A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for specialized units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fiber, biofuel, and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings, and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times, the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or at sea.
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the first crops. By the time of early civilisations such as ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms.
Glanbia plc is an Irish global nutrition group with operations in 32 countries. It has leading market positions in sports nutrition, cheese, dairy ingredients, speciality non-dairy ingredients and vitamin and mineral premixes. Glanbia products are sold or distributed in over 130 countries. While Europe and the USA represent the biggest markets, the Group are continuing to expand into the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Glanbia's primary listing is on Euronext Dublin. The Group has four segments; Glanbia Nutritionals, Performance Nutrition, Glanbia Ireland and Joint Ventures & Associates, with a combined workforce of over 7,000 employees in 32 countries.
Bone meal is a mixture of finely and coarsely ground animal bones and slaughter-house waste products. It is used as a dietary supplement to supply calcium and phosphorus to monogastric livestock in the form of hydroxyapatite. As a slow-release organic fertilizer, it supplies phosphorus, calcium, and a small amount of nitrogen to plants.
Ridley Inc. is an American-based company that manufactures and markets a broad range of complete feed rations, nutritional supplements, feeding blocks and vitamin/mineral premixes directly to livestock producers and through dealer organizations from 29 production plants in the United States. The company has corporate offices in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It has a Canadian registered office in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
ContiGroup Companies, Inc (CGC) was founded by Simon Fribourg in Arlon, Belgium, in 1813 as a grain-trading firm. Formerly known as Continental Grain, ContiGroup has expanded into a multinational corporation with offices and facilities in 10 countries while employing more than 13,500 people worldwide. Today, CGC is one of the largest privately held corporations in the United States.
Intensive animal farming, industrial livestock production, and macro-farms, also known as factory farming, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production while minimizing costs. To achieve this, agribusinesses keep livestock such as cattle, poultry, and fish at high stocking densities, at large scale, and using modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. The main products of this industry are meat, milk and eggs for human consumption.
Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word feed more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input to animal agriculture, and is frequently the main cost of the raising or keeping of animals. Farms typically try to reduce cost for this food, by growing their own, grazing animals, or supplementing expensive feeds with substitutes, such as food waste like spent grain from beer brewing.
Chelates in animal feed is jargon for metalloorganic compounds added to animal feed. The compounds provide sources of various metals that improve the health or marketability of the animal. Typical metals salts are derived from cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, and zinc. The objective of supplementation with trace minerals is to avoid a variety of deficiency diseases. Trace minerals carry out key functions in relation to many metabolic processes, most notably as cofactors for enzymes and hormones, and are essential for optimum health, growth and productivity. For example, supplementary minerals help ensure good growth, bone development, feathering in birds, hoof, skin and hair quality in mammals, enzyme structure and functions, and appetite. Deficiency of trace minerals affect many metabolic processes and so may be manifested by different symptoms, such as poor growth and appetite, reproductive failures, impaired immune responses, and general ill-thrift. From the 1950s to the 1990s most trace mineral supplementation of animal diets was in the form of inorganic minerals, and these largely eradicated associated deficiency diseases in farm animals. The role in fertility and reproductive diseases of dairy cattle highlights that organic forms of Zn are retained better than inorganic sources and so may provide greater benefit in disease prevention, notably mastitis and lameness.
The palm kernel is the edible seed of the oil palm fruit. The fruit yields two distinct oils: palm oil derived from the outer parts of the fruit, and palm kernel oil derived from the kernel.
Novus International, Inc. is an American animal health and nutrition company headquartered in St. Charles, Missouri. Novus is privately owned by Mitsui & Co. and Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. and operates in over 90 countries. Novus' products include amino acids, organic trace minerals, feed preservatives, and various health and nutrition products. Its customers include animal nutritionists, veterinarians, and individual animal owners.
Inorganic feed phosphates (IFP) are inorganic salts of phosphoric acid. The use of inorganic feed phosphates is necessary to meet the phosphorus requirements for animal production: to ensure optimal growth, fertility and bone development.
Agrifirm is a cooperative enterprise in which more than 10.000 Dutch farmers and horticulturalists have combined their purchasing power. Agrifirm in its current form was founded in 2010 due to a successive merger of regional cooperatives. The enterprise operates as a link for farmers being currently active throughout the entire Netherlands. The Coöperative also has business units in Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Brazil, Uruguay and China. The head office is located in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.
Poultry feed is food for farm poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese and other domestic birds.
Risk assessment for organic swine health is the process of evaluating the likelihood and potential impact of various factors that may affect the health and well-being of organic swine. Risks associated with organic swine farming may differ to those associated with non-organic swine farming, and is of increasing relevance due to growth in the sector. While organic swine farming makes up a small share of U.S. swine farming overall, numbers have increased significantly in recent years. Additionally, non-certified organic swine herds are not accounted in official statistics. Consumer demand, stemming from the larger organic agriculture movement has helped spur growth in this industry.
Vilofoss is a company that produces and trades with vitamin and mineral premixes for the feedstuff industry. Vilofoss is a brand name that consists of four companies in four different countries; Vitfoss is placed in Denmark, Calcialiment in France, Deutsche Vilomix in Germany and Fodermix in Sweden. They all operate in their country land but when they are trading on international markets, they do it under a mutual name – Vilofoss. Vilofoss has a total of 14 factories producing vitamins and minerals under brands such as: Vitfoss and Stormøllen (Denmark), Fodermix (Sweden), Calcialiment and Echarm (France), Deutsche Vilomix (Germany) and Vilofoss. Vilofoss is already one of the three biggest companies in the European market.
Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab, officially DLG, is a Danish co-operative company owned by Danish farmers. The main business areas are farm supplies, vitamins and minerals, service and energy. Activities comprise trade in seed grain, grain and other crops, animal nutrition, vitamins and minerals for animal feed and fuel for agriculture. DLG’s principal markets are Denmark, Germany and Sweden, but export across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America also constitutes a large part of the business. The exports comprise malting barley, feed grain and bread grain, rapeseed and rapeseed oil.
Electrovite is manufactured by Dominion Veterinary Laboratories (DVL) Inc., based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company is Western Canada's largest manufacturer and distributor of veterinary pharmaceuticals, and describes itself as a family business. DVL has export ties to Trinidad, the Middle East and South Korea and was a 1999 Canada Export Award recipient.
Biomin is an animal health and nutrition company headquartered in Inzersdorf-Getzersdorf, Austria. Biomin develops and produces feed additives and premixes for livestock animals including swine, poultry, dairy and beef cattle as well as aquaculture.
Feed manufacturing refers to the process of producing animal feed from raw agricultural products. Fodder produced by manufacturing is formulated to meet specific animal nutrition requirements for different species of animals at different life stages. According to the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), there are four basic steps:
- Receive raw ingredients: Feed mills receive raw ingredients from suppliers. Upon arrival, the ingredients are weighed, tested and analyzed for various nutrients and to ensure their quality and safety.
- Create a formula: Nutritionists work side by side with scientists to formulate nutritionally sound and balanced diets for livestock, poultry, aquaculture and pets. This is a complex process, as every species has different nutritional requirements.
- Mix ingredients: Once the formula is determined, the mill mixes the ingredients to create a finished product.
- Package and label: Manufacturers determine the best way to ship the product. If it is prepared for retail, it will be "bagged and tagged," or placed into a bag with a label that includes the product's purpose, ingredients and instructions. If the product is prepared for commercial use, it will be shipped in bulk.
