmed by non-return to oestrus at 18 to 24 days after service and by real-time ultrasound from about 21 to 28 days. Embryos implant around days 12 to 18, and stress, mixing and rough handling in the first four weeks can cause embryonic loss, so many systems mix sows into groups either immediately after weaning or after implantation. In group gestation housing, feeding is the main challenge, because dominant sows take more than their share: options include individual feeding stalls, electronic sow feeders that recognise each sow by an ear tag transponder and dispense her ration, trickle feeding and floor feeding of stable groups. Pregnant sows are fed to a body condition or backfat target, not to appetite, because overfat sows farrow with difficulty and eat less in lactation, while thin sows wean small litters and return late to oestrus. Fibrous diets help satiety and reduce stereotypies.
The farrowing room is run all-in/all-out: after a batch is weaned it is emptied, soaked, washed with detergent, disinfected and left to dry before the next batch arrives. Sows are washed, treated against external and internal parasites according to the herd plan, and moved in about five to seven days before the expected farrowing date, so that they settle and the colostrum carries antibodies against pathogens in that room. Expected farrowing dates are calculated from service records, 114 days after the first service. The creep area is checked: heat lamp or pad working, creep at the correct temperature before piglets are born, drinkers flowing, and the crate adjusted to the sow's size. Sows nest-build strongly in the last 24 hours; crates prevent this, and some nesting material reduces frustration. Signs that farrowing is close include restlessness, nest building, a swollen vulva, milk that can be expressed from the teats (usually within about 24 hours, and a free flow within a few hours of birth), and sometimes a slight discharge.
Farrowing usually lasts two to five hours, with piglets born about every 15 to 20 minutes on average and both anterior and posterior presentations normal. Supervised farrowing reduces stillbirths and early deaths: the attendant clears membranes from the mouth and nose of weak piglets, dries them, moves them to the udder or creep, and checks the sow. Dystocia is suspected when the sow strains for more than about 30 to 45 minutes without producing a piglet, when more than about an hour passes between piglets late in farrowing, when there is a bloody or foul discharge with no progress, or when the sow is exhausted. The attendant then washes, lubricates and gently examines the birth canal with a gloved hand, corrects or removes the obstructing piglet, and calls a veterinarian if the problem cannot be solved. Oxytocin may be used when the birth canal is clear and the uterus is inert, but never when a piglet is stuck; use only the dose on the product label and under veterinary direction, because repeated or high doses can cause uterine spasm and more stillbirths. Induction of farrowing with a prostaglandin is used in some herds to concentrate farrowings into working hours; it should not be given more than about two days before the herd's average gestation length, or piglets will be born premature. Confirm all products and doses against the product label and your national formulary.
After farrowing the sow is checked daily for appetite, temperature, udder condition, discharge and dunging. Postpartum dysgalactia syndrome, formerly called MMA (mastitis-metritis-agalactia), is the main sow problem: fever, a hard hot udder, reduced appetite and failing milk, seen by hungry squealing piglets losing condition. It is managed under veterinary direction and prevented by hygiene, avoiding overfat sows, adequate water and fibre, and good farrowing room temperature. Lactating sows need large amounts of water, commonly 25 litres or more a day, and drinker flow must be adequate. The farrowing crate restricts the sow so that she lies down slowly and piglets have time to move, which reduces crushing, the largest single cause of piglet death in loose systems. Crates prevent turning and nest building, and some countries now require or encourage free farrowing pens, in which the sow is loose in a larger pen with sloping walls or rails and a protected creep; some designs allow temporary confinement for a few days around farrowing. Sweden and Switzerland have long banned routine crates. Well-managed free farrowing needs more space, better design and skilled staff.
Most preweaning deaths happen in the first three days of life, from crushing, chilling, starvation and low viability, and these causes interact: a small, cold piglet suckles weakly, gets too little colostrum, becomes hypoglycaemic and is easily crushed. Typical commercial preweaning mortality is about 10 to 15 per cent of piglets born alive, though it varies widely. The sow's placenta (epitheliochorial) passes no antibodies, so the piglet is born without immunoglobulins and depends entirely on colostrum, which also supplies energy. Intestinal absorption of intact antibodies is highest in the first hours and largely stops (gut closure) within about 24 to 36 hours, so every piglet must suckle early. Average birth weight in modern prolific lines is around 1.2 to 1.5 kg, and piglets under about 1 kg have much lower survival. In large litters, split suckling helps: the heavier piglets are shut in the creep for an hour or so while the smaller ones suckle. Cross-fostering equalises litters to the number of functional teats on the sow and should be done after piglets have had colostrum from their own mother, usually within 24 to 48 hours, and with as little movement as possible because it spreads disease. Surplus piglets can go to a nurse sow.
Piglets are born with low iron stores, sow's milk contains little iron, and fast growth demands a lot, so indoor piglets without access to soil develop iron-deficiency anaemia within a few weeks unless supplemented. The standard prevention is an injection of an iron-dextran or similar product in the first few days of life, intramuscularly in the neck, or an oral iron product; outdoor piglets rooting in soil are less at risk. Confirm the product and dose against the label and your national formulary. Other procedures vary by country and by law. The eight sharp needle teeth (the deciduous third incisors and canines) are clipped or ground in some herds to reduce facial and udder injuries; EU law forbids routine teeth reduction and allows it only within seven days of birth when there is evidence of injury. Tail docking reduces tail biting later in life, but EU law also forbids routine docking; it may be done only where evidence shows injuries occur despite changes to environment and management, and the same applies to other mutilations. Surgical castration of male piglets prevents boar taint, an off-odour caused mainly by androstenone and skatole. EU law requires anaesthesia and prolonged analgesia by a veterinarian if castration is done after the seventh day of life, and several countries require pain relief at any age. Alternatives are raising entire males to a lighter slaughter weight, or immunocastration, which is two injections of a vaccine against gonadotrophin-releasing hormone.
Creep feed is a highly digestible diet offered to suckling piglets from about 7 to 14 days of age. Weaning age is set by law, disease control and economics. Many commercial herds wean at about three to four weeks. EU law forbids weaning before 28 days of age unless the welfare or health of the sow or piglets would otherwise suffer, and allows weaning up to seven days earlier only if the piglets go to specialised housing that is emptied and cleaned between batches. Traditional and smallholder systems often wean at six to eight weeks. Weaning is the most stressful event in the pig's life: separation from the sow, a new pen, mixing with unfamiliar piglets, and a sudden change from milk to solid feed. Feed intake drops, villi shorten, and post-weaning diarrhoea caused by enterotoxigenic E. coli can follow. Good practice is to wean into a warm (about 26 to 28 degrees C), dry, draught-free, clean nursery; to keep litters together or mix them once only; to offer the same feed used as creep; to make water easy to find; and to keep feed fresh with little and often feeding. High-dose zinc oxide was long used to control post-weaning diarrhoea, but the EU ended its veterinary use in June 2022 because of environmental and antimicrobial-resistance concerns, and other regions are reviewing it.
From the nursery, at about 25 to 35 kg, pigs move to grower and then finisher accommodation and are sold at a slaughter weight that varies by market: lighter pigs for some Asian and Mediterranean markets, about 100 to 130 kg live weight in much of Europe and North America, and heavier pigs for cured hams in Italy and Spain. Growth rate, feed conversion and carcass lean are the key outcomes. Pigs are grouped by size and, often, by sex, because barrows (castrates) eat more and fatten sooner than gilts, while entire males are leaner and more efficient but more aggressive. Tail biting is a multifactorial vice, triggered by lack of rooting material, overcrowding, poor air, competition for feed or water, sudden changes, and genetics; prevention relies on enrichment, good environment and early removal of biters and victims. Carcass lean is commonly estimated by measuring backfat and muscle depth with a probe at the P2 site, 65 mm from the midline over the last rib, and payment grids in many countries reward lean carcasses within a weight band.
This manual does not repeat the nutrient requirements, which belong to Applied Nutrition of Non-ruminants, but the way feed is delivered is a management decision. Pigs may be fed ad libitum from dry or wet-and-dry feeders, or restricted by meals. Feed may be dry meal, pellets or liquid; liquid feeding mixes feed with water or with liquid by-products such as whey, and is controlled by computer. Phase feeding changes the diet as pigs grow, matching nutrient supply to requirement and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus excretion; split-sex feeding gives males and females different diets. Adjusting badly set feeders is one of the cheapest improvements on a farm. Water is the most neglected nutrient. Nipple drinkers, bite drinkers and bowls must deliver flow rates suitable for the size of pig, at the right height, with enough drinkers per pen; flow is checked with a measuring jug and a watch. Lactating sows need the highest flow and free access. Swill (catering waste) feeding is banned in the EU, UK and many other countries because it spreads foot-and-mouth disease, African and classical swine fever; where it is still legal, food waste must be heat treated to the national standard.
External biosecurity keeps disease out; internal biosecurity stops its spread within the farm. The main routes of entry are live pigs, semen, vehicles (especially livestock trucks and dead-stock collection), people, feed, contaminated equipment, rodents, birds, wild boar and, for some viruses, air. Practical measures follow from these routes. Buy pigs from a single source of known, equal or higher health status, and isolate and test them before entry. Keep a fenced perimeter with one controlled entrance. Use loading ramps at the boundary so trucks never enter the clean area. Have visitors and staff shower in and change into farm clothing and boots, with a recorded pig-free period before entry. Place the dead-pig collection point at the boundary. Control rodents and birds. Keep feed from safe sources and ban pork products on site. Inside the farm, all-in/all-out flow, cleaning and disinfection between batches, separate boots and tools for each house, working from young to old and healthy to sick, and hospital pens all matter. African swine fever, which has spread across Asia, Europe and parts of the Americas since 2018, has no widely approved vaccine, so control depends on biosecurity, early reporting, culling and movement control. Health programmes combine vaccination against locally important diseases (such as porcine circovirus 2, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, erysipelas, parvovirus, PRRS and, where endemic, classical swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease), parasite control, monitoring at slaughter, and a written plan agreed with the herd veterinarian.
A pig farm cannot be managed without records. Sow cards record identity, parity, service dates and boars or semen used, farrowing date, piglets born alive, stillborn and mummified, fostering, deaths and weaning numbers and weights. Batch records record feed delivered, pigs in and out, deaths and weights. From these come the indices that compare one farm with another and with itself over time. The most used are: farrowing rate, the percentage of sows served that farrow; total born, born alive and weaned per litter; preweaning mortality; the weaning-to-service interval; non-productive days, the days a sow is neither pregnant nor lactating; litters per sow per year; pigs weaned per sow per year; average daily gain; feed conversion ratio, kilograms of feed per kilogram of liveweight gain; and cost of production per kilogram. Whole-herd feed conversion includes feed eaten by the breeding herd. Every index needs a clear definition: whether mortality is calculated on born alive or total born, whether the sow inventory includes unserved gilts, and whether feed conversion is on liveweight or carcass weight. Benchmarking schemes publish current averages, which are more useful than fixed textbook targets.
Litters per sow per year equals 365 divided by the length of one reproductive cycle, which is gestation plus lactation plus the weaning-to-conception interval. With a 114-day gestation, a 21-day lactation and a 5-day weaning-to-service interval, the cycle is 140 days and litters per sow per year is 365 divided by 140, or 2.61. Leaving out the weaning interval gives 365 divided by 135, or 2.70, which is a common error. Pigs weaned per sow per year equals litters per sow per year multiplied by pigs weaned per litter; at 2.4 litters and 11.5 weaned per litter it is 27.6. Preweaning mortality is deaths divided by born alive; with 13.2 born alive and 11.6 weaned, deaths are 1.6 per litter and mortality is 1.6 divided by 13.2, or 12.1 per cent. Farrowing rate is sows farrowed divided by sows served; 102 farrowings from 120 services is 85 per cent. Feed conversion ratio is feed divided by gain: a pig growing from 30 to 115 kg on 230 kg of feed has gained 85 kg, so the ratio is 230 divided by 85, or 2.71; dividing by final weight instead gives a wrong 2.0. Average daily gain from 25 to 110 kg in 105 days is 85 divided by 105, or 0.81 kg a day. Dressing percentage is carcass weight divided by live weight; 80 kg from a 110 kg pig is 72.7 per cent. Facility sizing follows the same logic. A 1,000-sow herd at 2.4 litters per sow per year produces 2,400 litters a year, or about 46.2 farrowings a week. If each sow occupies a crate for 4 weeks (5 days before farrowing, 21 days of lactation and 2 days for washing), the farm needs about 46.2 times 4, or 185 crates. With an 85 per cent farrowing rate, 46.2 farrowings a week need 46.2 divided by 0.85, or about 54 services a week.
Feed is the largest cost of pig production, commonly about 60 to 75 per cent of the total, so feed price and feed conversion drive profit more than any other factor. The other costs are replacement stock, labour, veterinary and medicine costs, energy, housing depreciation and interest, and manure handling. Cost of production is best expressed per kilogram of carcass or liveweight sold, so that it can be compared with the market price. If feed for one finished pig costs 108 currency units and feed is 70 per cent of total cost, the total cost per pig is 108 divided by 0.70, or about 154 units; for an 85 kg carcass that is about 1.82 units per kilogram of carcass, which is the break-even price. Pig prices move in cycles: when prices are high, farmers expand, supply rises a year or more later, and prices fall; feed prices move with grain markets. Improving sow productivity spreads the fixed cost of the breeding herd over more pigs, which is why pigs weaned per sow per year is such a closely watched number. Outbreaks of ASF or PRRS can wipe out a year's profit, which is the economic case for biosecurity.
The horse is a single-stomached hindgut fermenter kept for work, sport, breeding, transport, meat, milk in parts of Central Asia, and the military. Breeds are grouped into hot-bloods (Arabian and Thoroughbred), cold-bloods (heavy draught breeds such as the Shire, Clydesdale and Percheron) and warm-bloods (sport horses derived from crosses). Ponies are small horses, usually under 14.2 hands (147 cm) at the withers. India's recognised horse breeds include the Marwari of Rajasthan and the Kathiawari of Gujarat, both known for inward-curving ear tips, and the Manipuri, Spiti, Zanskari and Bhutia ponies of the hills. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare); a hinny is the offspring of a stallion and a female donkey (jenny); both are almost always sterile. Horses are identified by markings, brands and microchips; in the EU and UK every equine must have a lifetime identification document (passport) and a microchip, and the passport records whether the animal may enter the food chain. Horses are prey animals that flee first, so handling is calm, from the near (left) side by convention, with a headcollar and lead rope. The nose twitch is a common restraint and is thought to work partly by releasing endorphins. Age is estimated from the teeth: the cups on the lower incisors disappear from the central, intermediate and corner teeth at roughly six, seven and eight years, and Galvayne's groove on the upper corner incisor appears at about ten years, reaches halfway down by about fifteen and the full length by about twenty, though ageing beyond about eight years is imprecise.
A standard loose box for an average-sized horse is about 3.65 by 3.65 m (12 by 12 feet), with larger boxes for big horses and for foaling, a high ceiling, a door about 1.2 m wide, good ventilation without draughts, and safe fittings. Dusty bedding and hay aggravate equine asthma. Horses are social and have evolved to graze for most of the day, so turnout with companions and access to forage are central to welfare; stabled horses without these develop stereotypies such as crib-biting, windsucking, weaving and box-walking. Feeding management, not nutrient requirements, is the concern here: forage should form the base of the diet, commonly at least about 1.5 per cent of bodyweight as dry matter a day; concentrate is fed in small, frequent meals; changes are made gradually over about one to two weeks; and fresh water is always available, an adult horse often drinking 25 to 55 litres a day depending on work, climate and diet. Body condition is scored, often on the Henneke 1 to 9 scale. Bodyweight can be estimated with a weight tape or with the formula: weight in kg equals heart girth in cm squared times body length in cm divided by 11,880. Routine care includes daily grooming and hoof picking, trimming or shoeing every six to eight weeks or as needed, dental examination at least once a year, vaccination according to local disease risk and law, and a parasite control plan based on faecal egg counts rather than routine treatment of every horse.
The mare is a seasonally polyoestrous long-day breeder: oestrous cycles start as days lengthen in spring, which is why breeders use artificial lighting to bring mares into season early for Thoroughbred racing, where all foals share a birthday of 1 January in the Northern Hemisphere. The cycle lasts about 21 days, with oestrus of about five to seven days, and ovulation occurs about 24 to 48 hours before the end of oestrus. Gestation averages about 340 days with a wide normal range of roughly 320 to 360 days. Signs of approaching foaling include udder development and waxing of the teats. Foaling is rapid: stage two usually lasts under about 30 minutes, and delay is an emergency. A healthy foal should stand within about one hour, suckle within about two hours, and pass meconium within the first day; the placenta should be passed within about three hours and checked for completeness. Because the equine placenta passes no antibodies, the foal must absorb colostral IgG before gut closure at around 24 hours, and serum IgG is often checked at 12 to 24 hours of age. The mare has a foal heat about 5 to 12 days after foaling. Foals are usually weaned at about four to six months.
Meat rabbits convert forage well and breed fast, so they are promoted for smallholders; large commercial units are concentrated in Europe and China. Medium meat breeds such as the New Zealand White and the Californian are the basis of commercial lines; the Soviet Chinchilla, Grey Giant and White Giant are widely kept in India; the Flemish Giant is a heavy breed; the Rex is kept for its velvety fur; and the Angora, especially the German Angora, for wool. Angoras are sheared or plucked about every three months. Rabbits are kept in hutches or cages, singly for breeding does and bucks, and in groups for growing rabbits before puberty. Wire floors need a resting mat or solid area to prevent sore hocks (ulcerative pododermatitis). Rabbits tolerate cold better than heat and suffer heat stress above about 28 to 30 degrees C, which lowers fertility and can kill; housing in hot climates needs shade, ventilation and cooling. Rabbits must never be lifted by the ears; one hand grasps the scruff and the other supports the hindquarters, because a struggling rabbit can fracture its spine.
The doe is an induced (reflex) ovulator with no regular oestrous cycle; she ovulates about 10 to 13 hours after mating. Receptivity is judged by a reddened, swollen vulva and willingness to raise the hindquarters (lordosis). Because does are territorial, the doe is always taken to the buck's cage, never the reverse. Medium breeds are first mated at about five to six months, heavier breeds later. One buck is commonly kept for about ten does. Pregnancy can be confirmed by gentle abdominal palpation at about 10 to 14 days after mating. A sterile mating or mounting by other does can cause pseudopregnancy lasting about 16 to 18 days. Gestation is about 31 days (range about 30 to 32). A nest box with bedding is placed in the cage about day 27 or 28; the doe builds a nest with hay and fur pulled from her own chest and belly shortly before kindling. Kits (kittens) are born naked, blind and helpless, and the doe nurses them only once or twice a day for a few minutes, so a doe that is not seen in the nest is not neglecting her litter. Kits' eyes open at about ten days, they leave the nest at about three weeks, and they are weaned at about four to six weeks, commercial units weaning at about 28 to 35 days. Remating systems differ in intensity: intensive (remating within a day or two of kindling), semi-intensive (about 10 to 12 days after kindling, common in commercial units) and extensive (after weaning). The kindling interval sets the number of litters per doe per year: remating 11 days after kindling with a 31-day gestation gives a 42-day interval and a theoretical maximum of 365 divided by 42, about 8.7 litters a year, although real herds achieve fewer.
Rabbits practise caecotrophy, eating the soft, nutrient-rich caecotrophs directly from the anus, usually at night, and this is normal behaviour, not coprophagy to be prevented. Their incisors and cheek teeth grow throughout life, so a diet rich in long fibre is needed to wear them down; malocclusion causes overgrown teeth and inability to eat. Fibre-deficient diets also predispose to enteritis and gut stasis. The main disease problems in rabbit units are coccidiosis (intestinal and hepatic), pasteurellosis (snuffles, abscesses, pneumonia), enteritis complexes, mastitis, sore hocks and ear mites. Myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease, including the newer RHDV2 strain, are serious viral diseases where they occur, and vaccines are used in many countries; both are spread by insects or contact, so insect screening and biosecurity matter. Doe records give kindlings and kits weaned per doe per year.
Laboratory animal science is the management, care and use of animals in research, testing and teaching. Mice and rats are by far the most used species. The mouse has an oestrous cycle of about four to five days, a gestation of about 19 to 21 days, litters of about six to twelve, weaning at about 21 days and a life span of about two years. The rat has a similar four- to five-day cycle, a gestation of about 21 to 23 days and weaning at about 21 days. Both have a fertile postpartum oestrus within about a day of giving birth. The guinea pig has a long gestation of about 59 to 72 days and gives birth to precocial young, fully furred with eyes open, that can eat solid food within days; it cannot synthesise vitamin C, because it lacks the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase, so its diet must supply it; and a female first bred after about six to seven months of age risks dystocia because her pubic symphysis has fused. The Syrian hamster has the shortest gestation of the common species, about 16 days, a four-day cycle, and a stringy post-ovulatory discharge on the day after oestrus. Mice and rats are nocturnal.
Rodent colonies are bred in monogamous pairs, trios (one male, two females) or harems (one male with several females). In continuous (permanent) systems the male stays with the females and takes advantage of postpartum oestrus, giving the most litters; in intermittent systems the pregnant female is removed to litter alone, which allows exact records and protects pups. Pheromones strongly affect mouse reproduction and are classic examination topics. The Whitten effect: the odour of a male synchronises oestrus in grouped females, so many come into heat on the third night after a male is introduced. The Lee-Boot effect: females housed in groups without a male have suppressed or prolonged cycles. The Bruce effect: exposure of a recently mated female to the odour of a strange male can block implantation and end the pregnancy. The Vandenbergh effect: male odour accelerates puberty in young females.
Research results depend on animals that are genetically and microbiologically defined. An inbred strain is produced by at least 20 consecutive generations of brother x sister (or parent x offspring) mating, after which the animals are nearly identical genetically; examples include C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice. Outbred stocks, such as Swiss mice and Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats, are bred to keep genetic variation. F1 hybrids between two inbred strains are uniform and vigorous. Genetically altered animals include transgenic, knockout and knock-in lines, and immunodeficient mutants such as the athymic nude mouse (Foxn1 mutation) and the SCID mouse. Microbiologically, animals are classed as conventional (undefined flora), specified-pathogen-free (SPF, free of a listed set of agents), gnotobiotic (with a fully known flora) or germ-free (no detectable organisms, born by caesarean section and reared in isolators). Health status is checked by regular health monitoring, often of sentinel animals exposed to dirty bedding from colony cages, following schemes such as the FELASA recommendations. Rederivation by embryo transfer or caesarean section is used to clean an infected line. Staff should also know the occupational risks: laboratory animal allergy, mainly to rodent urinary proteins, is common, and zoonoses include lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, rat-bite fever and, from macaques, herpes B virus.
A laboratory animal facility separates animal rooms from people and from the outside world. Common designs use clean and dirty corridors, or a single corridor with controlled traffic, with air pressure gradients that keep clean areas positive to dirty areas (and quarantine or infectious rooms negative). Barrier units hold SPF animals, and entry is through air showers or changing rooms with sterilised food, water, bedding and cages. The macroenvironment is the room; the microenvironment is the cage, which can differ greatly from the room, especially in static cages where ammonia, heat and humidity build up. Individually ventilated cages supply filtered air to each cage, improving the microenvironment and protecting animals from infection and staff from allergens; isolators provide complete separation for germ-free animals. The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (US National Research Council, eighth edition, 2011) gives widely used recommendations: for example, dry-bulb temperatures of about 20 to 26 degrees C for mice, rats, hamsters and guinea pigs, relative humidity of about 30 to 70 per cent, and around 10 to 15 fresh-air changes per hour for rooms with static cages. It also recommends minimum floor space by bodyweight; for example, at least about 15 square inches per mouse over 25 g. European rules under Directive 2010/63/EU set legally binding minimum cage sizes. Most rodent rooms run a 12:12 hour light-dark cycle; albino rodents can suffer retinal damage under bright light, so cage-level light intensity is kept low. Social species are housed in compatible groups, and environmental enrichment such as nesting material, shelters and gnawing objects is now expected.
The ethical framework of animal research rests on the 3Rs set out by William Russell and Rex Burch in The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique (1959). Replacement means using methods that avoid animals, such as cell culture, computer models or tissues from humans. Reduction means using the fewest animals that will still answer the question, through good experimental design and statistics. Refinement means changing procedures and husbandry to minimise pain and distress and improve welfare, from analgesia and better handling to enriched housing. Many laws add a harm-benefit analysis. Humane endpoints are clear, observable criteria, such as a percentage of weight loss, a body condition score or specific clinical signs, at which an animal is removed from a study or euthanised before it suffers severely. Euthanasia must follow accepted methods, such as those in the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals or Annex IV of the EU Directive, appropriate to the species and age. The ARRIVE guidelines set reporting standards. Testing of cosmetics on animals has been banned in the EU (completely from 2013) and in India (from 2014), among other countries.
Most countries regulate experiments on animals through a national law, an ethics committee at each establishment, and inspection. In the European Union, Directive 2010/63/EU requires authorisation of projects, an animal-welfare body in each establishment, a designated veterinarian, training and competence of staff, severity classification of procedures (non-recovery, mild, moderate, severe) and retrospective assessment of some projects. In the United Kingdom, the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires an establishment licence, a project licence and a personal licence, with each establishment having an Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body. In the United States, the Animal Welfare Act, enforced by the US Department of Agriculture, covers many warm-blooded species but excludes rats of the genus Rattus, mice of the genus Mus and birds bred for research; the Public Health Service Policy covers all vertebrates in institutions receiving federal funding. Each institution has an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which under PHS Policy has at least five members, including a veterinarian, a practising scientist, a member whose main concerns are non-scientific, and a member not affiliated with the institution. In India, experiments are regulated under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Breeding of and Experiments on Animals (Control and Supervision) Rules, 1998, administered by the national committee formerly called CPCSEA and now CCSEA. Each registered establishment must have an Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC), which includes scientists, a veterinarian, a scientist from outside the institution, a socially aware non-scientist and a nominee of the national committee, and which must approve each protocol before work begins. Committees review justification, numbers, procedures, analgesia, endpoints and staff competence.
The dog breed registries group breeds differently: the Federation Cynologique Internationale recognises ten groups, and the Kennel Club (UK) and American Kennel Club seven each. Breed shape matters: flat-faced breeds suffer brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome and heat intolerance. Indian native breeds include the Rajapalayam, Chippiparai, Kombai, Kanni, Mudhol Hound and Rampur Hound. The bitch is monoestrous and non-seasonal, with one cycle every six to seven months on average (the Basenji cycles once a year). Pro-oestrus lasts about nine days, oestrus about nine days, dioestrus about two months, and anoestrus several months. Ovulation is best timed by serum progesterone and vaginal cytology. Gestation is about 63 days from ovulation, while the interval from mating to whelping ranges from about 57 to 72 days because sperm survive for days and bitches may be mated well before ovulation. The queen is a seasonally polyoestrous long-day breeder and an induced ovulator, with a gestation of about 63 to 65 days. Puppies open their eyes at about 10 to 14 days. The socialisation period, when exposure to people, other animals and new experiences shapes adult behaviour, runs from about 3 to 12 or 14 weeks in puppies and from about 2 to 7 weeks in kittens, which is why breeders should handle young animals daily and why rehoming before about eight weeks is discouraged. Weaning onto solid food is gradual from about three to four weeks.
Kennels and catteries need impervious, well-drained surfaces, ventilation, an exercise area for dogs and an isolation unit. Dogs need daily exercise, social contact and mental stimulation; boredom and isolation lead to barking, destructive behaviour and stereotypies such as circling. Cats need hiding places, high perches, scratching posts, and food, water and litter trays placed apart; in multi-cat homes the usual advice is one litter tray per cat plus one, and resources spread so that cats need not pass each other. Routine preventive care follows the companion-animal practice course: vaccination against core diseases (for dogs, canine distemper virus, canine adenovirus and canine parvovirus, plus rabies where endemic or required; for cats, feline panleukopenia, calicivirus and herpesvirus, plus rabies where required, in line with WSAVA guidance), parasite control, dental care, nail trimming and grooming, especially of long-haired breeds. Young puppies are fed several small meals a day and adults once or twice; detailed feeding belongs in nutrition courses. Identification by microchip, using the ISO 11784/11785 15-digit standard in most countries, is compulsory for dogs in the UK and most EU countries and increasingly elsewhere. Neutering controls populations; in India, the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023 govern the sterilisation and vaccination of community dogs, which are returned to the same area. Ownership and breeding laws differ widely by country.
A student uses this subject to learn the numbers that every later course assumes: the sow's 114-day gestation, the 21-day cycle, the piglet's need for warmth, colostrum and iron, the rabbit's 31-day gestation and induced ovulation, the guinea pig's need for vitamin C and the foal's first-hours milestones. On farm visits and in the college pig, rabbit and laboratory animal units, the student should be able to process a litter, check a farrowing crate, calculate litters per sow per year from a sow card and explain why an ethics committee would reject a protocol with no humane endpoint.
A pig or mixed practitioner five years out uses these skills weekly: walking a farrowing room and reading piglet behaviour, finding why preweaning mortality has risen from 11 to 16 per cent, checking drinker flow and ventilation, advising on gilt pool size and batch farrowing, and writing a biosecurity plan for a client worried about ASF. The same vet may sign a horse passport, advise a rabbit smallholder on remating intervals and heat stress, serve as the designated veterinarian on an institutional animal ethics committee, and handle kennel and cattery health advice.
With 25 years of experience, the veterinarian or farm manager designs systems rather than fixing animals: sizing a new 1,200-sow unit and its farrowing, nursery and finishing capacity, choosing between crates and free farrowing under changing law, setting up multi-site flow and depopulation-repopulation, negotiating genetics and health status with suppliers, and running benchmarking across many farms. In laboratory animal science, the senior vet runs a facility, sets the health monitoring programme, deals with inspectors and leads the welfare body. Economic judgement, legal knowledge and staff training matter as much as clinical skill.
A researcher at this level works on the open questions: piglet survival in hyperprolific sows, welfare and productivity of free farrowing and group gestation, alternatives to castration and tail docking, the economics and epidemiology of ASF biosecurity, reducing antimicrobial and zinc oxide use at weaning, housing and enrichment effects on rodent research outcomes, and the validity of 3Rs alternatives. The researcher designs adequately powered trials, sits on or chairs ethics committees, and advises regulators and industry on evidence-based standards.
Poultry (broiler, layer, breeder and backyard management), hatchery operations and lighting programmes for birds are not covered here because they are taught in the separate Poultry Production Management subject; nutrient requirements and ration formulation are in Applied Nutrition of Non-ruminants. This manual gives no national floor-space tables except the EU's, because Indian, US and other figures differ between sources and editions. Drug doses (iron, oxytocin, prostaglandins) are deliberately not given; use the label and national formulary. Laboratory species beyond rodents and rabbits (zebrafish, ferrets, non-human primates, pigs as models) are only mentioned. Donkeys, mules and working-equid welfare, and other monogastrics such as guinea fowl, ostrich and deer, are not covered in depth. Performance targets change every year with genetics; benchmark against current national data rather than the illustrative figures used in the worked examples.
Original practice questions written to the syllabus and pattern of the exams named in each question's examTags. They are not past papers and do not reproduce any board's questions.
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