Animal Production & Nutrition

• Domesticated animals raised for food, textiles, labor, or fertilizer are livestock.

Animal Production Systems

• Extensive Production: Low stocking density, minimal inputs, with low costs but high mortality.
• Intensive Production: High stocking density, significant inputs, with monitored growth but high costs.
• Semi-Intensive Production: Combines extensive and intensive methods, allowing for better pasture use.
• Integrated Production: Combines crops and livestock, benefiting from continuous cash flow and reduced costs, but requires diverse management skills.
• Animal production is affected by five factors.
• Key factors in animal production include socio-economic factors.

Nutrition vs. Feeding

• Nutrition involves understanding the dietary needs of animals for maintenance, growth, and reproduction.
• Feeding focuses on the practical aspects of providing food, including quantity, form, frequency, and method of delivery.

Digestive Systems

• Ruminants: Animals with a complex stomach (e.g., cows, sheep) that ferment food before digestion.
• Non-Ruminants: Monogastric animals (e.g., pigs, chickens) with a simpler digestive system.

Essential Nutrients

• Proteins are necessary for growth and tissue repair.
• Carbohydrates and Lipids are primary energy sources, with fats providing more energy than carbohydrates.
• Vitamins and Minerals are vital for various bodily functions and overall health.
• Roughage is vital for assisting digestion and sustaining gut health in ruminants.

Glossary

• Cecum: A "blind gut" between the ileum and large intestine.
• Duodenum: The first section of the small intestine.
• Enzymes: Substances that accelerate chemical reactions in the body.
• Oesophagus: A tube transporting food from mouth to stomach.
• Gall Bladder: Stores bile for digestion.

Housing vs. Environment

• Housing: Enclosure for animals.
• Environment: The surrounding micro-climate.

Key Considerations for Tropical Housing

• Key considerations include orientation, ventilation, roofing, flooring, cleanliness, waste management, feed, and water delivery.
• Stocking Density: Is calculated as animals per area of floor space; overcrowding leads to stress and reduced feed intake.
• Health and Disease and Genetics and Breeding should be considered.
• Genetics influences performance and fertility, and varies among breeds and types.
• Breeding Management involves selection, mating, gestation, parturition, lactation, and weaning.
• Gestation Periods: Vary by species (e.g., cow: 270 days, ewe: 150 days, Sow :114 days or 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, Bitch: 63 days about 2 months).
• Parturition: Act of giving birth to young and marks the termination of pregnancy
• Lactation: Production of milk by female mammals.
• Lactation is a physiological response to parturition.
• Weaning is the transition from feeding a liquid (milk) diet to solid food.
• Young animals are separated from their mothers at weaning.

Crops - Plant Needs

• Adequate exposure to sunlight is crucial for photosynthesis.
• Regular watering is necessary to maintain soil moisture and support plant health.
• Nutrients: Plants require both macro (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and micro (e.g., iron, manganese) nutrients for optimal growth.

Container Selection

• Durability: Containers should be sturdy enough to withstand environmental conditions.
• Size: The size of the container should be appropriate for the type of plant being grown.
• Material: Different materials (plastic, wood, metal) can affect drainage and insulation.

Benefits of Container Gardening

• Provides space efficiency, ideal for limited spaces, such as urban environments or small backyards.
• Container gardening is cost-effective, reduces the need for extensive gardening infrastructure and can lower food costs.
• Planting arrangements and designs encourages creativity, fostering creativity among participants.
• Supports diverse crops, enabling the cultivation of a variety of crops, including vegetables and herbs, in a manageable way.
• Container gardening (selecting & preparing containers to harvest for lettuce, patchoi, ochro, and raddish), pest and disease control, cultural practices – mulching, weeding etc.
• Field plant (land preparation to harvest for lettuce, patchoi, ochro, and raddish,), pest and disease control, cultural practices – mulching, weeding etc.

Cultivation of Ochro - In Depth Notes

• Ochro, also known as Okra, belongs to the family Malvaceae.
• Scientific name: Hibiscus esculentus.
• The edible part is a long, slender immature pod, generally ribbed and spineless.
• Ochro has very good nutritional value, and is often cooked or steamed as a vegetable.

Ochro Varieties

• Clemson Spineless (6 weeks)
• Local White
• Chaguaramas

Land Preparation

• Land clearing is the first step.
• The next step is primary tillage.
• Secondary tillage follows.
• Organic manure is then added.
• Pest and disease control happens next.
• Agriculture lime is then applied.

Land Clearing

• Removes unwanted plants (weeds) and crop residues.
• Weeds compete with crops for nutrients, space, and sunlight.
• Students must identify three weeds in their AGSC3018 garden, including scientific names.

Crop Residues

• Crop residues include materials left in fields after harvest (e.g., stems, leaves, seed pods).
• Management benefits: Increases irrigation efficiency, controls soil erosion, incorporating into soil can improve soil fertility.

Methods of Land Clearing

• Manual: Using tools like cutlass.
• Mechanical: Hand-held brush cutter.
• Chemical: Applying herbicides (e.g., Grammoxone, Round Up).

Types of Herbicides

• Pre-Emergent: Applied before weeds appear.
• Post-Emergent: Applied after weeds have developed.
• Selective: Targets specific types of weeds (broad-leaf or grass).
• Systemic: Kills entire plants by spreading through the vascular system (e.g., Round Up).
• Contact: Only affects the part of the weed it touches (e.g., Grammoxone).

Tillage Types

• Primary Tillage: Breaks soil into large clumps and is achievable manually (using forks) or mechanically (using ploughs).
• Secondary Tillage: Further refines soil and is achievable manually (using rakes/hoes) or mechanically (using rotovators).
• Objectives of Tillage Types: Attaining reasonable depth of soft soil, incorporating crop residues, and killing weeds.
• Tilling aerates the soil.

Soil and Water Management

• Soil Particle Size affects water movement.
• Coarse soils allow higher infiltration rates.

Soil Types

• Clay Soil: Small particles, high water capacity.
• Loam Soil: Medium particles, holds less water than clay.
• Sandy Soil: Large particles, lowest water holding capacity.

Drainage

• Poorly drained soils lead to stress from saturation, affecting microbial activity and root functions.
• Well-drained soils enhance plant growth, allowing proper percolation.

Bed Formation

• For ochro: Flat-top beds preferred; dimensions for garden: approximately 1m wide x 5m long.

Organic Manure and Planting

• Organic Manure: Use well-rotted manure during secondary tillage.
• Planting Methods: Sow seeds or transplant hardened seedlings in rows spaced 45cm to 60cm apart, and between rows 60cm to 90cm.

Cultural Practices

• Engage in daily watering in the absence of rain.
• Use of mulch to conserve moisture.
• Periodic soil loosening for gas exchange is vital.
• Use manual weed control.
• Mould plants when they are 2-3 weeks old.

Fertilizer Application

• Post-15 days after transplanting, apply nitrogen fertilizers (e.g., Calcium nitrate, Urea) at 10-20 g/hole.
• Apply high potash fertilizers (e.g., 13:13:21) when flowers appear, at 20-30 g/hole, every 2-3 weeks.
• Fertilizers should be top-dressed or side-placed in leaf drip area.

Pest and Disease Control

• Common pests: Aphids and beetles.
• Apply recommended insecticides: e.g., Malathion (5ml/litre of water).
• For fungal infections: use fungicides (e.g., Trimiltox forte) at 15g/litre of water.

Harvesting and Preparation for the Market

• Harvest every 3-5 days when pods are 7.5 – 12.5 cm long.
• Use a sharp knife for removal and pick when pods are bright green.
• Cleaning: Eliminate debris without washing, to avoid post-harvest decay.
• Store in well-ventilated baskets in cool places, refrigerate for longer storage.

Farming Components

• Inputs: Involves land, labor, capital, management, and entrepreneurship.
• Outputs: Includes various crops (e.g., cabbage, corn, sweet potatoes) and livestock (e.g., guinea pigs, rabbits, poultry).

FInancial Dynamic

• Expenditure: Money spent on resources is crucial for production.
• Income: Earnings from output sales define profit, which arises from a favorable balance between income and expenditure.

Resource Management:

• Proper management of land increases value through good agricultural practices like efficient use of fertilizers and integrated cropping systems.
• Poor practices lead to value depreciation and challenges such as pests and diseases.

Labor and Capital:

• Labor type (manual, semi-skilled, skilled) varies by farming operations.
• Capital is categorized as fixed (buildings, machinery) and working (seeds, fertilizers), with a focus on efficient resource utilization.
• A manager's role is to plan, supervise, and maintain records to ensure profitability and effective operations.
• Consumers drive demand, influenced by personal needs, income, and product availability, while supply curves reflect production capabilities.
• Profit arises when income exceeds expenditure; losses occur when expenditures surpass income.
• Effective inventory and budget management are essential in maximizing profits and minimizing losses.

Definition of Capital:

• Refers to financial assets including funds in deposit accounts, funds from special financing sources, associated with capital assets requiring substantial investment for operation or expansion.
• Capital Assets on a Farm include buildings (animal housing, greenhouses, offices), machinery and equipment, tools and materials and cash. Wealth in Production: Capital is described as the wealth deployed in production activities.

Types of Capital:

• Fixed Capital: Includes assets with more than one year of useful life (e.g., buildings, machines, roads), examples: tractors, feed storage solutions, and tools (e.g., brush cutters), the capital assets are subject to depreciation and replaced infrequently.
• Working (Circulating) Capital: Comprises items regularly consumed in the farm operation with a useful life of one year or less and essential for daily operations, including seedlings, fertilizers, and wages.
• Both fixed and working capital are crucial for the efficient functioning and sustainability of farm businesses, ensuring that production processes are supported adequately.
• Consumers own, eat, and utilize goods and services, fulfilling basic survival needs such as food, shelter, and clothing.

Needs vs. Wants:

• Needs: Basic necessities for survival.
• Wants: Expressions of needs, varying from person to person (e.g., food preferences such as pizza vs. fried chicken).

Conditions for Satisfying Wants:

• Desires (Wants)
• Means (Ability to purchase)
• Availability of the product

Consumer Demand:

• Demand exists when consumers can acquire products or services and influenced by the intensity of desire and willingness to pay. Law of Demand: Consumer demand is inversely related to price; as prices increase, demand typically decreases.

Factors Influencing Demand:

• Consumer income.
• Prices of substitutes.
• Tastes or preferences.
• Expectations regarding future prices and income.
• Population size.
• Demand elasticity: Large demand changes with small price variations indicate elastic demand, while minor changes indicate inelastic demand.
• Supply Curve Dynamics: In perfect competition, the supply curve shows a positive relationship to price; as supply increases, prices tend to increase.
• Equilibrium Point: The point where demand and supply curves intersect, indicating the price at which suppliers and consumers agree on production quantities.
• Income and Profit: Profit occurs when income from farm output exceeds expenditure; losses occur when the opposite is true.