Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Membership Exam (RCVS) Farm Animal and Production Medicine Syllabus

Farm Animal and Production Medicine syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Farm Animal and Production Medicine in Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Membership Exam (RCVS), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Cattle Health and Production

   5 topics

   • Dairy herd health
     • Mastitis and milk quality
     • Lameness and locomotion scoring
     • Transition cow and metabolic disease
   • Bovine reproduction and fertility
     • Fertility management and pregnancy diagnosis
     • Dystocia and obstetric intervention
   • Calf and youngstock health
     • Neonatal diarrhoea and colostrum management
     • Bovine respiratory disease
   • Endemic and notifiable cattle disease
     • Bovine tuberculosis testing and control
     • BVD, IBR and Johne's disease
   • Common cattle surgery and field procedures
2. 2

   Sheep and Goat Medicine

   4 topics

   • Flock health planning
     • Reproductive management and lambing
     • Body condition and nutrition
   • Lameness and infectious disease
     • Footrot and contagious ovine digital dermatitis
     • Abortion agents and zoonotic risk
   • Parasitic disease and resistance
     • Gastrointestinal nematodes and anthelmintic resistance
     • Liver fluke and sustainable control
   • Metabolic and clostridial disease
3. 3

   Pig and Poultry Production

   4 topics

   • Pig health and welfare
     • Respiratory and enteric disease complexes
     • Reproductive and herd management
   • Notifiable pig disease
     • African and classical swine fever
     • Swine vesicular and foot-and-mouth differentials
   • Poultry flock health
     • Major viral and bacterial diseases
     • Avian influenza and Newcastle disease
   • Biosecurity in intensive systems
4. 4

   Herd Health, Epidemiology and Food Safety

   4 topics

   • Population medicine and epidemiology
     • Disease investigation and outbreak management
     • Surveillance and biosecurity principles
   • Antimicrobial stewardship in farming
     • Responsible use and resistance monitoring
     • Recording and reduction strategies
   • Food chain safety and meat inspection
     • Withdrawal periods and residues
     • Ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection roles
   • Welfare at slaughter and transport
     • Humane handling and stunning
     • Transport regulations and fitness to travel

Farm Animal and Production Medicine flashcards for Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Membership Exam (RCVS)

21 of 51 cards from the Farm Animal and Production Medicine deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In dairy herd health, what is the standard target calving interval, and why is a longer interval economically costly?

   Target calving interval is approximately 365–390 days (around 1 calf per cow per year). Longer intervals cost money through reduced lifetime milk yield, fewer calves, more days in low-yield late lactation, and increased involuntary culling.

2. Define the bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC) threshold used in the UK/EU as the regulatory limit for cow's milk entering the food chain.

   The legal limit is a rolling geometric mean BMSCC of $\leq 400{,}000$ cells/mL. Individual cows above $200{,}000$ cells/mL are generally regarded as having subclinical mastitis.

3. What is the dry period new infection rate used in mastitis monitoring, and its target?

   Dry period new infection rate = proportion of cows with SCC $<200{,}000$ cells/mL before drying off that are $>200{,}000$ cells/mL at the first test after calving. Target is $<10\%$.

4. Distinguish contagious versus environmental mastitis pathogens with a key example of each.

   Contagious pathogens spread cow-to-cow at milking (e.g. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae). Environmental pathogens come from bedding/surroundings between milkings (e.g. Escherichia coli, Streptococcus uberis).

5. What is the typical gestation length of the cow, and when does the voluntary waiting period (VWP) usually end?

   Gestation is about 280 days (around 9 months). The VWP — the deliberate delay before re-breeding — typically ends around 42–60 days postpartum to allow uterine involution.

6. Define the 21-day pregnancy rate (PR) used to monitor dairy fertility and give the formula.

   Pregnancy rate combines heat detection and conception: $$PR = \text{Heat detection rate} \times \text{Conception rate}.$$ It is the proportion of eligible cows that become pregnant in each 21-day cycle; good herds achieve $\geq 20\%$.

7. In bovine reproduction, what does the term 'repeat breeder' (phantom cow) describe, and a common cause?

   A repeat breeder is a cow with normal cycles that fails to conceive after 3+ services despite no detectable abnormality. Causes include sub-optimal AI timing, early embryonic death, and subclinical endometritis.

8. What hormones make up the 'Ovsynch' protocol for fixed-time AI in cattle?

   Ovsynch uses GnRH (day 0) to ovulate/luteinise a follicle, prostaglandin $\text{PGF}_{2\alpha}$ (day 7) to lyse the corpus luteum, then a second GnRH (day 9) to synchronise ovulation, with fixed-time AI 16–20 h later.

9. Define dystocia and state the normal anterior (cranial) presentation of a calf at birth.

   Dystocia is difficult or prolonged parturition. Normal calving presentation is anterior longitudinal: both forelimbs extended with the head resting between them ('diving' posture), in dorso-sacral position.

10. What is the recommended first-feed colostrum target for newborn calves, summarised by the '3 Qs' rule?

    The 3 Qs: Quality (colostrum $\geq 50$ g/L IgG, Brix $\geq 22\%$), Quantity (feed $\sim 10\%$ of bodyweight, about 3–4 L), Quickly (within the first 2 hours, ideally $<6$ h while gut closure is incomplete).

11. Define failure of passive transfer (FPT) in calves and the serum IgG/total protein threshold used to diagnose it.

    FPT is inadequate absorption of maternal immunoglobulins. It is diagnosed by serum IgG $<10$ g/L (or serum total protein $<5.5$ g/dL / refractometer Brix $<8.4\%$) at 1–7 days of age.

12. What are the two main syndromes of calf disease responsible for most youngstock mortality, and the predominant age window for each?

    Neonatal calf diarrhoea (scours), predominant in the first 2–3 weeks, and bovine respiratory disease (BRD/pneumonia), predominant from about 3 weeks to 6 months.

13. List the four principal infectious causes of neonatal calf scour and their typical age of peak incidence.

    Rotavirus (5–14 days), Coronavirus (5–21 days), Cryptosporidium parvum (5–28 days), and enterotoxigenic E. coli K99 (first 1–4 days).

14. Which two notifiable cattle diseases are the focus of the UK statutory bovine eradication/surveillance schemes for TB and brucellosis?

    Bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) and Brucellosis (Brucella abortus). The UK is officially brucellosis-free; bTB is controlled by routine SICCT (single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin) testing.

15. Explain the basis of the SICCT (tuberculin) test interpretation in cattle.

    Avian and bovine tuberculin are injected at separate cervical sites; skin thickness increase is measured at 72 h. A reactor shows a bovine response exceeding the avian response by a set margin (standard interpretation: bovine $>$ avian by $>4$ mm), indicating M. bovis sensitisation.

16. Name three notifiable epizootic/exotic diseases affecting cattle that must be reported to APHA in the UK.

    Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), Bluetongue virus, and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). (Also lumpy skin disease, rinderpest, and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.)

17. What is the causative agent of BSE, and what feed-control measure was central to eradicating it?

    BSE is caused by a prion (misfolded $\text{PrP}^{Sc}$ protein). Control centred on the ruminant feed ban — prohibiting meat-and-bone meal/mammalian protein in ruminant rations — plus removal of specified risk material (SRM).

18. Describe the standard flank approach used for left flank field surgery in cattle.

    Performed in the standing animal under paravertebral or inverted-L line block. A vertical incision is made in the left paralumbar fossa (mid-flank), giving access to the rumen (rumenotomy) or for left-displaced abomasum correction and caesarean.

19. What is a left displaced abomasum (LDA), and name two correction techniques.

    LDA is gas-filled abomasum trapped between the rumen and left body wall, common in early-lactation dairy cows. Corrections: right paramedian/right flank omentopexy or pyloropexy, left flank abomasopexy, or the toggle-pin (blind suture) technique.

20. Define 'disbudding' versus 'dehorning' in cattle, and the legal anaesthesia requirement in the UK.

    Disbudding destroys the horn bud (calves, usually $<2$ months, by hot iron) before horn attachment; dehorning removes a developed horn. UK law requires a local anaesthetic (cornual nerve block) for both, except chemical/rubber-ring disbudding within the first week.

21. In flock (sheep) health planning, what do scanning percentage and rearing percentage measure, with typical lowland targets?

    Scanning % = lambs scanned per 100 ewes tupped (target $>175\%$ lowland). Rearing % = lambs reared per 100 ewes (accounting for losses $<15\%$). Pre-weaning lamb growth target is around 250–300 g/day.

See more Farm Animal and Production Medicine flashcards →

Planning Farm Animal and Production Medicine for Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Membership Exam (RCVS)

Farm Animal and Production Medicine (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Membership Exam (RCVS)) FAQ