This question was fairly attempted by the candidates.  In question 7(a), majority of the candidates could not explain the following management practices in animal production:  steaming up; culling; candling; weaning; tattooing and creep feeding.

However, in questions 7(b) and (c), most of the candidates could list the signs of heat in animals and mention the reasons for castrating farm animals.

The expected answers include:

Explanation of management practices in animal production:

Steaming up:  This is a process of giving highly nutritious diet to a pregnant animal for a few weeks before parturition to stimulate milk synthesis and secretion.                                                               
Culling:             This is the removal of unproductive or diseased or abnormal  animal from the flock to prevent spread of diseases or create enough space for better production/performance.

Candling: This is a process by which hatchable eggs are placed on a device called candler with a high light source below it in a dark room to reveal the presence or absence of developing embryo.  This is normally done before the eggs are placed in an incubator and mid-way during incubation to detect the presence of dead embryos.

Weaning: This is the separation of the young animals from their mothers so that they can feed on their own and be independent of their mothers breast milk.

Tattooing: This involves the imprinting of signs/numbers/letters on the body or ears of animals and rubbing the imprinted marks with dye/paints to bring them out clearly for ease of identification.

Creep feeding:  This is the placement of special feed for young animals out of the reach of their mothers in a compartment within the same pen called cribs.