An overview of Animal Improvements : our findings

An overview of Animal Improvements : our findings

Animals are really important to human race as they are source of nutrients to the body when consumed as food. Cows are known as good source of meat and milk, while pigs are known for the large portion of protein they tends to produce if properly nurtured.

All of these animal’s extracts are medically good for the body as they are not just delicious, but also give strength, shape and power to human physical appearance.

Apart from the nourishment human derived from these living creatures, animals are also deployed by humans to carry out some energy-consuming activities such as carrying of heavy load from one place to another —as we have it in donkeys and camels.

Considering the unending benefits attached to every animal out there, it won’t be out of place to suggest that you – as a livestock keeper- take absolute care of all the animals in your farm. One of the ways to do that is by engaging in Animal Improvement.

What Does Animal Improvement Mean?

Just as it is pronounced, Animal Improvement are the steps or measures taken towards ensuring that your livestock enjoy or maintain high productivity rate.

In other words, animal improvement is the process in which laudable traits of a highly productive animal is being transferred to another animal of the same or different species so as to increase its productivity.

This is done in order to double the yield of the farm because all animals will have the same tendency of yielding a very high production rate as long as they are well and adequately cared for.

Top Five Transferable Features In Animals

There are no traits that can’t be transferred from one animal to another but we believe there are some features that many livestock owners love to multiply within the animal in their farm. Below is a very quick list of top five traits you should consider sharing or transferring within the animals in your farm:

1. High Milk QUANTITY And Quality: This trait should be transferred between animals of the same species.

2. Huge Muscle: This should be from one meat-producing animal to another.

3. Big Egg size: Obviously, this is related to poultry farmers. This features should be seen in all your egg-laying birds (layers) if you must increase your profitability.

4. Quality Wool: This is related to sheep. For more wool production, this trait should be transferred from one to another.

5: High Endurance and Tenacity: You should endeavor to transfer this characteristic to all working animals like donkeys, camel.

A Detailed Step-by-step Guide On How To Improve Your Animals

Having unveiled why animal improvement is important to your livestock, it is also our duty to discuss how you can carry it out. This part of the write-up is dedicated to letting you know the processes you must take in order to improve the productivity of your livestock without stress.

* Introduction:

This is the first step you should take if you must have a successful trait-transferring exercise. During this phase, you are expected to bring animal that possess the desired characteristics to their new environment.

This procedure is aimed at helping the animal get used to their new environment before other steps are taken. It is however important you know that introducing them to the new environment should be done logically so as to prevent all the adverse effects of environmental change.

You must quarantine the new breeds of animal for a period of 20 to 25 days as this will help you detect if they are infected of any disease or sickness.

* Selection:

Here is the second step you should take if you are to successfully transfer the traits of very productive animals to your own breed.

During this step, you are expected to separate the animals that possess desired features from the rest. There are two methods to carry out this process; they include Artificial and natural methods.

Artificial selection: This is a type of selection in which animals that possess rapid growth, less infant mortality rate, high fertility rate and other non-inheritable features are being separated by farmers from the rest in order to transfer their features to another animal of lesser qualities.

This method of separation is said to be the best mode of selection process as it is being coordinated by experts.

Natural Selection: Natural selection is another method selection in which animals with inheritable traits, such as high adaptive features, are being separated so as they can pass the trait across to their offspring through mating.

* Breeding

Having separated the animals of desired features into groups, then breeding is expected to take place. There are three types of breeding. They involve Inbreeding, Cross-breeding, and Out-breeding

A. Inbreeding: This type of breeding includes the mating between two or more animals of close ties to produce an offspring.

In this kind of breeding, a female parent is allowed to mate with her own male offspring in order to produce a generation that possess the traits that can only be seen in the family.

It is important you know that continuous inbreeding will lead to eradication of unwanted traits. Therefore, it will get to a point where all animals in your farm will be known for impressive features even if the are of the same family .

B. Cross-breeding: This is a breeding involving two or more animals of different breeds. In other words, it is a mating between different breeds of animal which will lead to the production of an entirely new breed.

Cross-breeding is known for its ability to improve growth rate and elimination of unwanted attributes in the produced offspring.

C. Out-breeding: This type of breeding includes mating between two animals of the same breed but different families. This type of breeding aids the improvement of good existing traits and elimination of unhealthy features as long as it is done continuously — just as it is with inbreeding.

* Artificial Insemination:

Artificial insemination is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your livestock as it can be used to improve animal’s rigidity and ability to withstand diverse climatic conditions.

It is a man-coordinated process whereby spermatozoa of a male animal are added to a female genital system through man-made machines or tools. Though this is the last stage of the animal improvement exercise, it is one aspect you must carry out with lots of care and accuracy.

It must be carried out between heat and ovulation period which is why only experts are advised to oversee this part of the improvement exercise.