n.
The branch of agriculture concerned with the care and breeding of domestic animals such as cattle, hogs, sheep, and horses.
animal husbandry
| Dictionary: animal husbandry |
n.
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: animal husbandry |
For more information on animal husbandry, visit Britannica.com.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: animal husbandry |
animal husbandry, aspect of agriculture concerned with the care and breeding of domestic animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, and horses. Domestication of wild animal species was a crucial achievement in the prehistoric transition of human civilization from hunting-and-gathering to agriculture. The first domesticated livestock animal may have been the sheep, which was tamed around 9000 B.C. in N Iraq. Around 6500 B.C., domestic goats were kept in the same region; about 6000 B.C. the pig was domesticated in Iraq; by 5900 B.C. (and perhaps 3,000 years earlier) there were domesticated cattle in Chad, while independently about 5500 B.C. there were domesticated cattle in SW Iran; and around 3500 B.C. the horse was domesticated on the Eurasian steppes. Nothing is known of the early development of husbandry; selective breeding for the improvement of livestock was already practiced in Roman times. Continuing systematic development and improvement of domestic livestock breeds, established in England following 1760 by Robert Bakewell and others, has been paralleled by advances in animal nutrition and veterinary medicine.
| Veterinary Dictionary: animal husbandry |
The methods employed in keeping domestic animals in such a way as to avoid their abuse but so as to provide food, fiber, entertainment and company at levels described as love, companionship, physical guidance, protection, shepherding. In many instances the overriding constraint is that the maintenance system must be cost-effective so as to provide an occupation for the owner. In other circumstances the rewards are less tangible and come within the ambit of emotional gratification or psychological dependence. In more pragmatic terms the discipline includes nutrition, genetics and breeding, housing, handling facilities and techniques, hygiene, sanitation, health maintenance and disease prevention, marketing, preparation for contests, physical and psychological training, culling, management in times of drought or other civil disaster, use of animal experiments and codes of practice for the management and transport of various classes of animals.
- a. h. advisors — a profession which supplies advice to animal owners on matters of husbandry.
| Wikipedia: Animal husbandry |
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
Animal husbandry, also called animal science, stockbreeding or simple husbandry, is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. It has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals.
The science of animal husbandry is taught in many universities and colleges around the world. Students of animal science may pursue degrees in veterinary medicine following graduation, or go on to pursue master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Graduates of these programs may be found working in the veterinary and human pharmaceutical industries, the livestock and pet supply and feed industries, farming, ranching or in academia.
Historically, certain sub-professions within the field of animal husbandry are named specifically for the animals in their care.
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Different types of animal husbandry
A swineherd is a person who cares for hogs and pigs (older English term: swine). A goatherd cares for goats. A cowherd cares for cattle, and a shepherd ("sheepherd") tends sheep. In the past, it was common to have herds which were made up of sheep and goats; the tenders of such also are called shepherds. Camels are also cared for in herds. In Tibet, yaks are herded. In Latin America, llamas and alpacas are herded.
In more modern times, the cowboys of North America, charros or vaqueros of South America, and farmers or stockmen of Australia tend their herds from horseback, all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes, in four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles and helicopters, depending on the terrain and livestock concerned.
Today, herd managers often oversee thousands of animals and many staff. Farms, stations and ranches may employ breeders, herd health specialists, feeders, and milkers to help care for the animals. Techniques such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer are frequently used, not only as methods to guarantee that females are bred, but also to help improve herd genetics. This may be done by transplanting embryos from stud-quality females into flock-quality surrogate mothers - freeing up the stud-quality mother to be reimpregnated. This practice vastly increases the number of offspring which may be produced by a small selection of stud-quality parent animals. This in turn improves the ability of the animals to convert feed to meat, milk, or fiber more efficiently, and improve the quality of the final product, and to make it enjoyable.
See also
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References
- Saltini Antonio, Storia delle scienze agrarie, 4 vols, Bologna 1984-89, ISBN 88-206-2412-5, ISBN 88-206-2413-3, ISBN 88-206-2414-1, ISBN 88-206-2414-X
- Clutton Brock Juliet, The walking larder. Patterns of domestication, pastoralism and predation, Unwin Hyman, London 1988
- Clutton Brock Juliet, Horse power: a history of the horse and donkey in human societies, National history Museum publications, London 1992
- Fleming G., Guzzoni M., Storia cronologica delle epizoozie dal 1409 av. Cristo sino al 1800, in Gazzetta medico-veterinaria, I-II, Milano 1871-72
- Hall S, Clutton Brock Juliet, Two hundred years of British farm livestock, Natural History Museum Publications, London 1988
- Janick Jules, Noller Carl H., Rhykerd Charles L., The Cycles of Plant and Animal Nutrition, in Food and Agriculture, Scientific American Books, San Francisco 1976
- Manger Louis N., A History of the Life Sciences, M. Dekker, New York, Basel 2002
External links
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Look up husbandry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Research Institute for Animal Husbandry
- Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding PAS
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- In situ conservation of livestock and poultry, 1992, Online book, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Environment Programme
- Dr. Temple Grandin's Web Page Livestock Behaviour, Design of Facilities and Humane Slaughter
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Animal husbandry". Read more |
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