Farm animals are animals that are domesticated and reared by man. They are generally referred to as livestock. Examples are cattle, sheep, goat, poultry, rabbit, camel, horse, donkey, grass cutter, fish, snail etc.
Types of farm animals
Farm animals have different features and are useful for different purposes. Some animals possess fur, wool, or hair and breastfeed their young, they are referred to as mammals. Examples of mammals are rabbits, cattle, sheep, goats, etc. Some farm animals possess feathers and have beaks for feeding, they are referred to as birds or poultry animals examples are chicken, duck, goose, quail etc.
Some have scale, gills for respiration and live inside water they are called fishes. Examples are mackerel (titus), horse mackerel (kote), herring (shawa), tilapia, (blue whiting, hake (panla)), alaska pollock (okporopo), argentina silus (ojuyobo), catfish. Other forms of farm animals are invertebrates (lacking back bone):mollusce.g snail and insect e.g bee. Each of these animals have different features, scientific name and breed. Below are details of common farm animals.
Cattle (Bosspp)
They are hoofed mammals which may be humped animals (Bosindicus) or humpless (Bostaurus), horned or polled. Breed of cattle includes sokoto gudali, keteku, red bororo, N’dama, muturu, white Fulani etc.
Goat (Caprahircus)
They are hoofed mammals with male and female animals having horns. The male goat possess beards and have a unique smell. Breeds of goat are sokoto red, angora, west African dwarf, kano brown etc.
Sheep (Ovisaries)
They are hoofed mammals very similar to goat even in sound (bleat) but possess wool on its body. It may be polled or horned but female do not have horns. Breed of sheep includes ouda, yankasa, balami etc.
Pig (Susdomesticus)
These are mammals whose nose is modified into snout possessing two holes. They are highly prolific animals. They do not possess sweat pore and are usual found bathing in muddy places to lower their body temperature when reared extensively. Breeds of pigs are duroc, Yorkshire, Berkshire, Poland china, large white etc.
Chicken (Gallusdomesticus)
These are birds, they have beak for feeding, long toes with claws for scavenging and feathers to cover their body. Breeds includes Cornish, sussex, barred ply mouth rock, rhode island red etc.
Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
These are small farm animals with fur and highly developed sense of smell. They are referred to as pseudo ruminants because despite having concentrates as their basic feed stuff they can easily digest grasses like ruminant animals. Breeds include chinchilla, Flemish giant, French giant etc.
Note: breed refers to a stock of animals of same species having a distinctive appearance. This appearance might be the fur or skin colour pattern, behavior or abilities.
The distribution of these animals is affected by pest and disease, climate of an area in terms of rainfall distribution, availability of water, cultural belief, religion, and availability of food.
GENERAL EVALUATION
- Mention three breeds of goat
- What does breed mean in animal husbandry
- What are livestock?
- What is the scientific name of sheep, pig and rabbit?
- What are farm animals
- List three types of farm animals with examples
THEORY
- What is a farm animal?
- What is the name of the meat gotten from A. goat B. cattle C. pig D. sheep
