What are the advantages of animal husbandry?

Answer 1

Animal husbandry can affect the environment because animals are a vital and thriving part of most ecosystems, and if they are eradicated, or in any way dominated, by humans, it can throw the entire ecosystem into imbalance.

Answer 2

There are a few people/groups out there, particularly those groups who oppose animal agriculture altogether, that believe that animals' lives should not be controlled by humans, no matter how well those animals are being kept or how healthy and happy those animals are.

There are people who believe that it is better to leave the horns on a growing steer, or to not band or cut bulls. There are many people believe that pig's tusks should not be clipped, nor chick's beaks docked, nor lambs tails docked. They believe dairy calves should not be taken away from their mommas. They also believe that cows and bulls should not be culled for slaughter, nor any meat animal to be butchered for meat, no matter how stringent practices are in the slaughter plant to stun/kill an animal as quick and as painless as possible.

Animal husbandry does include docking the tails of lambs, castrating lambs, bull calves and bulls, horses and pigs. It also includes dehorning, detusking, and debeaking. Many of the groups are opposed to this because of the argument that animals are creatures that have emotional and physical feelings like we humans do. But the problem with that is, we can't be treating every animal like they are human beings, because they are not.

Here are the reasons why some of these humane things I listed have to be done to these animals:

Docking tails of lambs and piglets

Tails must be docked because they don't accumulate all the poo and burrs and what-not that a tail accumulates being dragged through grass and brush. Feces that accumulate on the back of a undocked ewe or ram invite what is called "Fly-strike." As you all know, stinky, decomposing stuff, be it feces or dead animals, attract flies. Flies mate and lay their eggs in this decomposing matter to allow their offspring, the maggots, to feast on this disgusting stuff. Maggots that are feasting on a live animal invites severe illness and eventually death. This is especially a problem with ewes after giving birth to several lambs, because the after-birth tend to hang off of the tail instead of landing on the ground. Tails must be docked in sheep to prevent fly-strike and keep the back-ends of the sheep clean, consequentally keeping the sheep itself healthy.

With piglets, pigs confined to a small space get bored easily. They like to chew on things, and another pig's tail is often a victim of that chewing behaviour. And when the blood starts flowing, pandamonium ensues, with the rest of the pigs in that pen trying to get at the pig with the now stubby, and bleeding tail. Docking tails in piglets deters this from happening. However often tail docking is unnecessary in pigs that are being pasture-grazed or free-range and have lots of things to keep them occupied away from chewing another pig's tail.

Dehorning

Horns are dangerous. That is very obvious. They pose a hazard to not just the people working with the animals, but to the animals around this horned beast, be it a cow, bull, steer or heifer, or even in sheep and goats. Horns cause injury, and if fighting gets really serious among some cattle, even death. Many breeders who want to leave the horns on their animals must be more cautious than if they were working with polled (not horned) livestock. Horned Herefords, for example, have horn weights put on their horns so they grow down, instead of up and out. Yes, dehorning is painful, and the animal must be restrained against his/her will to be dehorned, but the benefits outweigh the costs overall.

Detusking

Just like with dehorning, tusks in pigs are sharp and dangerous: they're like fangs on a wolf or cougar. They can gore, rip and tear open another pig or a human leg, causing serious injury. Pigs bite when they want or need to, and it's not fun being bit by a pig. Horses also have these canines, and they bite too; with these canines, they can inflict injury to other animals and humans if they have a mind to, just like with pigs. That's why, at a young age, all pigs that are being kept in a barn, or are just being kept in the barn yard, have to be detusked. Foals have to have their canines removed as well. It is painful to the animal, yes, but again, like with dehorning, the benefits outweigh the costs.

Castration

This has caused a bit of controversy over the years, but there are main and obvious reasons behind castrating bulls, stallions/colts, boars, ram lambs and billy goats: Testosterone. Testosterone is what drives these animals to sex, to mate, and to compete for females among other males, no matter if they are of the same species or not. In many livestock, testosterone invites more outbursts of agressiveness which can cause harm and injury to other animals and humans, as well as potential property damage. Intact males who smell the pheromones of a female in heat are pretty much unstoppable or are harder to control and work with than castrated males who do not have that sex drive.

Many reasons for castration include too many males in a herd or flock to manage or no need to have extra breeding males around; have inferior genetics or poor conformation to what a good breeding male should have; to slow population growth (especially with pigs, dogs and cats); decrease fighting and injury among the males who do fight among themselves, etc.

Bulls, rams, and billy goats are often castrated without anaesthesia. This is because the scrotum with the testes inside hang down away from the body, making it easier to band (esp. at a young age [i.e., a few days after birth]) or cut without much fuss or struggle. With males that have their testes more closer and up against their body cavity, like dogs, cats, boars and stallions, often anaesthesia is necessary to prevent excess shock or pain from the animals being de-nutted. Often male piglets are not put under because of their young age (just babies!), so instead they are held by one person while the other one cuts and pulls. I know it sounds cruel, but they, especially the young ones, act as if nothing really happened to them and go back to grazing or nursing.

Debeaking

Debeaking involves chickes having the tips of their beaks clipped off. This is far more common with the layers and broilers than with free-range, pasture-fed chickens. Chickens are sociable creatures, and when stuck in a cage with nothing else to do except lay eggs, they tend to get a little board, and will start pecking at the cage or one another. Chickens are canabalistic too, so if there's a hen or rooster that has a injury, or the cloaca is a bit red and swollen, other chickens will think that red thing at the victim's rear is something tasty. So they start pecking at it, and pretty soon these un-debeaked chickens will have gutted that poor chicken alive. Debeaking prevents this from happening, and thus minimizes injury and possibly a horrible death, much horrible than being electricuted before slaughter.

Answer 3

Lots of animals refuse to breed in an unfamiliar habitat. Also the individual animals may refuse to breed with each other for the same reasons that in the wild animals fight over mates and parade to females. The female may refuse the male because she finds him unsuitable as a mate.

Answer 4

Weather (drought, flood etc)

Availability of grazing (weather related, urban pressure on grazing lands)

Diseases (Foot and Mouth, Mad Cow Disease etc.)

Fluctuating prices (labor, meat prices, transport, processing costs, fodder, veterinary etc.)

Predators (some farms are located in areas where cattle can be lost to wild predators)

Answer 5

There are several problems in agriculture. One of the main problems is pests. There is a huge problem with bugs eating the plants.

Answer 6

Mankind can feed themselves by farming various animals rather than ranging over the prairies.