Productive animal: definition, species, breeds

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Productive animals are called animals bred by man in order to obtain meat, milk, wool, etc. For example, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits belong to this category. In another way, such animals are called agricultural.

Cattle

These animals are currently considered the most productive in the world. Modern breeds of cows are capable of producing up to 7 thousand liters of milk per year. Moreover, from one such artiodactyl, you can also get up to 500-800 kg of meat.

In addition, farms that raise cows and bulls supply light industry with leather, from which they later sew clothes and make shoes. In ancient times, cattle (cattle) were often used as a draft force. It is bred in almost all regions of the world, with the possible exception of the Far North and deserts. They keep cows and bulls both in private backyards and on farms. Very often, large agricultural holdings specialize in their breeding.

Because cattle is the most popular type of productive animal, there are manyattention is paid to him, of course, and breeders. There are many highly productive breeds of such cattle. At the same time, they are all divided into two large categories:

• meat productivity;
• dairy.

Animals belonging to the first group are distinguished, first of all, by their large weight. In addition, beef young cattle are valued by farmers for their precocity. Cattle belonging to the second group are bred for milk production. Such cows are slaughtered only after several years of keeping.

The best meat breeds of cattle at the moment are:

• Kazakh white-headed;
• Hereford;
• Kalmyk.

The most productive dairy breeds are:

• Holstein;
• black-and-white;
• Dutch;
• Kholmogory;
• red steppe.

In Russia, only dairy breeds of cows are traditionally bred. Beef cattle breeding in our country at the moment as an industry is practically absent, and, as a rule, only enthusiastic farmers practice it.

Sheep

These productive animals are bred by man for their meat, wool and skins. The advantages of sheep as productive animals include the following qualities:

• unpretentious content;
• high degree of precocity;
• small capital investment in the first stage of organizing a farm;
• rapid population growth;
• not too much cost of feed.

In livestock breeding, all currently existing breeds of sheep are classified into four main groups:

• fine-wooled;
• semi-fine-fleece;
• semi-coarse;
• coarse.

From the breeds belonging to the type of fine-fleece, several of the most common can be distinguished: Soviet merino, Kazakh and Sal. The best coarse-haired are Kuchugurovskaya, Karachaevskaya, Edilbaevskaya. Of the semi-fine-fleeced, farmers most often breed sheep of the Tsigai breed and Georgian fat-tailed. The most common semi-coarse-haired breeds are the Tajik, Kargaly and Saraja.

Goats

These productive animals are bred for wool, skins, down and milk. In terms of care, goats are perhaps the most unpretentious animals. This applies to both the conditions of detention and the quality of feed.

The advantages of these productive animals, among other things, include:

• fast weight gain;
• fertility;
• disease resistance.

Goat's milk is superior to cow's milk in terms of fat and nutrients. And from the thin fluff of goats, socks, mittens, beautiful scarves and cobwebs are knitted.

Farms can breed both beef and dairy cattle of this variety. Quite often, farmers also keep downy goats. Of the dairy breeds, the best are:

• Nubian;
• zaanenskaya;
• white Russian.

The downy group includes, for example, such popular breeds as Orenburg, Gorno-Altai, Kashmir. From meat breeds, Russian, Toggenburg, Gorky, Mingrelian are distinguished.

Pigs

Productive animals of this variety are kept on farms primarily, of course, to obtain meat and fat. In addition, clothes and shoes are often sewn from pig skins.

The advantages of farm animals of this variety are:

• high fertility;
• fast weight gain;
• Steady high market demand for meat and lard;
• omnivorous.

There are three main varieties of pigs that can be bred on farms:

• meat;
• greasy;
• meat.

The most popular meat breeds of productive animals of this variety among farmers are landraces, duroks, barbecues. From greasy, farmers most often keep Mirgorod, Ukrainian steppe, large black pigs. The most common meat and tallow breeds are Large White, North Caucasian and Liven.

Productive animal species: rabbits

Such farm animals are kept for down, wool and meat. The advantages of rabbits primarily include a very high fertility. Also, the relative undemanding to the conditions of detention is considered a plus of such animals as productive animals. In winter, rabbits can, for example, live in cages located directly on the street.

Most often, farmers these days keep meat animals of this variety. Also, sometimes farms specialize in breeding skinny or downy rabbits. The most common meat breeds of these animals are the white and gray giant, flanders, and Soviet chinchilla. Of the skin breeds, the butterfly, black-brown, silver, deserved special popularity among farmers. Rabbits are bred to obtain down, for example, angora and white down.

Horse breeding

Horses are kept in backyards and farms as draft power and for milk and meat. All existing breeds of these productive animals are classified into three groups:

• horse;
• trotter;
• heavy.

The most popular horse breeds are:

• American horse;
• Andalusian;
• thoroughbred.

Trotting or draft horses kept in farms are most often Russian and Oryol trotters. At the same time, sufflock, Vladimir, Russian, Belgian are considered popular breeds of heavy trucks. Horses are bred in almost all regions of Russia. But horse breeding is most developed in our country in Altai, Bashkiria, Tuva, etc.

Zonally all horses bred in the world are divided as follows:

• forest;
• mountain;
• steppe.

Also, horse breeds can be classified on a regional basis. They are divided into eastern, Mongolian and northern.

Otherfarm animals

In addition to cattle, small cattle, pigs and rabbits, farms and private backyards can be bred:

• nutria;
• Arctic foxes;
• mink.

In different regions of the planet, more exotic animals are sometimes kept as productive ones. It can be, for example, reindeer, elephants, camels, etc.