Course Title:
Livestock Production
Lesson Title:
Evaluating Vital Signs of Livestock
TEKS Addressed in Lesson: 130.3 c 4 B http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter130/index.html
Lesson Objectives. The student will be able to:
1 Give examples of physical factors which affect animal health
2 Discuss the important of diseases as it relates to production and health
3 Articulate the importance of good stockmanship in the maintenance of animal health
Tools and Equipment:
PowerPoint: Factors Affecting Animal Health
Projector
Student Notes
Key Terms / Vocabulary
Stockmanship: the skill of managing livestock.
Disease: a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body
resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional
deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment
Engage / Interest Approach / Anticipatory Set
The teacher/facilitator will provide 5-10 pictures of animal diseases/environmental conditions.
The teacher will facilitate discussion over the diseases. Possible leading questions would be:
what do you think were the underlying causes of this disease? What could be the possible
repercussions of this type of environmental factor? This should take approximately 10 minutes
provided for adequate discussion.
Explore & Explain / Teaching Plan and Strategy / Presentation of New Material
1 Teacher-led discussion on the importance of managing risk factors for animal disease
2 Teacher-led discussion and lecture over “Factors Affecting Animal Health” utilizing PPT.
3 Teacher will utilize real-world examples with the help of pictures to allow students to discuss
the various risk factors for disease.
Elaborate / Activity/Application/ Student Engagement /Laboratory
Students will complete the Factors Affecting Animal Health Project Activity. See below for a
synopsis:
Break students into small groups for an activity. Assign each group a physical factor. As a
reminder, some of the factors are:
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Temperature
Humidity
Radiation
Air Movement
Precipitation
Microbiological Environment
Nutrition
Dust
Ask the students to develop a flyer discussing each risk factor, which will presented to the class. The
activity page discusses several topics of concern for each factor. Description of factor, effect on
animal health, methods to prevent animal harm from factor should be included in the flyer.
Evaluation / Summary
Ask students to have a class discussion concerning livestock risk factors after they have
presented their activity. You may need to prompt discussion by asking probing questions. Some
are as follows:
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What do you feel is the most important factor? Why?
What is a common animal health factor you deal with in your SAE? How do address
this issue?
What are other types of factors?
Upon conclusion, ask the class questions over their knowledge of the material.
References/Additional Materials / Extended Learning Opportunities/ Enrichment
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Publications:
http://www.fao.org/tc/policy-support/list-of-publications/en/
Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira:
http://www.evira.fi/portal/en/animals/animal+health+and+diseases/
College & Career Readiness Standard
Cross-Disciplinary Standard I.C. (1)(2)
©Texas Education Agency, 2015