Past Exam Flashcards
List three innovations in managing swine that were developed in N.C.
Confinement production; three-site production; A.I.; ultrasonography
What is the main difference in how beef cattle and swine are managed during lactation?
Beef cattle are usually rebred and begin their next gestation during lactation and swine do not.
They are bred
after lactation is over. This is really the most important difference in how we manage them.
What are the two most important things that colostrum provides for newborn pigs (animals)?
Passive immunity (antibodies) and readily available, easily digestable energy source
Domestication is a form of symbiosis. Which partner gains the most from domestication?
Host (humans)
Briefly describe how people think pigs were domesticated.
Initially they were captured by nomadic people probably because they followed behind them eating their scraps.
Later they were captured by people that lived in villages to prevent them from destroying their crops.
In class we discussed “three tests” that a farmer could do when deciding if the cow was ready to have her calf pulled. What anatomically do these three tests actually measure or estimate in the cow?
They determine whether the pelvic bones and cervix are sufficiently dilated enough for the calf to pass through them. (have to have pelvis and/or cervix in answer to get full credit)
What is the correct definition for dystocia?
Problems associated with parturition in any species. (Calving problems is not correct )
What are the two most important things for a farmer who has a stocker cattle / backgrounding operation to
consider in terms of managing his animals?
Health of the cattle (pre-conditioning) and genetics for post-weaning growth (or you could mention high quality
pasture/forgage).
Animals use auditions, “body language”, and other behaviors to communicate with other animals and humans.
For each situation below, explain what how each animal or group of animals would behave.
You are in the middle of calving season for your cow herd. One of your cows has had a calf and has been nursing it for a couple of weeks. Another one of your cows delivered a calf but unfortunately is was not alive. The calf wanders off from her mother and the cow that lost her calf wanders over to the calf and starts sniffing her. The calf’s mother looks up and notice thatthe other cow is sniffing her calf.
The calf probably would make the “mmnh” or “mneh” when the strange cow approached (2 pts).
The calf’s mother would run over to her calf and make the “mmh” sound to the calf and the “mmneh” sound to the other cow.
The calf’s mother would probably charge the strange cow or pretend to charge the cow in order to protect her calf. (2 pts).
If the strange cow didn’t run away, then both cows would assume the dominant postures – head down and forward, ears turned back and out, and body slanting forward and both would probably make the “mmneh” vocalization. They may eventually fight. (2 pts)
A worker on a swine farm has to vaccinate all the sows in a farrowing room before they are weaned. The worker gives the first sow in the room a shot. Describe what the sow receiving the shot would probably do and how the other sows in the room would react (6 points)
The first sow that was vaccinated would probably squeal and tuck its tail between her hams (3 points)
The other sows would bark or squeal and their tails would be twitching when they heard the first sow squeal
(3 points).
You are a bovine consultant. You receive 2 different phone calls from beef cattle owners that are having trouble getting their cows bred. For each situation, explain to the owner (A) what they are doing well (correctly) and (B) what they are doing incorrectly. For all the things that they are doing incorrectly, explain to them what they need to changes. Please justify your answers in order to receive full credit. (14 points)
Phone Call 1 – Cows typically calve in March. Bulls are three years old and are turned in with the cows for breeding towards the middle of April and removed in the middle of May. They typically use the largest bulls in the herd. The cow to bull ratio is 25 to 1 at the beginning of the breeding season when the bulls are expected to have more cows to breed and increased to 30 to 1 towards the end of the breeding season. Heifers are bred based on their weight alone and typically calve when they are 2 years old.
A) – Using three-year old bulls that are big is good since they likely have large testicles with lots of sperm production (1 pt). The cow to bull ratios are fine (1 pt). It is acceptable to start out with fewer cows per bull early in the season since this should help with bull fertility. It is good that heifers are bred to calve as 2 year olds (1 pt).
B) – The interval between calving and when the breeding season begins is only about 45 days so conception rates of the cows on their first service is going to be pretty low. It would be better to wait until the cows are at least 60 days post-partum (2 pts). Heifers should be bred on both their weight and age since both are important for the attainment of puberty (1 pt).
You could list the length of the breeding season, 30 days, as either being good or bad depending on how you defended it. If you said it was good, then your justification would be that the calves would occur over a shorter period of time and it would also allow for the herd to stay on schedule for all the cows having one calf per year. If you said it was bad, then you could justify it by saying that cows would really only have once breeding or chance to get pregnant if they didn’t conceive at their first mating or you could mention that the typical breeding season is 60 days on cow-calf operations.
Phone Call 2 – Cows typically calve in March. All cows are bred with artificial insemination beginning in the June. The farmer’s breeding season usually lasts until September. Detection of estrus is performed by a farm employee observing cows twice a day – once at 6:00 AM when the employees first arrives at work and again at 6:00 PM just before the employee leaves to go home. All cows are bred twice – once when they are first observed in estrus and a second time the day after the first mating. All cows not bred in 60 days are treated with prostaglandin in order to synchronize their estrus and then a bull is turned in to breed them naturally.
A) – Using A.I. is good since it allows the farmer to use the best genetics (1 pt). The cows are bred at least 60 days post-calving so their fertility should be good (1 pt). Detection of estrus associated with A.I. is good since cows only stay in estrus 12 to 18 hours (1 pt).
B) – The breeding season is too long especially if they are using A.I. It probably should be closer to 60 days (1 pt).They only need to breed the cows once with A.I., not twice since cows ovulate after estrus (1 pt). Synchronization of estrus should occur first; then the cows should be bred with A.I.; and then the bulls should be turned in (2 pts).
Dmitry Belyaev was a Russian geneticist who proposed a novel hypothesis concerning the domestication of animals. Briefly, (A) explain his hypothesis; (B) how it was different from what was commonly accepted as the main way animal were domesticated; (C) the experiments that he conducted to prove he was correct; and (D) what resulted from his experiments. (12 points)
A) Belyaev thought that all animals possessed a trait called tamability (1.5 pts) that was involved in their willingness to be domesticated. He thought that it could be selected for like any other genetic trait and the genes that controlled its expression were higher order genes (they controlled the function of other genes)(1.5 pts)
B) Most other scientists at the time thought domestication was strictly environmental (1.5 pts) (humans captured animals) and that you couldn’t select for behaviors (1.5 pts).
C) He devised a way to test for tamability by sticking his had in the cage with foxes and observing their responses: scared of humans; neutral towards humans; and actually sought out and wanted to interact with humans. He did this for 20 generations and only bred animals to each other within each of these groups. (3 pts).
D) He saw changes in certain phenotypic traits (increases in piebald coloring; blazed foreheads; floppy ears; and curled tails as well as changes in reproductive activity) (1.5 pts) just by selecting for the most “tame” animals (1.5 pts).
