Herd Health, Husbandry and Monitoring
October 22 – October 28
Introduction:
Objectives
- Describe the purpose, effect, and techniques of castration.
- Explore issues related to reindeer calving.
- Explain potential problems and solution strategies related to calving.
- Describe best practices related to bottle raising reindeer.
Estimated Time to Complete
| Instruction | 3 hrs |
| Assignments | 3 hrs |
| Collaboration | 2 hrs |
Learning Activity:
Read pages 34-37 and 50 – 52 of the Reindeer Health Aide Manual. Watch the following videos.
Reflection and Writing
You own a herd of reindeer, either a free range operation or a fenced herd. One of your production goals is to have a 75% recruitment rate (percentage of live calves hitting the ground surviving to one year of age). For two years in a row now your recruitment rate has hovered around 60%. Using what you have learned in the course so far what health issues (disease, parasites, husbandry) could be responsible for the drop in survival rate? What could you do as the herd manager to mitigate your identified health problems?