SAVC Registration Examination Food-Animal Production Medicine & Herd Health: practice questions

1 · Calf health · medium

Housed dairy calves aged 3–8 weeks have recurrent pneumonia. The shed is humid, smells of ammonia and has no air inlets at eave level. What is the primary intervention?

1. Give all calves a long-acting antimicrobial injection monthly until they are weaned
2. Improve ventilation through inlets and outlets without creating draughts at calf level
3. Close the remaining gaps to keep the calves warm and stop any air movement
4. Increase stocking density so the calves generate more body heat in winter

2 · Biosecurity · medium

What is the recommended management of newly purchased cattle arriving on a farm?

1. Housing them in the calf shed, since calves have the strongest immunity on the farm
2. Isolation for three to four weeks, without shared air space or drainage, while tests are completed
3. Releasing them to shared pasture after a single dose of broad-spectrum antimicrobial
4. Mixing them with the milking herd on the day of arrival so that they adapt to the herd's microbial flora

3 · Performance records and KPIs: calving interval, SCC, ADG and FCR · hard

A broiler flock has 96% liveability, 2.4 kg average live weight at 38 days and an FCR of 1.6. What is its European Production Efficiency Factor, (liveability % × live weight kg) ÷ (age d × FCR) × 100?

1. About 3.8
2. About 606
3. About 379
4. About 144

4 · Performance records and KPIs: calving interval, SCC, ADG and FCR · easy

A sow unit averages 12.5 pigs born alive and 11.0 pigs weaned per litter. What is the pre-weaning mortality?

1. 1.5%
2. 88%
3. 13.6%
4. 12%

5 · Pig and poultry flock medicine · easy

What is the main herd-health benefit of all-in/all-out management of pig rooms?

1. It increases the stocking density that each room can hold during the finishing period
2. It allows pigs of all ages to be mixed together so that young pigs gain immunity from older pen-mates
3. It removes the need for any vaccination programme in the growing and finishing herd
4. Emptying, cleaning and resting rooms between batches breaks the cycle of infection from older to younger pigs

6 · Pig and poultry flock medicine · medium

A sow herd has late-term abortions, increased stillbirths and weak-born piglets, and nursery pigs have respiratory disease. Which virus is the leading suspect?

1. Porcine parvovirus alone
2. Transmissible gastroenteritis virus
3. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
4. Porcine circovirus type 2 alone

7 · Pig and poultry flock medicine · medium

In a broiler flock, first-week mortality is 2.5%, well above the company target. Where should the investigation focus first?

1. Feed conversion at slaughter age, which determines first-week survival directly
2. Marek's disease, which usually kills broilers in the first week of life before vaccination takes effect
3. Chick quality from the hatchery and brooding conditions: temperature, water, feed access and litter
4. Coccidiosis vaccination, which typically causes deaths in the first days after placement

8 · Small-ruminant flock health · easy

The FAMACHA system is used to guide targeted treatment for which parasite?

1. Haemonchus contortus
2. Nematodirus battus
3. Fasciola hepatica only
4. Oestrus ovis

9 · Small-ruminant flock health · medium

On the five-category FAMACHA chart, which animals are usually treated?

1. Only those scoring 1 (red), because they are carrying the most worms
2. Those scoring 1 and 2, since pale animals are too weak to treat safely
3. All animals, whatever their score, every time the flock is gathered
4. Those scoring 4 or 5 (pale to white), sometimes also 3

10 · Pig and poultry flock medicine · easy

Which pig herd KPI is calculated as sows farrowing divided by sows served?

1. Litters per sow per year
2. Pre-weaning mortality
3. Farrowing rate
4. Non-productive days