Animal Agriculture as Science

1
Animal Agriculture as Science

• The Science of Animal Agriculture

2
Land Grant and other events

• 1862- President Lincoln established the United
  States Department of Agriculture.
• 1872- Hatch Act establishment of experiment
  stations.
• 1962- Morrill Act provided public land and funds
  for establishing universities to teach practical
  methods of manufacturing and producing food and
  fiber.

3
Land Grant Cont

• 1914 Smith-Lever Act set up cooperative extension
  service.
• 1917 Smith-Hughes Act established Vocational
  Agriculture in public high schools.

4
The Scientific Method requires several steps

• Recognize a problem
• Develop hypothesis
• design an experiment
• collect data
• analyze data
• draw conclusions
• make recommendations

5
Benefits of Research in Animal Science

• Food increase amount
• Relatively low prices for food

6
Advancements made in Agriculture since 1925

• Beef cattle live weight marketed per breeding
  female increased from 220 pounds to 482 pounds.
• Sheep live weight marketed per breeding female
  increased from 60 to 130 pounds.
• Milk marketed per dairy cow increased from 4189
  to 10500 pounds. An increased of 2 1/2 times the
  amount of milk as in 1925.

7
Some More Advances Made

• Swine live weight marketed per breeding female
  increased from 160 to 285 pounds. Time to
  produce a 220 pound hog has been reduced from
  170-157 days.
• The weight of marketed turkeys increased from
  13.0 to 18.4 pounds.
• Broilers can reach market weight at 7 ½ weeks,
  down from 15 weeks. Amount of food needed to
  reach market weight was cut from 4 pounds to 2
  pounds.

8
Some more advances made

• Production per laying hen from increased from 112
  to 232 eggs.

9
Revolutionized Animal Agriculture

• Animal Immunization
• Refrigeration
• Artificial Insemination
• Embro Transfer
• Use of Computers

10
Ways Livestock Research has Helped Humans

• Cortisone- relieves the suffering of arthritis
  made from the gallbladder of cattle
• Insulin- use for diabetics derived from hogs
• Heart Valves- pig heart valves are superior to
  mechanical valves because they do not accumulate
  as much residue.