An attempt was made to document the management practices of the backyard goat production in Cauvery Delta zone of Tamil Nadu. The primary data were collected by interviewing 180 backyard goat farmers selected by multi-stage random sampling using pre-tested interview schedule and analyzed through descriptive statistics. About 46.11 per cent of the respondents kept their animals under open system of housing and floor of the goat shed was mud type in 96.67 per cent of the sampled farmers. All the farmers stored manure in an open place. Majority of goat farmers raise their goats solely on browsing and grazing stubble of field crops, natural pasture and tree leaves. Majority of farmers did not possess their own breeding buck but they use community buck for breeding purpose. Middlemen (57.22 per cent) played a major role in marketing of goat in all categories of flocks, followed by butcher (36.11 per cent). Only one-fifth of flock owners dewormed their flocks yearly twice. None of the sample respondents vaccinated their goat against infectious diseases. Goats were marketed round the year (87.78 per cent) and about 12 per cent marketed their goats on special occasions. The major reasons for marketing was found to be the want of money to overcome financial problem (61.07 mean score) in case of bucks / male kids and culling due to old age (66.00 mean score) in case of breeding does. Majority of the sample backyard goat farmers did not follow scientific  management practices at their farm level, which warrants intensive extension programmes. Implementation of best management practices among backyard goat farmers in Cauvery Delta zone of Tamil Nadu would improve the profitability.

Mammary tumors are common in intact female animals. A nine year old intact, Labrador bitch was presented with a history of progressive swelling on the right inguinal mammary glands. Upon physical examination, it was tentatively diagnosed as a mammary tumor and confirmed with fine needle aspiration cytology as a mammary adenoma. A regional mastectomy was performed to remove the affected glands along with right inguinal lymph node. The bitch made an uneventful recovery with the resolution of clinical signs.

A three years old male pigeon weighing 400g (racing homer) was presented to Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital with the history of soft tissue growth on the keel region for the past six months and gradually increase in size was noticed. Physical examination revealed large tennis ball size soft tissue mass on the keel region. Cytological examination revealed the presence of inflammatory cells with serosanguineous background. Radiological examination revealed presence of soft tissue mass on the keel bone with no bony involvement. Surgical resection of tumour mass was performed under general anaesthesia. Histopathological examination confirmed liposarcoma in a pigeon. The bird recovered uneventfully on 10 th post-operative day without any complications.

A survey was conducted among the small holder dairy farmers in 80 Panchayaths of 14 districts in Kerala in order to evaluate the reproductive performance of crossbred cattle population in Kerala at field level. Analysis of the data showed that the herd size of cattle in Kerala was around 3 per house during the period of 2012 and 2013. Three fertility traits, age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI) and number of services per conception (NSC) were studied in detail and the averages of these traits were 1093 ± 10.52 days, 551 ± 48 days and 2.02 ± 0.01 services per conception, respectively. Fixed model analysis was carried out to see the effect of some of the major factors leading to variation in AFC, CI and NSC and found that there was significant difference in reproductive performances among different genetic groups. AFC and NSC of crossbred Holstein Friesian cows and CI of Sunandini cows were lower compared to other genetic groups. Other factors significantly influencing AFC were period of birth and season of birth. Apart from genetic groups, number of services per conception was influenced by type of semen used and also the level of peak milk production.

The present study was conducted to study the white blood corpuscles of Emu. The blood samples were collected from eight apparently healthy adult Emu birds and blood smears were stained with modified Wright stain for cyto-morphological studies of various white blood corpuscles. The Heterophils were round cells with lobed nucleus which was placed eccentrically. The Eosinophils often had a bi-lobed nucleus with abundant small, round, red - to - pink granules and light blue cytoplasm. The basophils cytoplasm had densely packed metachromatically stained granules. The small lymphocytes were irregularly round with round nucleus and a lacy chromatin pattern. The large lymphocytes had a homogeneous and an abundant cytoplasm which was more basophilic. The Monocytes were large cells with moderate amounts of blue - gray cytoplasm that occasionally had small discrete vacuoles. Their nuclei were pleomorphic with a lacy chromatin pattern. Deviation from the normal morphology of White Blood Corpuscles indicates disease and pathological conditions in Emu.

A study was carried out to check the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in ice cream marketed in Thrissur city, Kerala. Altogether 80 ice cream samples belonging to 10 different brands were randomly collected from different retail outlets of the city and were analysed for total viable count, coliform count and for the presence of Salmonella spp. The mean total viable count and coliform count in ice cream samples were 11.90±0.06 and 3.72±0.17 log cfu/g respectively. Thirty per cent of the ice cream samples exceeded the standards prescribed for coliform count by Food Safety and Standards Act (2006). Salmonella spp. was isolated from one of the ice cream samples. The presence of potential pathogen such as Salmonella in ice cream samples reveals the importance of strengthening the quality control measures to be followed during manufacture as well as storage and distribution of ice cream in order to reduce public health risk.

The identification and development of new and effective alternatives to antibiotics that do not hinder productivity assumes paramount importance in the context of antimicrobial resistance and food safety. In recent years, phytobiotics have been used as natural growth promoters in ruminants, poultry and swine, to improve growth and health. A wide variety of herbs, spices and essential oils have been used individually or as blends in poultry for their potential application as alternative growth promoters. In nursery and growing pigs supplemented with phytobiotics, intestinal pathogens were inhibited and beneficial microbial population that contributes to improving digestion and absorption of nutrients were increased resulting in increased weight gain and decrease in diarrheal syndrome. The inclusion of essential oils in the diet of finishing pigs, improved the productive yield and carcass characteristics. It also reduced the incidence of therapeutic treatment and mortality. Natural plant products have the potential to improve rumen fermentation, reduce loss of feed energy, improve animal health and productivity, increase animal lifetime performance, and reduce greenhouse gases production in ruminants. Phytobiotics with wide range of activities, is projected as a feed additive for higher market growth compared to other alternatives to antibiotics in the feed industry.

A study was planned to analyze the changes in livestock population growth rates and its trends in Tiruvarur district. Tiruvarur shares 2.94 per cent of goat and 2.1 per cent of cattle population to the respective population of Tamil Nadu. The remaining livestock species (buffalo, sheep, pig and poultry) including poultry share of Tiruvarur to states respective species population was negligible, contributing less than one per cent. Recent 20th census, evinced a positive growth rate with highest favourable growth rate of 64.65 per cent for poultry, followed by 2.3 per cent in cattle and 1.44 per cent for goat population of Tiruvarur. Negative growth rates were recorded for other species, which was found to be similar to the state population growth trend. Tiruvarur had a decrease in total livestock population and species-wise too showing negative growth rates between inter census period. Percentage population change over from the base year was 3.23% for goat whereas this was on negative trend for all other species. Analyzing the compositional share of livestock population, goat had the highest share with 53.03±2.62 per cent. All other livestock showed a decreasing trend from 16th to 20th census in Tiruvarur livestock population change. Inadequate infrastructure facilities (77.3%) topped among the five constraints analysed, followed by non-availability of feeds and fodders, mortality and environmental factors. Least constraint was found to be marketing facility. It can be concluded that increasing demand for goat meat, which fetch high remunerative price along with easy managemental practices and favorable conducive environment than other livestock, makes goat farming a highly suitable farming system for Tiruvarur.

A proper care, prompt reporting and immediate surgical inervention will save the life of the animal. A four year old pluriparous doe was presented with the history of dog bitten wound with eviscerated mass from the injured site at the left lateral aspect of the abdomen. The goat was kept on lateral recumbancy, on clinical examination revealed eviscerated rumen without any lacerations. Surgical area was prepared aseptically, under Inj. Xylazine as premedication and Inj. ketamine and inj. diazepam as induction anaesthesia reconstructive surgery was performed. Rumenotomy was performed to reduce the content and rumen was closed by the two rows of inversion suture. Peritoneum and transverse abdominus muscle were apposed by inversion suture pattern and oblique abdominus internus and externus muscle were apposed by interrupted suture pattern using catgut no 1. Skin was apposed by interupted suture pattern using cotton thread (no 8). Postoperatively Inj. Tetanus toxoid (5 Lfu), ceftriaxone @ 10 mg per kg and meloxicam @ 0.5 mg per kg were given intramuscularly and the animal was maintained with fluid therapy, antibiotic and analgesic for five days and animal recovered after one week.

A five year old Large White Yorkshire sow gave birth to a conjoined cephalothoracopagus, which was stillborn.