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African Dairy Outlook
DairyPost Africa • May 2014
improvement in the animal’s productivity they
also tend to increase the risk of production
related diseases that lead to poor animal
health and decreased productivity. This
reality causes farmers to focus their constant
attention on reducing disease in their animals,
but the effort they put forth in preventing
disease within their animals contains risks and
potential economic consequences that are
often underestimated.
In addition to welfare benefits, the humananimal interactions can also have a profound
impact on the productivity of farm animals.
Interactions by humans may be neutral,
positive or negative in nature. Regular
pleasant contact with humans may result
in desirable alterations in the physiology,
behaviour, health and productivity of farm
animals. On the contrary, animals that are
subjected to negative human interactions
tend to be highly fearful of humans and
their growth and reproductive performance
could be compromised. Farm animals are
particularly sensitive to human stimulation
that occurs early in life, while many systems
of the animals are still developing. This may
have long-lasting impact and could possibly
modify their genetic potential. A review
of research in commercial pig and dairy
farms has shown a significant sequential
relationships between the farm hand’s
attit