WASSCE SHS
Animal production is the keeping of livestock for meat, milk, eggs, work or sale. The system has to match the feed the farmer can supply and the housing the animals need.
Cattle, sheep and goats are ruminants. They have a compound stomach, and the rumen holds microbes that digest fibre, so they can live on forage. Pigs and poultry are non ruminants. They cannot use grass the way a cow can, and their feed has to be richer in ingredients they digest directly. That difference decides the enterprise. A farmer with rough grazing and little cash for feed is closer to goats or sheep than to a broiler house. Mixing the two ideas, and feeding only grass to pigs, is a loss.
Extensive systems let animals range and use little extra feed or housing. Intensive systems keep animals housed, with bought feed, close records and a higher cost. Semi intensive systems do some of both: a house at night, or a run, and some grazing or scavenging by day. Poultry is often split by purpose. Broilers are kept for meat and are marketed young. Layers are kept for eggs and need a laying ration, nest space and a longer life on the farm. Chicks cannot keep themselves warm in the first weeks, so brooding supplies heat, dryness and protection. Health is management as well as medicine. Clean water, dry litter, enough space and a vaccination plan agreed with a veterinary officer prevent more losses than a treatment started after an outbreak. Newcastle disease is a serious poultry disease. The answer is that birds are vaccinated on a schedule. Do not invent a dose.
The General Agriculture tips guide sets out the papers, how to answer the essay and the practical, and the mistakes that cost marks. WASSCE General Agriculture tips
Ruminant means the animal can digest fibre with the help of microbes in the rumen, not merely that it has horns. Non ruminants in this syllabus are pigs and poultry. Name the system and one feature: extensive ranges, intensive is housed and fed. Broiler and layer are purposes, not breeds you need to invent. A disease answer that states a homemade dose scores nothing. Housing marks want ventilation, dryness, space and protection from rain and predators.
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
4 marks
(a) What is a ruminant? (2 marks)
(b) Name one ruminant and one non ruminant kept on Ghanaian farms. (2 marks)
(a) A ruminant chews the cud and digests fibre with the help of microbes in the rumen.
(b) A goat is a ruminant. A pig is a non ruminant.
4 marks
Distinguish between extensive and intensive systems of keeping livestock. (4 marks)
In an extensive system the animals range and receive little extra feed or housing. In an intensive system they are housed, fed by the farmer, and managed closely. The intensive system costs more and can produce more from a small area of land.
3 marks
State two reasons for brooding chicks, and one husbandry practice that reduces disease in a poultry house. (3 marks)
Chicks cannot keep themselves warm, and they need protection from predators and damp. Dry litter, or vaccination against Newcastle disease on a veterinary schedule, reduces disease.
More questions on this topic are inside glearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
Practise General Agriculture freeA ruminant, such as a cow, sheep or goat, digests fibre with microbes in the rumen and can live largely on forage. A pig or a bird cannot. Their feed has to supply more of what they digest directly.
A broiler is kept for meat and is marketed young. A layer is kept for eggs and stays on the farm through lay. They need different feed, and layers also need nest space. Chicks of either kind need brooding heat at the start. All WASSCE General Agriculture past questions