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The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as the environment's maximal load, which in population ecology corresponds to the population equilibrium, when the number of deaths in a population equals the number of births. Carrying capacity of the environment implies that the resources extraction is not above the rate of regeneration of the resources and the wastes generated are within the assimilating capacity of the environment. The effect of carrying capacity on population dynamics is modelled with a logistic function. Carrying capacity is applied to the maximum population an environment can support in ecology, agriculture and fisheries. The term carrying capacity has been applied to a few different processes in the past before finally being applied to population limits in the 1950s. The notion of carrying capacity for humans is covered by the notion of sustainable population.
The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, Equus africanus, and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, Equus africanus asinus, or as a separate species, Equus asinus. It was domesticated in Africa some 5000–7000 years ago, and has been used mainly as a working animal since that time.
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. During the period of ancient societies like ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms.
Pasture is land used for grazing.
In agriculture, rotational grazing, as opposed to continuous grazing, describes many systems of pasturing, whereby livestock are moved to portions of the pasture, called paddocks, while the other portions rest. Each paddock must provide all the needs of the livestock, such as food, water and sometimes shade and shelter. The approach often produces lower outputs than more intensive animal farming operations, but requires lower inputs, and therefore sometimes produces higher net farm income per animal.
A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazing. The work is often done either on foot or mounted.
A feedlot or feed yard is a type of animal feeding operation (AFO) which is used in intensive animal farming, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in the United States and intensive livestock operations (ILOs) or confined feeding operations (CFO) in Canada. They may contain thousands of animals in an array of pens.
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible cellulose within grass and other forages into meat, milk, wool and other animal products, often on land that is unsuitable for arable farming.
Common land is collective land in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
Automatic milking is the milking of dairy animals, especially of dairy cattle, without human labour. Automatic milking systems (AMS), also called voluntary milking systems (VMS), were developed in the late 20th century. They have been commercially available since the early 1990s. The core of such systems that allows complete automation of the milking process is a type of agricultural robot. Automated milking is therefore also called robotic milking. Common systems rely on the use of computers and special herd management software. They can also be used to monitor the health status of cows.
Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production. The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operations, backgrounding, and feedlot operations. The production cycle of the animals starts at cow-calf operations; this operation is designed specifically to breed cows for their offspring. From here the calves are backgrounded for a feedlot. Animals grown specifically for the feedlot are known as feeder cattle, the goal of these animals is fattening. Animals not grown for a feedlot are typically female and are commonly known as replacement heifers. While the principal use of beef cattle is meat production, other uses include leather, and beef by-products used in candy, shampoo, cosmetics, and insulin.
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.
The concept of an animal unit (AU) has traditionally been used in North America to facilitate planning, analysis and administration of forage use by grazing livestock, but the term has also had other applications. The term has been variously defined by regulation in different jurisdictions, and by livestock management specialists, rangeland resource managers and others. Consequently, when using or interpreting the term, care is needed to ensure that a definition appropriate for the purpose is being used. Most definitions are based on the concept that a 1000-pound (454 kg) cow, with or without an unweaned calf, is one animal unit, with such a cow being assumed to consume 26 pounds of forage dry matter per day.
The Latxa is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Basque Country of Spain. Mostly contained within the provinces of Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Navarre and, Cantabria are dairy sheep whose unpasteurized milk is used to produce Idiazábal and Roncal cheeses. There are two sub-types of the breed, a dark-faced and a blonde.
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting in order to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals who are raised for consumption, and sometimes used to refer solely to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and goats. Horses are considered livestock in the United States. The USDA classifies pork, veal, beef, and lamb (mutton) as livestock, and all livestock as red meat. Poultry and fish are not included in the category. The latter is likely due to the fact that fish products are not governed by the USDA, but by the FDA.
A cow calf operation is a method of rearing beef cattle in which a permanent herd of cows is kept by a farmer or rancher to produce calves for later sale. Cow–calf operations are one of the key aspects of the beef industry in the United States and many other countries. In the British Isles, a cow–calf operation may be known as a single-suckler herd. The goal of a cow–calf operation is to produce young beef cattle, which are usually sold. A rancher who works within such a model is often called a cow–calf operator in the United States.
Creep feeding is a method of supplementing the diet of young livestock, primarily in beef calves, by offering feed to animals who are still nursing. Creep feed is sometimes offered to swine, and it is possible with companion grazing animals such as sheep and goats. Creep feeding is used almost exclusively in situations where animal prices are high, feed costs are low, offspring are born in the spring, and the animals are purebred.
Agriculture has in the past been a major part of the economy of Wales, a largely rural country which is part of the United Kingdom. Wales is mountainous and has a mild, wet climate. This results in only a small proportion of the land area being suitable for arable cropping, but grass for the grazing of livestock is present in abundance. As a proportion of the national economy, agriculture is now much less important; a high proportion of the population now live in the towns and cities in the south of the country and tourism has become an important form of income in the countryside and on the coast. Arable cropping is limited to the flatter parts and elsewhere dairying and livestock farming predominate.
Goat farming involves the raising and breeding of domestic goats as a branch of animal husbandry. People farm goats principally for their meat, milk, fibre and skins.
Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture (AnGR), also known as farm animal genetic resources or livestock biodiversity, are genetic resources of avian and mammalian species, which are used for food and agriculture purposes. AnGR is a subset of and a specific element of agricultural biodiversity.
References
- 1 2 Cattle Scheme Literature: Notes for Guidance 2003, UK Rural Payments Agency, 2003 (pp 11 & 25)
- 1 2 Chesterton, Chris, Revised Calculation of Livestock Units for Higher Level Stewardship Agreements, Technical Advice Note 33 (Second edition), Rural Development Service, 2006 (Table figures for unlisted ruminants calculated from weights given in relevant Wikipedia articles) Archived June 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 FAO paper about Tropical Livestock Units Archived 2011-02-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Nix, J. 2009. Farm Management Pocketbook. 39th Ed. Corby: The Andersons Centre.
- ↑ Jasper Womach, Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - 1 2 "P Chilonda and J Otte, Indicators to monitor trends in livestock production at national, regional and international levels, Livestock Research for Rural Development, 18 (8), 2006, Article #117". Archived from the original on 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
- 1 2 Compendium of Agricultural-Environmental Indicators, Annexe 2: Definitions, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (includes different values for various regions)
- ↑ Coefficients de conversion des animaux en unités de gros bétail (French) Archived 2012-10-11 at the Wayback Machine : Conversion factors for livestock units.
- ↑ La Commission Européen: Agriculture et Environnement (French) Archived 2010-01-02 at the Wayback Machine European Commission, Agriculture and Environment (English version) Archived 2016-03-19 at the Wayback Machine .
- ↑ McLaren, Colin, Agriculture Note AG0590: Dry sheep equivalents for comparing different classes of livestock, State of Victoria, Department of Primary Industries, 1997. Archived 2011-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Cornforth, I S and Sinclair, A G, Fertiliser Recommendations for Pastures and Crops in New Zealand, 2nd Ed (New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture, Wellington, New Zealand, 1984), quoted in A History of the Stock Unit System, New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture Archived 2010-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ New Zealand Livestock Units on Ruralfind Archived 2010-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Horse stocking rates in Dry Sheep Equivalents" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2008-08-03. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
- ↑ McGregor, Bruce, Agriculture Note AG0998: A Guide to the Grazing Requirements of Fibre and Meat Goats, State of Victoria, Department of Primary Industries, 2007
- ↑ Glossary. Archived 2012-07-15 at the Wayback Machine Casalp.
- ↑ Tropical Livestock Units (TLU) Archived 2011-02-23 at the Wayback Machine . Paper about livestock units from Livestock and Environment Toolbox. FAO (auf fao.org).
- ↑ P. Chilonda, J. Otte: Indicators to monitor trends in livestock production at national, regional and international levels. Archived 2022-03-08 at the Wayback Machine In: Livestock Research for Rural Development 18 (8), 2006, Article #117 (auf lrrd.org).
- ↑ Besatz, Begriffsunterteilung. duden.de