ADVANTAGES OF INTENSIVE LIVESTOCK FARMING
Livestock farming involves the rearing of animals for food and other human uses, such as producing leather, wool and even fertilizer. This type of farming primarily applies to cattle or dairy cows, chickens, goats, pigs, horses and sheep but it is also increasingly relevant for other animals such as donkeys, mules, rabbits and insects such as bees which are now being raised as part of livestock farming.
Livestock farming has been a part of human society for most of history, ever since humans started domesticating animals to make their life better. But as with most forms of farming, such as agriculture, livestock farming too has intensified, particularly in recent decades.
This has allowed the goods of livestock farming to become more widely available and cheaper to buy; which is particularly important if you think that staples such as milk, honey, eggs and meat are all products on livestock farming.
However, the practices of intensive livestock farming have had on several occasions given a lot of concern in terms of food safety, animal welfare and environmental impacts – to the extent that livestock farming is often referred to as “factory farming.”
Read also: Common cattle management practices
Learn MoreADVANTAGES OF INTENSIVE LIVESTOCK FARMING
At face value, it is hard to discount the importance of this industry: the direct contributions of livestock farming to the economy are estimated at about 883 billion dollars and this does not account for the services that rely on it, ranging from butchers, retailers, transport companies to feed producers and equipment manufacturers.
Beyond its economic value, livestock farming supports the livelihoods and provides food security to almost 1.3 billion people. Today, it is one of the fastest growing sectors of the agricultural economy.
This has been made possible through the increasing intensification of livestock farming practices which have helped increase yields and efficiency while bringing down costs. For example, the practice of concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, means farmers can rear more animals by confining them in concentrated areas maximizing the potential of the land area they have at their disposal.
Read also: Livestock feed formulation: 3 things you should know
In other words, pigs, cows, chickens, and other livestock are kept in a very small area of land which makes livestock easier to manage while increasing output for a smaller amount of land.
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