 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Livestock refers to domesticated animals, that may be kept or raised in pens, houses, pastures, or farms as part of an agricultural or farming operation, whether for commerce or private use. Such animals may include goats, sheep, beef or dairy cattle, horses, hogs, donkeys, rabbits or 'exotic' animals (those raised outside their indigenous environs) such as camels, llamas, emus, ostriches, or any animal, including reptiles, kept in an inventory that may be used for food, fiber or pleasure. There are some minor disagreements that the term may not appropriately apply to wild animals such as deer, elk, quail or other game animals that are raised for release on hunting preserves or for slaughter, or to poultry. In a broad sense, it may also include dogs, cats, or even butterflies. As well, while honey bees or bee keeping have not been classically thought of as livestock, their importance to the agricultural community in the United States was recognized by being included in the definition of livestock for crop insurance purposes in H.R. 2559, the "Risk Management for the 21st Century Act," which was passed in 2000. Generally, aquaculture (the raising of fish, mollusks, shrimp or other water-borne invertebrates) is not included within the term livestock.
The process of breeding, raising and caring for livestock is known as animal husbandry and is an important component of modern agriculture. The raising of livestock can be traced to the beginnings of human civilisation, when instead of hunting wild animals, humans began to capture animals for breeding.
Throughout history, livestock have been considered to be a form of wealth. Livestock are mentioned in many parts of the Bible and were used as forms of trade and given as gifts.1. In most cultures, livestock have historically been offered as animal sacrifices to atone for sin and appease the gods.
Most forms of livestock are herbivorous mammals. Various types of livestock are reared depending on the local conditions: climate, land type, native animals, and tradition all influence the predominant type of livestock in any given area. Given that there are over a hundred large land based mammals, it may be surprising that so few types are domesticated into livestock. The reason for this relative paucity is that most mammals do not meet one or more of the basic prerequisites necessary for domestication, such as having a readily available food source that can be controlled or supplied by humans, a rapid rate of reproduction, a moderate temperament2, and a social structure that meshes well with human intervention.
In developed countries the question of the welfare of livestock animals has resulted in animal welfare laws which specify the minimum conditions of care, housing, and transportation. The animal rights lobby argue that these are inadequate and seek tighter controls, and in extreme cases seeks the banning of the ownership of animals and the making the consumption of meat, dairy, and other animal products illegal.
Various types of livestock have been vital to agriculture throughout the world since the beginning of human civilisation. Some forms of livestock, such as goats and sheep, can be raised in areas inhospitable to cereal crops, allowing larger concentrations of people to live there.
In other areas, livestock could be used to supplement unreliable or uneconomical cereal crops. Raising livestock is less dependent on good weather and is less labour intensive than most forms of plant agriculture. Animals could graze on pasture unfit for human consumption.
For example, in Italy and Spain during the middle ages and early modern period, sheep were extremely important for the economy. The often dry weather and increasing numbers of crop failures during the 16th century encouraged landlords and other investors to switch from grain production to livestock-raising. Massive sheep migrations were regulated by the governments, and formed a large portion of the tax base for the Kingdom of Spain. Wool from these sheep formed the basis for the economy in Spain and was vitally important in Italy. The government established vast networks of sheep walks with sufficient pasture lands, in order to facilitate the winter migrations of herds of millions of sheep and thousands of shepherds. Government officials also regulated the rotation of shepherds on pasture to smooth their movement. These governments would then levy duties on the products, such as wool, cheese, hides, and meat, produced from sheep moved along the road. Sheep manure was also used as a fertiliser to augment grain harvests.
In other areas, including most of northern Europe, livestock was usually held in smaller numbers. In these areas, higher levels of rainfall allowed for larger animals such as cows to be raised. Many cultures had provisions for common grazing land.
Historically, livestock has provided the following benefits to humanity:
NOTE: The information below deals with the use of certain animals in the specific area of livestock. For more general information on these animals, such as their biology, evolution, habitat, etc, please see their corresponding main articles.
At the most basic level, animals are kept in enclosures of some sort, are fed by some means (given access to natural or human-provided sources of food), are usually bred (preferred breeding times, methods, etc. all depend on local conditions and tradition) and are either slaughtered for meat and animal by-products, or are milked or shorn for animal by-products.
Livestock may be kept in confinement in very small areas as with rabbits or veal cattle, in fenced pastures, or on large open ranges where they are only occasionally collected in "round-ups". Herding dogs such as sheep dogs and cattle dogs may be used for this as are cowboys on horseback or sometimes in helicopters. Since the advent of barbed wire and electric fencing technology, fencing pastures has become much more feasible. In some cases, very large numbers of animals may be kept in indoor or outdoor feeding operations, where the animals' feed is processed and stored on site and then fed to the animals. Because of their size, the quantity of waste involved, fly and odour problems, potential for groundwater contamination, animal welfare and other factors, these facilities are highly regulated and are controversial in some areas.
See: factory farming, feedlot, hog lot
Livestock may be branded, marked, or tagged to denote ownership or for inventory, breeding, health management, or other purposes.
Modern farming techniques mainly focus on the automation of the various tasks involved, and intervention to increase yield or animal health. Successive improvements of traditional techniques have mostly focused on these same goals. Economics, quality, and consumer safety all play a role in how animals are raised. Drug use, and feed supplements (or even feed type) may be regulated, to ensure yield is not increased at the expense of consumer health or safety or animal welfare. Practices vary around the world, for example, growth hormone use is permitted in the United States, but not in the European Union (or countries selling meat/produce in the EU).
Livestock constitute a major source of epidemic diseases – these diseases have had a significant impact on history. When an agricultural society which raises livestock comes in contact with a non-agricultural society, often diseases spread to the latter group (who lack any resistance), which can have devastating consequences.
The following table lists diseases which originally infected livestock and can now infect humans:
| Disease | Source animal |
|---|---|
| Smallpox | Cattle |
| Tuberculosis | Cattle |
| Measles | Cattle |
| Influenza | Pigs, ducks |
| Pertussis | Pigs, dogs |
Other diseases can be transmitted from animals. Mad cow disease is transmitted between cattle which are fed food containing cattle brains and spines. It is postulated that the disease vector causing Mad cow disease can also be transmitted to humans who eat infected cattle, causing the fatal disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Though this connection has not been conclusivley proven, over 95% of identified cases of vCJD are in Britain, which suffered a mad cow disease epidemic in the mid to late 1980s. Mad cow disease has led to a ban on using cattle by-products in cattle feed.
Other diseases may be transmitted from livestock to humans include bird flu and some may originate from the bacteria E. coli O157:H7. Also, anthrax was called the woolsorter's disease because the skin form of the disease could be contracted from handling raw wool. Anthrax may be contracted from cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and antelopes.
The use of antibiotics in animals that end up in the human food chain is controversial. The issue of antibiotic resistance has limited the practices of preventative dosing such as antibiotic-laced feed.
Livestock are also subject to other diseases. Veterinary certificates are often required before transporting, selling, or showing animals. Disease-free areas are often rigorously enforced. Foot and mouth disease (FMD) led to a massive government sheep and cattle kill in the north of England in 2001. Six million animals were killed to stop an outbreak with 2,000 confirmed cases. Bison which wander out of Yellowstone National Park are routinely shot to prevent the possible spread of brucellosis to Montana cattle.
Since many livestock are herd animals, they were historically driven to market "on the hoof" to a town or other central location. During the period after the American Civil War, the abundance of Longhorn cattle in Texas and the demand for beef in Northern markets led to the popularity of the Old West cattle drive. This method is still used in some parts of the world. Truck transport is now common in developed countries. Local and regional livestock auctions and commodity markets facilitate trade in livestock. In other areas livestock may be bought and sold in a bazaar, such as may be found in many parts of Central Asia, or a flea market type setting such as the First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas.
Stock shows and fairs are events where people bring their best livestock to compete with one another. Organizations like 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) encourage young people to raise livestock for show purposes. Special feeds are purchased and hours may be spent prior to the show grooming the animal to look its best. In cattle, sheep, and swine shows, the winning animals are frequently auctioned off to the highest bidder and the funds placed into a scholarship fund for its owner.
The intensive rearing of livestock has led to practices that some people consider repugnant and unethical. This has resulted in laws, which specify minimum welfare levels, and in political campaigns from those who wish to see them extended. Animal welfare groups campaign for tighter laws and more enforcement. Animal rights groups may go even further and seek the end to all exploitation of livestock.
Animal husbandry practices which have led to legislation in some countries and which may be the subject of current campaigns
Livestock can have an enormous impact on its local environment. Since livestock is often kept in huge numbers, unnaturally concentrated numbers, their most basic needs can place huge burdens on ecosystems. The most obvious problem is with their waste matter. If improperly handled it can seep into groundwater with devastating results. Other grazing species, such as goats, sheep, and cows can completely defoliate areas, destroying rare plants and the animals that depend on them, and sometimes leading to erosion.
Most environmental impacts can be lessened by keeping only limited numbers of animals in a given area.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
