VAP Test 1

• Animal production


  Agricultural practice involved in keeping, breeding and raising livestock/animals for sale or for sale of animal products for profit (own consumption)
• Animal production system


  An establishment that is involved in animal production activities and has a specific set of rules and systems to achieve production
• Properties of animal production system

  • Establishment
  • Production unit
  • Housing/Shelter
  • Animal handling facilities
  • Husbandry practice/Management
• Agricultural productivity


  The relationship between output and the inputs that are required to generate that output
• Productivity is commonly defined as a ratio of a volume measure of output to a volume measure of input use
• Keeping livestock


  Differs from animal production in terms of numbers, health/safety, yield/output, efficiency/optimal production, and sustainability

  
• The purpose of animal production is food security, supply of animal products, and efficient utilisation of resources
• The global animal protein market is projected to be 45% larger in volume by 2030
• Meat consumption trends in South Africa show increases in seafood, eggs, poultry, pork, and beef
• South Africa has 171 million chickens, 21.46 million sheep, 12.3 million cattle, 5.16 million goats, and 1.34 million pigs
• Factors that make certain animals more favourable for livestock production

  • Domestication, aggression
  • Adaptation
  • Feed utilisation efficiency
  • Feed conversion efficiency
  • Resource requirements

  
• Adaptation for survival


  Genetics and behaviour that favour health and survival in specific environment, changes in response to external/internal stimuli, human-controlled
• Adaptation for production


  Minimum loss of body weight due to stress, high reproductive rates, high resistance to disease, low mortality & morbidity, longevity
• Production cycle


  1. Labour

  2. Land

  3. Capital

  4. Animal Husbandry (Management)

  5. Output

  6. Sale

  7. Replacement or Carryover

  8. Subsistence

  9. Fodder production
• Factors influencing choice of production system

  • Land tenure, ownership and usage
  • Nutrition
  • Environment and climate
  • Predators
  • Breeds and breeding Programs
  • Infrastructure
  • Institutional problems
  • Diseases
  • Marketing
• Extensive system


  Feed on veld only, low input/low to moderate output, management less intense, long distance to forage, disease control less intense, seasonal licks, low stocking densities, low yield per unit land, feed marginally above maintenance, seasonal breeding, disease control less intense
• Large Stock Unit (LSU)

  An ox with a weight of 450kg and weight gain of 500g per day on grass pasture with a mean digestible energy (DE) concentration of 55%
• Carrying capacity


  The maximum number of animals an area of land can sustain