Animal Production and Husbandry
Feeding and breeding
Animal production rests on the digestive system. Ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) have a four-chambered stomach - rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum - and rely on rumen microbes to digest fibre. Non-ruminants (pigs, poultry) cannot use large amounts of roughage and need concentrates. Feed is classed as roughage (bulky, high fibre, low energy) or concentrate (high energy or high protein). Water is the cheapest nutrient and often the most limiting.
Know the vocabulary: maintenance ration, production ration, total mixed ration, palatability, digestibility and feed conversion ratio (FCR).
Breeding: oestrus cycle, signs of oestrus, service, gestation length (cattle about 283 days, sheep and goats about 150, pigs about 114, chicks hatch after 21 days), weaning, selection and culling. Separate stocking rate (animals actually carried per unit area) from carrying capacity (the number the veld can support sustainably) - a favourite trap.
Understand routine husbandry: identification, castration, dehorning, hoof trimming, dipping, vaccination, housing, handling facilities and the welfare needs of food, water, shelter, space and health.
Worked example - FCR: an animal eats 450 kg of feed and gains 45 kg live weight. FCR = feed consumed ÷ weight gain = 450 ÷ 45 = 10:1. A lower FCR means a more efficient animal; improving it usually means better feed quality or better health.