Introduction To Animal Production Section of - (AGR1231 1631) 2024
Introduction To Animal Production Section of - (AGR1231 1631) 2024
Prof JJ Baloyi
Department of Animal Science
[email protected]
Ext 9006
• Livestock: Animals raised by man for food, non-food products and work.
• Livestock farming produces food on 57% of the land that cannot be directly used for
crops (marginal land), providing ecosystem services.
• Animal production, in particular herbivores, contributes to food security by utilizing
grazing marginal land that is not able to produce plant products.
• Types of livestock:
➢ Ruminant animal
➢ Non ruminants (monogastric animals)
Livestock
➢ Large ruminants
A B
➢ Small ruminants –
B
A
The digestive system of a ruminant
The digestive system of a Pig (Monogastric animal)
Non-ruminant grazing animals –
C
A
B
Non-ruminant, non-grazing animals.
A B C
D E F
Resources for livestock production
1. Land
2. Finance
Livestock products and uses
• Foods – Meat, milk, eggs
• Materials – These are non-food livestock products that can be regarded as farm
outputs.
• Major livestock materials:
➢ Hides, skin, pelt,
➢ Wool,
➢ Hooves,
➢ Offal e.g., Intestines
➢ Manure used for:
• soil fertility, as
• fuel and building material
➢ Work: Livestock are used for work in the following ways
• Land improvement e.g. contour ploughing, drainage,
• Soil preparation: ploughing, hoeing, harrowing
• Crop husbandry: seeding with drills
• Crop processing: threshing
• On-farm transport
• Off-farm transport: trade and marketing
Production systems of livestock
• Zebu breeds:
• Originated from the hybridization of zebu with indigenous African humpless
cattle. e.g. They include Red Fulani, Ankole-Watusi, and Boran
• Extensive systems are suited for wool production with Merino sheep and meat
production with Merino, Merino types, Dorper sheep and Karakul sheep for pelt
production.
• Goat meat is produced from Pedi and Boer goats.
• Sheep yield more secure income in arid regions because of continued wool growth
during dry seasons and more rapid recovery after droughts.
• They are physiologically adapted to semi-arid conditions and more tolerant to
saline drinking water since high salinity is a feature of bore-hole water in the drier
regions.
Goats are better adapted to harsh extensive conditions than sheep or
cattle because they are:
• More heat tolerant
• Can withstand dehydration
• Can survive on very low planes of nutrition, utilizing desert shrubs and coarse
roughages
• Browsers and their bipedal stance gives them an advantage over sheep with
bush and trees
• More active and selective
• Able to walk long distances in search of food and relish a variety of feeds
• Can digest coarse, fibrous feeds more efficiently than sheep or cattle
• Some goats yield milk for human consumption; Angora yields Cape mohair.
Management of small stock
Pedi Damara
and Namaqua
Afrikaner
PIG PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Production systems
• There are several systems in poultry production and the one adopted depends on:
✓ Space
✓ Time
✓ Finances and inclination
✓ The needs of the hens themselves
The systems of poultry production are:
• Birds find their own food and therefore feeding cost are greatly reduced
• The birds help to spread cow dung when they follow cattle
• The droppings of the birds themselves help to fertilize the soil.
Disadvantages
• Grazing is controlled
• Fresh grass is available all the time
• There is no build-up of droppings with consequent parasites and
diseases
• The hens are safer from predators
2. Semi-intensive system