NABTEB Syllabus for Animal Husbandry

Are you preparing for the NABTEB Animal Husbandry exam? When preparing for the NABTEB exam, reading with the syllabus is far more effective than simply understanding it. The NABTEB Syllabus for Animal Husbandry is not just a guide, it’s the blueprint for your exam. Every topic, every objective listed is a pointer to where your exam questions will come from.

In this article, we have shared the complete NABTEB Syllabus for Animal Husbandry as approved by NABTEB. Study with it, revise with it, and you’ll be more confident when the exam day comes.

Complete NABTEB Animal Husbandry Syllabus

1. Pig Keeping (CAH 11, 18 & 21)

Pig Raising: Learners should be able to identify the major regions in Nigeria where pig farming is practiced, understanding environmental and economic factors that support pig rearing.
Pig Management Systems: Study the types of pig management practices, including free-range, semi-intensive, and intensive systems, explaining their advantages and disadvantages.
Pig Housing: Describe common housing structures used in pig farming, such as backyard round huts, and the materials used in their construction.
Feeding in Pigs: Understand the role of nutrition in pig production, including sources of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.
Feeding Requirements: Explain the importance of maintaining cleanliness in feeding areas and ensuring pigs have balanced diets appropriate to their age and production stage.
Terminologies in Pig Rearing: Define key terms such as boar, gilt, sow, farrowing, weaning, and finishing.
Pig Breeds: Identify common tropical pig breeds such as Large White, Landrace, and Duroc, and discuss their characteristics.
Breeding Systems: Explain out-breeding, crossbreeding, and inbreeding, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each; discuss issues related to infertility in pigs.
Nutrition and Digestion: Study the pig’s digestive system and how it processes various feed ingredients for growth and productivity.
Pig Diseases and Pests: Identify nutritional and infectious diseases common to pigs and recommend preventive and control measures.
Nutritional Requirements: Understand feed requirements from birth to maturity, including rations for piglets, growers, fatteners, breeders, and finishers.
Care and Management: Learn best practices for managing pigs at different stages — sows, boars, gilts, piglets, growers, and finishing pigs.
Routine Practices: Discuss day-to-day activities such as feeding, cleaning, vaccination, and inspection for health issues.
Record Keeping: Understand the importance of keeping production and health records, including birth dates, weight gain, treatments, and sales.
Processing: Explore the equipment and techniques used for slaughtering pigs and the preparation of pork and its by-products.

2. Poultry Raising (CAH 12, 16 & 23)

Importance of Poultry: Discuss the economic and nutritional value of poultry farming to small-scale and commercial farmers.
Poultry Species: Identify types of poultry including chickens, ducks, turkeys, and guinea fowls; describe their physical features and productive traits.
Management Systems: Explain the various systems such as free-range, battery cage, deep litter, and semi-intensive housing.
Poultry Housing: Describe features of poultry houses, including ventilation, lighting, space allowance, and construction materials suitable for tropical climates.
Feeding Practices: Understand nutrient needs for different poultry classes — chicks, growers, layers, broilers, and breeders.
Feeding Hygiene: Discuss clean feeding practices, the role of vaccination, and the prevention of feed contamination.
Poultry Terminologies: Define terms like brooding, debeaking, cockerel, pullet, and molting.
Exotic Poultry Characteristics: Highlight features like rapid growth, high egg production, and adaptability.
Feed Ingredients: Study the digestive system and how poultry converts various feed ingredients into meat or eggs.
Pests and Diseases: Identify endoparasites, ectoparasites, and common diseases such as Newcastle and fowl pox, along with control methods.
Climate Effects: Explain how environmental factors like heat and humidity affect poultry health and production.
Origin and Breeds: Compare local and exotic breeds in terms of productivity, disease resistance, and adaptability.
Site Selection and Housing Design: Discuss the significance of location, drainage, and housing layout for efficient poultry farming.
Poultry Equipment: Describe tools such as feeders, drinkers, brooders, and their specific functions.
Feed Composition: Understand formulation of balanced diets and the concept of feed conversion ratio (FCR).
Routine Management: Include practices like debeaking, despurrring, dubbing, and regular cleaning.
Hygiene and Disease Control: Learn how to prevent disease outbreaks through sanitation, vaccination, and proper handling.
Brooding and Hatching: Explain methods of natural and artificial hatching; define brooding and its importance.
Product Processing: Learn steps in egg and meat processing and marketing.
Record Keeping: Maintain records on growth, egg production, medication, and financial transactions.
Improving Local Chickens: Understand methods such as cock exchange and selective breeding for genetic improvement.

3. Rabbit Keeping (CAH 14, 20 & 22)

Importance and Breeds: Learn the benefits of raising rabbits and identify common breeds such as New Zealand White and Chinchilla.
Housing: Define rabbit housing needs and list materials like wire mesh and wooden frames for hutch construction.
Reproductive Characteristics: Describe sexual dimorphism, mating behavior, and kindling signs.
Feeding: Identify feed types (grasses, pellets, grains) and explain their nutritional contributions.
Health Management: Understand common diseases (e.g., coccidiosis, pneumonia), their symptoms, and prevention.
Terminologies: Know terms like buck, doe, weaning, kindling, and lactation.
Breed Characteristics: Discuss breed traits, growth rates, and adaptability; address challenges in rabbit keeping such as predation and disease.
Housing Materials: Study cost-effective materials and design features that promote cleanliness and comfort.
Breeding Techniques: Understand heat detection, mating intervals, pregnancy signs, and gestation length.
Nutritional Requirements: Learn daily feeding quantities for various stages of growth; understand classifications like fryers and breeders.
Common Ailments and Prevention: Identify ailments and implement hygiene routines for prevention.
Routine Management: Handle rabbits properly during feeding, mating, cleaning, and health checks.
Features of Good Housing: Differentiate maternity hatches from nest boxes; emphasize temperature control and ventilation.
Handling and Weaning: Learn care from birth through weaning, re-breeding strategies, and prevention of abortion.
Feed Efficiency: Discuss feeding practices for optimal weight gain, importance of fiber, and coprophagy.
Digestion System: Explain the structure and function of the rabbit’s digestive tract.
Records in Production: Keep records of mating, birth, weaning, weight gain, and mortality.
Rabbit Processing: Learn methods for humane slaughter, meat preparation, and use of by-products such as fur and manure.

4. Cattle Production

Economic Importance: Understand the role of cattle in agriculture, including meat, milk, manure, and labor.
Cattle Breeds in Nigeria: Identify breeds like White Fulani, Sokoto Gudali, and N’dama.
Terminologies: Define terms such as bull, steer, calving, lactation, and tools used in management.
Housing Systems: Discuss shelter requirements, bedding materials, and protection from weather.
Feeding and Nutrition: Identify feed types such as pastures, silage, and concentrates; understand energy and protein needs.
Disease Management: Learn to identify symptoms of diseases like foot-and-mouth and rinderpest and outline treatment methods.
Identification Methods: Explore ear tagging, branding, tattooing, and their uses.
Hybrid Breeds: Discuss crossbreeds for improved milk or meat yield.
Production Management: Explain systems like pastoral, ranching, and zero-grazing.
Hygiene Practices: Stress manure disposal, clean water supply, and regular inspection.
Reproduction: Understand the anatomy of reproductive systems, estrus signs, mating, and pregnancy management.
Products and Uses: Learn about milk, meat, hides, and manure, including their economic value.
Record Keeping: Maintain herd records on breeding, feeding, vaccination, and sales.
Best Practices: Recommend breeds for local conditions; discuss dry season feeding with crop residues and hay.
Healthcare and Quarantine: Explain quarantine practices and how to handle sick animals.
Age-Specific Management: Tailor management strategies for calves, heifers, bulls, and lactating cows.
Reproductive Health: Explain heat signs, abortion causes, and how to prevent reproductive failure.
Milking: Discuss milking hygiene, procedures, and milk handling.
Stock Selection: Highlight qualities to look for in bulls and heifers for replacement.

5. Goat and Sheep Production (CAH 15, 19 & 25)

Importance: Understand their roles in meat production, cultural practices, and income generation.
Breeds: Identify common Nigerian breeds like West African Dwarf, Red Sokoto, and Yankasa.
Management Systems: Compare extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive rearing, with their pros and cons.
Housing: Describe designs that prevent predator attacks and allow good ventilation.
Feeding Practices: Detail nutrient requirements and local feed sources including browses, grains, and supplements.
Health and Hygiene: Discuss disease prevention, vaccination, deworming, and the importance of clean housing.
Terminologies and Breeding: Define terms like buck, doe, kidding, lambing; explain breeding methods and care of pregnant animals.
Selection for Breeding: List traits like disease resistance, mothering ability, and good growth rate when choosing breeding stock.
Nutrition by Class: Describe feed requirements for kids, lactating does, breeding bucks, and fatteners.
Diseases and Vaccination: Identify common diseases such as PPR, mange, and foot rot; explain treatment and prevention.
Routine Management: Include feeding, watering, grooming, castration, and tagging.
Record Keeping: Emphasize documentation of health status, births, sales, and breeding history.

Candidates are strongly advised to study all the topics listed in the syllabus above. This is exactly where your exam questions will be drawn from, so don’t skip any section. Make sure to use the recommended textbooks and past questions as part of your revision, these resources will help you prepare effectively and understand the question patterns.

If you have any questions or need clarification on any topic, feel free to drop them in the comments section, and we’ll respond shortly. Kindly share this post with other candidates who might need it.

If you are looking for the syllabus for other NABTEB subjects, simply check our page.