Before you bring new animals home: a simple routine that protects your herd

You chose a vet-verified animal, checked the certificate and the ownership papers, and the transport went well. There is one more step that farmers with healthy herds never skip: keeping the new animal apart for a short time before it joins the others.

Why keep new animals apart

Even a healthy animal can be under stress after a sale and a journey, and stress can bring out an illness that was hidden. Some diseases take days to show. A short period of separation gives you time to see that the animal eats, drinks and moves well before it shares water, feed and space with your herd.

A simple routine for the first weeks

• Keep the new animal in a separate pen or paddock, away from your herd, for about two to three weeks, or as your vet officer advises.
• Give it its own water and feed troughs, and handle it after your other animals, not before.
• Spray or dip for ticks and deworm on arrival, following your vet officer's advice.
• Watch it every day: appetite, droppings, breathing, coughing, limping, discharge from the eyes or nose, sores on the mouth or feet.
• Call your vet officer at once if anything looks wrong, before the animal mixes with the herd.

Keep the records together

Put the vet certificate, the vaccination record, the movement permit and the sale agreement in one folder with the animal's tag number. You will need them for the next vaccination, for any future sale, and if you ever have to prove where the animal came from.

Healthy trading starts at the seller's farm

The safest purchases start long before the animal reaches your gate: a seller who had the animal checked by a vet officer, a buyer who asked for the certificate, a registered transporter and a careful welcome at home. Each step is simple on its own. Together they keep disease from moving from farm to farm, and they keep the whole livestock community stronger.

On Livestock Markets, look for the Vet-verified badge when you buy, ask for the papers, and use the platform's registered transporters. Your herd at home will thank you.