Diversity and seasonal occurrence of coccidia in a communally reared mixed flock of sheep and goats at Mafikeng, North West Province, South Africa, was determined between March 2008 and February 2009. Faecal specimens were collected directly from the rectum of the animals and the number of oocysts per gram of faeces (opg) determined. The mean monthly opg for goats was significantly higher than that for sheep. Higher oocyst counts were observed during the hot, rainy season than during the cold, dry season. The highest mean values for both the sheep (862.5 opg) and goats (1200 opg) were recorded during March. Six species (Eimeria crandallis, E. bakuensis, E. weybridgensis, E. ahsata, E. intricata, and E. ovinoidalis) were recovered from sheep, with E. crandallis and E. bakuensis occurring most frequently. The last 2 species, together with E. ahsata, are considered among the most pathogenic species in sheep. In goats, 7 species (E. arloingi, E. jolchijevi, E. caprina, E. alijevi, E. caprovina, E. christenseni and E. hirci) were recovered, with E. arloingi and E. jolchijevi occurring most frequently. Up to 5 Eimeria species were recovered from individual specimens in goats while up to 4 were recovered in sheep. No cross-infections between goats and sheep were recorded and no clinical coccidiosis was noted during the study. It is increasingly becoming evident that the pathogenic E. arloingi is one of the most commonly occurring Eimeria species in goats in South Africa.

The efficacy of Moringa oleifera seed extract (MSE) in broiler nutrition is unknown. Thus, this study evaluated the effect of administering MSE through drinking water on physiological responses, carcass and meat quality traits, and bone parameters in Cobb 500 broilers. One-day-old male chicks (n = 250, 58.1 ± 0.23 g live-weight) were randomly allotted into five treatments of five replicates. The treatments were: negative control with drinking water only (NC); a positive control with 5 g probiotic (containing Aspergillus oryzae, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, and Lactobacillus acidophilus; bacterial count of 5 × 10⁸ CFU/g) added into 1 L of drinking water (PC), 60 mL MSE/L drinking water (MSE₆₀); 90 mL MSE/L drinking water (MSE₉₀); and 120 mL MSE/L drinking water (MSE₁₂₀). The MSE groups promoted higher (p < 0.05) carcass weights than the PC and NC control groups. Spleen weights quadratically responded to MSE levels. Gizzard weight, duodenum length, acidic goblet cell count (GCC), and total duodenal and ileal GCC linearly increased with MSE levels. Tibia weight, bone breaking strength, and tibia calcium showed linear increases whereas tibia length and tibiotarsal index showed linear decreases with MSE levels. It can be concluded that the administration of MSE via drinking water improved carcass weights, intestinal morphology, and some meat and bone quality parameters of the birds.

Moringa oleifera seed extract (MSE) contains phytochemicals that can improve chicken production and health. However, the amount that can be orally administered to the birds is unknown. Thus, this study investigated the optimum level of MSE, administered through drinking water, on nutrient digestibility, growth performance, and haematological and serum biochemical parameters in broilers. A total of 250, one-day-old Cobb 500 male broilers (58.11 ± 0.23 g live-weight) were randomly allocated into five treatments with five replicates of 10 birds each. The treatments were: a negative control involving drinking water only (T1) and positive controls with 5 g multi-strain probiotic/L water (T2), 60 mL MSE/L water (T3), 90 mL MSE/L water (T4), and 120 mL MSE/L water (T5). Crude protein and neutral detergent fibre digestibility linearly decreased, whereas overall water intake and weight gain in one-week-old birds increased linearly (p < 0.05) as MSE levels increased. T1 promoted higher (p < 0.05) overall feed intake and feed conversion ratio than the other treatment groups. All haemato-biochemical parameters were within the range for healthy birds, from which a maximum MSE dosage was determined to be 94.75 mL/L. It can be concluded that oral administration of MSE improved overall feed utilisation efficiency of the chickens.

A retrospective study covering the period 2000-2010 was conducted using post mortem meat inspection records of the Provincial Veterinary Department to determine the prevalence, seasonal and sex related variations in the occurrence of Cysticercus bovis infections . Records of monthly and annual returns from three randomly selected abattoirs in the Northwest province were examined with regards to total cattle slaughtered and post mortem inspection results. Between 2000 and 2010, a total of 393 858 cattle were slaughtered at the 3 abattoirs. The overall prevalence of C. bovis was 0.2 percent. 52 percent of the positive animals were female although the difference was not significant (p<0.05). The prevalence was significantly (p<0.05) higher (0.3 percent) at low through put abattoirs than at high through put abattoirs (0.2 percent). The prevalence reduced slightly from 0.2 to 0.1 percent after 2005 although the decrease was not significant. The dry season also had a non-significantly higher prevalence of 0.2 percent than the 0.1 percent over the wet seasons. Only abattoir type had influence on prevalence, with the low through put abattoirs recording a significantly higher rate.

The establishment of complementary native grass species could be an ideal method of dealing with existing problems of veld degradation and inadequate forage quantity and quality of pastures. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of native grasses viz., Anthephora pubescens, Cenchrus ciliaris, Chloris gayana, Dactylis glomerata, Digitaria eriantha, Eragrostis curvula, Festuca arundinacea, Panicum maximum and Themeda triandra. Attributes at different growth stages on agronomy, morphology and chemical composition were checked. Panicum maximum had the broader (p < 0.05) leaves across all growth stages when compared to all other grass species. Festuca arundinacea had highest (p < 0.05) number of tillers than C. ciliaris, C. gayana, D. glomerata, D. eriantha, E. curvula, P. maximum and T. triandra at 2–4-months age. Within each species, all grasses had the highest (p < 0.05) number of leaves at maturity. Chloris gayana, D. glomerata and P. maximum had the highest (p < 0.05) biomass yield when compared to F. arundinacea at the elongation stage. Eragrostis curvula had the highest (p < 0.05) crude protein (CP) values when compared to all other grasses, except for D. glomerata, F. arundinacea and P. maximum at the elongation stage. Panicum maximum and T. triandra had the least (p < 0.05) acid detergent lignin (ADL) values when compared to all other grasses at both vegetative and the elongation stages. In the ranking, C. ciliaris, C. gayana, D. eriantha, E. curvula, P. maximum and A. pubescens outperformed the rest of the grasses on most parameters. With the low crude protein (CP) content of these grasses, protein supplementation is highly crucial for high performing ruminants, especially those animals that graze grasses as their sole diets.