Animals can eat too much and become sick. For example, one of the sheep at Oxon Hill Farm became sick when she ate too much of the variety of food offered from visitors' hands. That is why we do not permit visitors to feed the animals. Some of the animals have to be groomed daily. Brushing horses, especially after they have been worked, is an important task because it cleans the sweat and salt from their pores and improves their blood circulation.
Most animals keep themselves clean if the farmer keeps their pens and stalls clean.
For example, animals are susceptible to colds and fevers, even aches. An illness like kidney stones is common to both man and his farm animals when the kidneys do not function properly. Of course, not all diseases are common to both people and animals. Animals have built-in fly swatters in their tails. Watch the cows swish their tails to shoo away flies.