Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) has warned animal breeders against random cross-breeding in their farms without any scientific basis. The Authority stressed that wrong cross-breeding would have negative impact on productivity and lead to death of newborns.
ADFCA emphasized the importance of following bio-security procedures in animal production farms to preempt contagious diseases in the farms. They have to ensure the diseases do not spread even if they have affected a part of the farm.
This was stated during a lecture organized by ADFCA, targeting animal breeders in Al Marfa' City in the Western Region. This was part of the event on "Best Practices for Best Products," organized by the Western Region Municipality in cooperation with ADFCA to sensitize the farm owners about diseases affecting animal wealth and about the ways of curing them .
The lecture focused on two aspects. The first, on Sheep Management and delivered by Dr. Faisal Baraka of the Department of Extension Services and Animal Care, elaborated on the methods of cross-breeding that contributes to better productivity. As per these methods, the female in the cross-breeding will be usually from breeds best suited to the environment.
The speaker called upon the breeders to preserve one breed and focus attention on improving its productivity. They should buy the male and female sheep of the same breed every two years from different sources, which will lead to better productivity.
Dr. Hamid Ragab of the Department of Extension Services and Animal Care, who spoke on 'Bio-security in Animal Production Farms,' stressed the importance of following bio-security procedures to prevent contagious diseases. Among those procedures are the quarantining of sick animals and their treatment with the help of veterinary clinics, he explained.
Dr. Ragab said it was part of the same procedures to buy animals from reliable sources and not to increase the number of those sources. Newly bought animals should be kept apart for a period of 14 to 30 days before letting them join the rest, he added.
The speaker also called upon breeders not to mix up animal wastes from different areas of the farm and to implement the feeding and vaccination program approved by ADFCA. Animals should be separated from each other as per their age and sex and infants should be kept away from the others, he concluded. 