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In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ...
Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic, and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. ...
Agronomy is a branch of agricultural science that deals with the study of crops and the soils in which they grow. ...
Shepherd with his sheep in Făgăraş Mountains, Romania. ...
The small pig farm in Swiss mountains. ...
The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ...
Free range is a method of farming husbandry where the animals are permitted to roam freely instead of being contained in small sheds. ...
These female brood sows are confined most of their lives in gestation crates too small to enable them to turn around. ...
Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs of capital or labour relative to land area. ...
Organic farming is a form of agriculture which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. ...
Permaculture Mandala summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ...
It has been suggested that Small-scale agriculture be merged into this article or section. ...
Urban (or peri-urban) agriculture is the practice of agriculture (including crops, livestock, fisheries, and forestry activities) within or surrounding the boundaries of cities. ...
| | History
History of agriculture
Neolithic Revolution
Muslim Agricultural Revolution
British Agricultural Revolution
Green Revolution
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The Neolithic Revolution is the term for the first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in numerous locations on most continents between 10-12 thousand years ago. ...
The Islamic Golden Age from the 8th century to the 13th century witnessed a fundamental transformation in agriculture known as the Muslim Agricultural Revolution,[1] Arab Agricultural Revolution,[2] or Green Revolution. ...
The British Agricultural Revolution describes a period of agricultural development in Britain between the 16th century and the mid-19th century, which saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output. ...
The Green Revolution is a term used to describe the worldwide transformation of agriculture that led to significant increases in agricultural production between the 1940s and 1960s. ...
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Aquaculture · Christmas trees · Dairy farming
Grazing · Hydroponics · IMTA
Intensive pig farming · Lumber
Maize · Orchard
Poultry farming · Ranching · Rice
Sheep husbandry · Soybean
System of Rice Intensification
Wheat
Workers harvest catfish from the Delta Pride Catfish farms in Mississippi Aquaculture is the cultivation of aquatic organisms. ...
A Christmas tree farmer in the U.S. state of Florida explains the pruning and shearing process of cultivation to a government employee. ...
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or more properly, an animal husbandry enterprise, raising female cattle, goats, or other lactating animals for long-term production of milk, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale. ...
Grazing To feed on growing herbage, attached algae, or phytoplankton. ...
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil. ...
Harvesting of kelp (Saccharina latissima, previously known as Laminaria saccharina) cultivated in proximity to Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) at Charlie Cove, Bay of Fundy, Canada. ...
Intensively farmed pigs in batch pens Intensive piggeries (or hog lots) are a type of factory farm specialized for the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight. ...
Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Lumber or Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction...
This article is about the maize plant. ...
A community apple orchard originally planted for productive use during the 1920s, in Westcliff on Sea (Essex, England) An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production. ...
Poultry farming is the practice of raising poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks geese, as a subcategory of animal husbandry, for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food. ...
This article is about a type of land use and method of raising livestock. ...
For other uses, see Rice (disambiguation). ...
Australian Sheep Sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep, and a subcategory of animal husbandry. ...
Binomial name (L.) Merr. ...
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a method of increasing the yield of rice produced in farming. ...
Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References: ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat Wheat For the indie rock group, see Wheat (band). ...
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| In agriculture, battery cages (called laying cages in the United States) are a confinement system used primarily for egg-laying hens. Image File history File links Portal. ...
Battery Cage is an American electronic music project led by Tyler Newman. ...
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History An early reference to battery cages appears in Milton Arndt's 1931 book, Battery Brooding,[1] where he reports that his cage flock was healthier and had higher egg production than his conventional flock. At this date battery cages already sported the sloped floor that allowed eggs to roll out to the front of the cage, where they were easily collected by the farmer and out of the hens' reach.
Arndt also mentions the use of conveyor belts under the cages to remove the manure, which gives a superior ability to control air quality and eliminate fly breeding than other methods.
Battery cages were an extension of the technology used in battery brooders, which were cages with a wire mesh floor and integral heating elements for brooding baby chicks. The wire floor allowed the manure to pass through, removing it from the chicks' environment and eliminating manure-borne diseases.
Early battery cages were often used for selecting hens based on performance, since it is easy to track how many eggs each hen is laying if only one hen is placed in a cage. Later, this was combined with artificial insemination, giving a technique where each egg's parentage is known. This method is still used today.
Early reports about battery cages were enthusiastic. Ardnt reported:
This form of battery is coming into widespread use throughout the country and apparently is solving a number of the troubles encountered with laying hens in the regular laying house on the floor. In the first edition of this book I spoke of my experimental work with 220 pullets which were retained for one year in individual cages. At the end of this year it was found that the birds confined in the batteries outlaid considerably the same size flock in the regular houses. The birds consume less feed than those on the floor and this coupled with the increased production made them more profitable than the same number of pullets in the laying house.[2] A number of progressive poultrymen from all over the United States and some in foreign countries cooperated with me in carrying on experimental work with this type of battery and each and every one of them were very well satisfied with the results obtained. IN fact, a number of them have since placed their entire laying flocks in individual hen batteries."[3] The use of laying batteries increased gradually, becoming the dominant method somewhat before the integration of the egg industry in the Sixties. In 1990, North and Bell reported that 75% of all commercial layers in the world and 95% in the U.S. were kept in cages.[4]
By all accounts a caged layer facility is more expensive to build than high-density floor confinement, but can be cheaper to operate if designed to minimize labor.
North and Bell report the following advantages to laying cages:[5]
1. It is easier to care for the pullets; no birds are underfoot. 2. Floor eggs are eliminated. 3. Eggs are cleaner. 4. Culling is expedited. 5. In most instances, less feed is required to produce a dozen eggs. 6. Broodiness is eliminated. 7. More pullets may be housed in a given house floor space. 8. Internal parasites are eliminated. 9. Labor requirements are generally much reduced They also cite disadvantages to cages: 1. The handling of manure may be a problem. 2. Generally, flies become a greater nuisance. 3. The investment per pullet may be higher than in the case of floor operations. 4. There is a slightly higher percentage of blood spots in the eggs. 5. The bones are more fragile and processors often discount the fowl price. Note that disadvantages 1 and 2 can be eliminated by manure conveyors as pioneered by Arndt.
In general, farmers and poultry scientists who have used both floor confinement and cages do not seem to have felt that cages were either ineffective or inhumane, though there was considerable criticism of individual installations that were too expensive or were poorly designed to yield the all-important reduction in labor inputs.
Politics They have been condemned by animal protection organizations and there have been moves to enact laws to ban them.
On June 17, 1999 the European Union announced a Europe-wide ban on battery-hen cages by the year 2012 [6].
References - ^ Arndt, Battery Brooding, 2nd edition. Orange Judd Publishing, 1931, pp. 308-312.
- ^ Arndt,p. 308.
- ^ Arndt,p. 310.
- ^ Mack O. North and Donald E. Bell, Commercial Chicken Production Manual, Fourth Edition. 1990, Van Nostrand Reinhold, page 297.
- ^ Commercial Chicken Production Manual, p. 315.
- ^ http://www.upc-online.org/fall99/eu_cage_ban.html
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