Animal management Flashcards
Overview
What do we use animals for?
- Meat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Wool/skins/fibres
- Power/transport
- Manure
- Store of capital
Negatives of livestock?
- Overgrazing and desertification leading to lower infiltration rates and more rain run off = more flooding
- Deforestation leading to lower infiltration rates and more rain run off = more flooding
- Manure chemical damage
- Global warming (CO2 and methane increase) leading to droughts, sea level rise, increased global temperature
- Land being used primarily for livestock and not urban populations
- Increased disease outbreaks from livestock
What are livestock value chains?
The full range of activities involving different processes that are required to take an animal product to consumers
What is vertical integration in livestock value chains and what is it used for?
- Companies or regulators that control processes in the chain
- Used to control food safety, food security and fluctuations in demand/supply)
What is agribusiness?
- The process and management of farming purely based on economical measures
- It involves all steps required to send an agricultural good to market (e.g., processing, mass production, input sectors)
- Agribusinesses facilitate domestic/international relationships to maximise competitive advantage
What are the core drivers of agribusiness?
- Maximising profitability & minimising costs
- Resource allocation (e.g., supply of products for the supple chain)
- Supply chain optimisation
- Cost management
- To maintain comparative and competitive advantage
What 3 things does economic analysis require?
- Production outputs
- Inputs
- Prices
What are outputs?
Revenue you got into your farm from products
What is productivity ?
The conversion efficiency of inputs into outputs
What are the 3 aspects of outputs?
+ examples
- Animals that move OUT
- Sale of products (milk, eggs, wool etc…) - positive
- Sale of animals - positive - Animals that move IN
- Purchased animals - negative - Change in herd VALUE
- Value at the beginning (-) is lower than value at the end (+)
What are the 2 types of costs and what are they + examples?
- Variable costs
- Those that vary in the short-term
- Animal health inputs such as vaccines, drugs
- Concentrate feeds
- Mineral supplement
- Forage costs (cost of feeding livestock) - Fixed costs
- Those that vary in the long-term
- Salaries for permanent staff
- Rent
- Electricity, water, petrol
What are gross margins and how are they calculated?
- A measure of financial efficiency in terms of another enterprise (a comparison)
- Gross margin = Output - Variable costs
How do you interpret the results of a gross margin analysis?
The higher the gross margin, the more revenue a farm retain (i.e. profits) therefore the more efficient they are
Do you round gross margin values?
- When calculating gross margins on small farms, we round values
- When calculating gross margins on large farms we don’t round values
What factors alter food consumption?
- Population
- Household income
- Food prices
- Food preferences
What are supply chains (agri-chains)?
The physical flow of goods that are required for raw materials to be transformed into finished products
(similar to livestock value chains - they include vertical integration)
What are value chains (agri-chains)?
A group of companies working together to create value of a product at each link which achieves sustainable competitive advantage
What kind of floors are best suited to pigs and poultry in sheds?
(4 things + reasons)
- Warm floors
- To avoid hypothermia
- e.g., underfloor heating - Slatted floors
- To allow faeces and urine to fall through
- Prevents disease spread - Dry floors
- Wet floors can cause injury, foot disorders and disease - Adequate bedding depth
- For absorbing moisture at lower levels and an aerated top layer for insulation
What kind of bedding is most commonly used in pig and poultry sheds?
(3 things)
- Straw
- Sawdust
- Wood shavings
What are the 4 types of ventilation and what are they?
- Natural ventilation
- Air escapes from the building by its own means
- Or removal may be wind-assisted
- Passive ventilation - Positive pressure ventilation
- Forcing air into a building usually with a fan
- Active ventilation - Negative pressure ventilation
- Extracting air from a building usually with a fan
- Active ventilation - Ducted ventilation
- Duct through which air is delivered within a building.
- Active ventilation
What does ventilation control?
(4 things)
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Transfer of airborne pathogens
- Air quality
What is the optimum temperature for piglets?
25-30 degrees
What is the optimum temperature for finishing pigs and sows?
13-21 degrees
What is the optimum temperature for day old chicks?
35 degrees
