Chapter 10

Anatomy and Physiology

of Farm Animals

Reasons to Learn
Anatomy and Physiology

To describe animals in judging

Selection of animals for breeding purposes
Improved husbandry
Improved health care

Definitions
Gross anatomy: structures can be seen with
unaided eye
Microscopic anatomy: tissues are studied
using a microscope (magnification of 401000 times), also called histology
Comparative anatomy: comparisons
between species

Definitions (continued)
Embryology: study of development in
utero or within the egg (e.g. birds)
Morphology: pertaining to structure
Physiology: pertaining to body-organ
function, individually and collectively in
systems

Terms to Describe Location

Dorsal: top or back of a tetrapod

Ventral: belly or underside of a tetrapod
Cranial (anterior): towards the front
Caudal (posterior): towards the rear

Cutaneous Anatomy
Skin consists of two layers: epidermis
(outer layer of epithelial cells) and dermis
(corium, composed of connective tissue and
vessels)
Glands of the skin include sebaceous (oily)
and sweat (sudoriferous) glands
The dermis also contains sensory nerves
and arrector pili muscles

Cutaneous Anatomy (continued)

Hair is produced by hair follicles in the skin
of cattle, goats, horses and swine
Sheep produce wool (finer texture, soft and
curly)
Birds are covered with feathers

The Skeletal System

Mammals and birds have an endoskeleton
consisting of the long bones of the legs, ribs,
vertebrae, and skull
The outer layers of bones consist of calcium
and mineral while the inner core is a soft
tissue known as bone marrow (red marrow
is a site of blood cell production while
yellow marrow is primarily fat)

The Skeletal System (continued)

Epiphyses are the ends of bones
Diaphysis is the shaft of a long bone
Growth occurs in the epiphysial-diaphysial
cartilage
The epiphysial-diaphysial cartilage
gradually becomes calcified and replaced
by bone, once it is totally ossified bone
growth stops

Types of Joints

Ball-and-socket (shoulder)
Hinge (elbow)
Pivot (neck)
Gliding (vertebrae)
Ligaments span joints outside the joint
capsule, within the capsule is synovial fluid

The Muscular System

Voluntary (striated)
Skeletal muscles (connect to bones via tendons)

Extensor (straighten)
Flexor (bend)
Abductor (move away from midline)
Adductor (move towards midline)

Involuntary (smooth or striated)

Digestive, urogenital, respiratory system walls
Cardiac (heart)

Muscle Metabolism
Aerobic
ATP breaks down to ADP releasing energy
Muscle glycogen breaks down to generate more
ATP, produces lactic acid which is oxidized to
carbon dioxide and water producing energy
which liver can use to resynthesize glycogen

Muscle glycogen can also be converted

anaerobically to lactic acid but without
oxygen cannot be converted back to
glycogen (build up of an oxygen debt)

Circulatory System Components

Heart
Veins, arteries, capillaries
Lymph vessels and lymph nodes
Spleen
Red marrow (bone marrow)

Heart
Typical human heart pumps 60,000 miles of
blood through blood vessels each day
By 70 years of age a human heart will have
beaten over 2.5 trillion times and pumped
more than 435,000 tons of blood

Vessels of Circulatory System

Arteries
Thick muscular walls
Carry blood away from heart

Veins
Thin walled with valves
Carry blood towards heart

Capillaries
Tiny, one-cell thick

Systemic Circulation
Heartbeats are coordinated by the sinoatrial
node (pacemaker of the heart)
Systemic circulation refers to the heart and
vessels that move oxygenated arterial blood
from the left atrium and ventricle
throughout the body and then returns it via
veins into the right atrium (from which it
goes into the right ventricle and then the
pulmonary circulation)

Portal Circulation
This is a subset of the systemic circulation
located in the abdominal cavity
Takes venous blood from the stomach,
pancreas, small intestines and spleen
through the liver for filtering and processing
of nutrients prior to return to the heart

Pulmonary Circulation
The pulmonary artery receives
unoxygenated blood from the right ventricle
and carries it into the pulmonary circulation
Within pulmonary capillaries associated
with alveoli of the lungs, oxygen diffuses
into the blood while carbon dioxide is
released into the airways
Pulmonary veins then return the now
oxygenated blood to the left atrium

Lymphatic System
Lymph vessels collect tissue fluids, are
filtered through lymph nodes and then
returned to veins of the circulatory system
Lymph nodes filter out foreign cells and
materials and produce lymphocytes
Lymphocytes produce antibodies and also
destroy foreign and infectious cells

Blood Composition
50-65% of blood volume is plasma
Contains 90% water
10% solids include salts, proteins, enzymes,
antibodies, hormones, vitamins, minerals,
glucose, clotting factors, etc. (clotting of plasma
leaves a fluid called serum)

35-50% blood cells

Red blood cells (erythrocytes)
White blood cells (leukocytes)
Platelets

Hemoglobins
Hemoglobin within erythrocytes gives them
their red color
Consists of heme (an iron-containing
porphyrin) and a globin (a protein)
Readily absorbs oxygen forming
oxyhemoglobin

Abnormalities in Hemoglobin
Anemia = inadequate amount of
hemoglobin (or decreased #s of
erythrocytes)
Sickle-cell hemoglobin (result of a gene
mutation, common in some races of people)

Blood Types
Antigens are substances capable of
producing an immunological response,
usually in the form of specific antibodies
directed against the antigen
Red blood cells can have a variety of cell
surface antigens coded for by different
genes
Different antigens = Different blood types

Blood Types
Antibodies against cell surface antigens will
agglutinate cells (clumping)
Humans: A, B, O series (genes A, B, a)
Gene A produces antigen A
Gene B produces antigen B
Gene a does not produce antigens

Human Blood Types (continued)

AA and Aa combinations = Type A

BB and Ba combinations = Type B
AB combination = Type AB
aa combination = Type O

Human Blood Antibodies

Individuals of Blood type A have B antibodies
Individuals of Blood type B have A antibodies
Individuals of Blood type AB do not have
antibodies
Individuals of Blood type O have both A and B
antibodies (but no antigens on their own blood
cells)

Human Transfusions
Type A can receive type A or type O blood
Type B can receive type B or type O blood
Type AB can receive any blood (universal
recipient)
Type O can only receive type O blood (but
can donate to anyone, universal donor)

Human Rh Factor
Another type of antigen on human
erythrocytes is the Rh factor
If have Rh factor are called Rh positive
If lack Rh factor are called Rh negative (and
will produce antibodies against Rh positive
cells if received from a transfusion or
during birth of an Rh positive baby to an Rh
negative mother---do not occur naturally)

Erythroblastosis Fetalis
When an Rh positive baby is born to a mother
previously sensitized and producing antibodies to
Rh, these antibodies can cross the placenta and
agglutinate the erythrocytes of the baby resulting
in severe anemia or death
Sensitization can often be prevented by treating an
Rh negative mother with an anti-Rh gamma
globulin immediately after the birth of each Rh
positive baby

Neonatal Isoerythrolysis in Animals

= Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn
In farm animals and horses, antibodies to
erythrocytes are transferred in colostrum
rather than across the placenta
When the offspring is of a blood type to
which the dam has produced antibodies,
absorption of colostrum will be followed by
destruction of the neonatal animals red
blood cells (isoerythrolysis) and its death

Neonatal Isoerythrolysis (Hemolytic

Disease of the Newborn)
This condition is most common in Arabian
horses but can occur in other horse breeds
and less often in other species
Prevent by checking to see if the plasma of
the dam agglutinates red cells of the sire, if
so the foal may be at risk and should not be
allowed to consume colostrum from the
mare until its blood has also been checked

Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn

Affected animals are normal at birth but
become weak and jaundiced after nursing
Treatments involve blood transfusions and
feeding a milk replacer while milking out
the dam until she is no longer producing
colostrum

Blood Typing
Blood typing tests for cell surface antigens
Useful in parentage testing
Certain blood types are associated with
superior performance (e.g. egg hatchability
and egg production in chickens), others with
genetic disease (e.g. PSS and PSE in swine)
Useful in avoiding problems of blood
incompatibility (for transfusions and
breeding of domestic animals)

White Blood Cells (Leukocytes)

Cells of bone marrow origin, segmented nuclei
Neutrophils (phagocytic; increase with stress and
with bacterial infections, decrease with some viral
infections)
Eosinophils (granules stain red with eosin dye; are
phagocytic; increase with parasitic infections and
allergies)
Basophils (phagocytic; increase with some
parasitic infections)

White Blood Cells

Cells of bone marrow origin continued
Monocytes (single non-lobed nucleus;
phagocytic; increase with chronic
infections)
Thrombocytes (platelets; non-nucleated
particles function in hemostasis)

White Blood Cells (continued)

Lymphocytes

Produced in lymph nodes, spleen, thymus

Single large nucleus
Some produce antibodies
Others are involved in immune surveillance and
destruction of foreign materials and tumor cells
Can be cultured and used in chromosome
studies

The Digestive System

Species differences
Ruminants have four compartments to stomach:
rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum
Poultry have a crop, proventriculus, ventriculus
Horses have a large cecum

Accessory organs
Liver, pancreas, salivary glands

See chapter 19 for more detail

The Respiratory System

Nostrils (paired)
Nasal Cavity
Pharynx
Epiglottis
Larynx
Primary bronchi
Bronchioles

Respiratory
bronchioles
Alveoli
Birds also have a
voice box syrinx and
air sacs
Respiratory center (in
medulla of brain)

The Nervous System

Provides animals with ability to react or
adjust to stimuli
Coordinates physical activities
Provides pathways for the actions of all
senses

The Nervous System

Central Nervous System
Brain
Spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

Somatic nerves (serve muscles, skin)
Autonomic nerves (serve the visceral organs)

Nerve Cells and Pathways

Neurons (nerve cells)
Axon (single long fiber of a nerve)
Dendrites (branches off axon), receive
stimuli from a receptor organ or another
nerve, conduct impulses to other nerves via
synapses

Peripheral Nerves
Bundles of neurons bound together form a
nerve trunk, these may be covered with
myelin forming a medullary sheath
A bundle of nerve cell bodies found
together outside the CNS is called a
ganglion
Neurons receiving stimuli are termed
sensory or afferent neurons
Neurons conducting impulses are called
motor or efferent neurons

Gross Anatomy of the Brain

Cerebrum
Cerebellum
Pons
Medulla oblongata

Spinal Cord
Located within the vertebral column
Main line between the brain and each part
of the body
Sensory (afferent) impulses come in
through dorsal roots of the spinal nerves
Motor (efferent) impulses are transmitted
through the ventral roots of the spinal
nerves

The Urinary System

Kidney Shapes
Lobulated: cattle, chicken
Heart-shaped: horse
Bean-shaped: pigs, sheep

Kidney architecture
Cortex
Medulla
See Figure 10.20

The Urinary System

Excretory products

See Figure 10.21

Salts
Urea (most mammals)
Uric acid (birds, reptiles, Dalmatian dogs,
humans)