Domestication of Animals

• Domestication is a process that changes a population of living organisms at the genetic level
• Selective breeding accentuates traits that benefit humans
• Domestic animals include pets, cats, dogs, horses, and cows

Degrees of Domestication

• Wild animals exhibit a "fight or flight" response
• Tamed animals show some dependence on humans
• Semi-domesticated animals have a human-animal relationship
• Domesticated animals are reliant on humans

Common Changes in Traits Due to Domestication

• Adrenal glands relate to tameness
• Melanocytes affect coat color
• Chondrocytes result in a reduced skull
• Odontocytes lead to reduced teeth
• Morphological changes occur
• Floppy ears develop

Belyaev's Fox Experiment

• Foxes were selected based on temperament
• The study started with 465 foxes
• The objective was to simulate the process that turned wolves into present-day dogs
• 30% of the foxes were extremely reactive
• 40% were moderately reactive
• 20% were fearful
• 10% were quiet and exploratory
• Breeding criteria involved assessing flight threshold distance

Tameness and Hormones

• Tameness involves a reduction in the release of stress hormones
• Reduced fight-or-flight response is observed
• Decreased reactivity to new situations occurs
• Hormones are produced by adrenal glands, located on top of the kidney
• Glucocorticoids, like cortisol, are long-term hormones that regulate the duration of neonatal development
• Catecholamines, including epinephrine and norepinephrine, are short-term hormones
• Domestic animals have lower levels of these hormones compared to wild animals

Neural Crest Hypothesis

• Genetic changes to neural crest cells cause domestication traits
• Domestication involves a decrease in the size of the neural crest
• A reduced number of cells derived from the neural crest has been observed
• Tameness arises due to reduced stress hormone synthesis because cells that produce these hormones come from the neural crest
• A smaller number of cells involved leads to domestication syndrome

Wolf Domestication

• Wolves with a short flight distance could take advantage of food waste from humans, giving them a competitive advantage
• These wolves tended to breed with each other
• Domestication syndrome developed in these wolves

Domestication Pathways

• Commensal pathway: Habituation leads to partnership, and that leads to directed breeding
• Prey pathway: Prey turns into game management, which transitions to herd management, and then directed breeding

Extensive vs. Intensive Animal Systems

• Extensive systems minimize capital inputs and use unprocessed diets of low nutrient and high fiber density and involve minimal handling, seen in beef cattle, sheep, and goat
• Intensive systems involve significant capital inputs, processed and nutrient-dense diets, confinement production, and economies of scale, seen in pork, dairy, and poultry

Sector Types

• Cow-calf operations are primary in extensive production
• Pasture and rangeland are used
• Backgrounding/stocker operations use forage/pasture diets and result in slow growth
• Feedlot/finishing operations occur in intensive production
• Primarily concentrated diets are used in feedlots with some pasture and packing sectors

Animal Lifecycle Terms

• Cow: mature female
• Heifer: young female
• Bull: sexually mature uncastrated male
• Steer: castrated male before sexual maturity
• Calf: neonatal to 5 months of age
• Gestation period in cattle: 283 days, with 82 days to get pregnant post calving

Pork Terms

• Sow: mature female pig
• Gilt: immature female pig before 2nd pregnancy
• Boar: mature male pig
• Barrow: castrated male pig
• Piglet: neonatal pig before weaning
• Farrowing: giving birth to piglets

Modern Swine Production in Canada

• Intensive industry with pigs typically raised in total confinement throughout their lives
• Biosecurity is very important on commercial farms
• There are limited visitors
• Breeding is done through artificial insemination
• Gestation: 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days

Farrowing

• Sows are kept in individual crates
• Average litter size is 15 piglets
• Average birth weight is 1.2 kg
• Colostrum intake is important in the first 6 hours
• Most sows have 12 teats

Weaning

• Abrupt weaning occurs with piglets moved to a nursery
• Piglets transition from milk to a solid feed
• Piglets are mixed with other piglets
• Weaning occurs at 21-28 days old

Grow-Finish

• After 5 weeks in the nursery, pigs are housed in large groups
• Diets are changed as pigs mature
• Pigs are ready for market in 15 weeks, weighing 125 to 130 kg

Dairy Production

• Lifecycle: lactation cycle to life span to calves
• Parturition and milk fever require cows to mobilize large amounts of calcium from the skeleton
• Insufficient calcium can cause muscle tremors, staggering, lying flat, heart failure, and death

Supply Management in Canada

• Supply management is designed to meet the demand of Canadians
• There are limited exports and imports of milk and milk products
• The quantity of milk required is established for each province
• Quota provides a license to produce up to a set amount of milk
• The national marketing agency determines production amounts and sets production quotas for each province
• Producers are guaranteed a minimum price for their products
• High tariffs make imported dairy products expensive

Importance of Colostrum

• Calves are born with no immunoglobulins in their bloodstream
• The small intestine of the newborn can absorb immunoglobulins into the blood for the first 24 hours after birth, known as passive immunity
• Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that bind to bacteria and viruses

North American Beef Industry

• Sectored production system includes cow-calf, backgrounding, feedlot, and packer operations
• There are >90,000 producers in Canada

Canadian Beef Industry

• There are 15 million cattle and calves
• Majority family-run operations

Forages

• Forages - "Foundation of the Beef Industry;" includes pasture, hay, straw, and silage
• Forage is a major feed component of beef cattle
• Feed is the single greatest variable cost in beef production
• Focus is on energy, protein, minerals, vitamins, and water

Canada's Traceability Program

• Based on animal identification with radio frequency identification tags
• Individual ID and Premise ID are required, and cattle must have to leave property
• Premise identification and animal movement are tracked

Cattle Breed Varieties

• Dominant breeds include Angus, Simmental, Hereford, Charolais, and Limousin
• Cattle vary in color, carcass quality, behaviour, frame size, and feed efficiency

Weaned Calf Sales

• Calves are sold in groups through auction marts to feedlot buyers
• Internet/video sales are a sale option
• Forward contracts with feedlots occur where calves are delivered for a pre-arranged price, eliminating the 'sale barn'

Poultry Terminology

• Broiler: meat chicken
• Layer: table egg production chicken
• Rooster: male chicken
• Tom: male turkey
• Hen: female turkey or chicken

Chicken Consumption

• Canada's supply management system produces as much chicken as consumed

Poultry Supply Management

• Family farms are common which are located in Canada
• Producers receive a steady income
• Vaccines are available, but politicians restrict their use

• 1000 broilers = commercial

Advantages of Poultry Supply Management

• Producers get a steady income
• There is a steady supply without oversupply
• Producers can support additional welfare initiatives
• Boards influence practices for animal welfare

Disadvantages of Poultry Supply Management

• Products are more expensive for consumers
• Future producers must purchase quota

Horse Evolution and Domestication

• Equus evolved in North America
• Ancestral migration to Eurasia occurred
• Horses spread across the Eurasian steppes
• Horses were hunted for food and later raised in captivity for domestication

Horse History and Domestication

• Horses were first used for carrying and hauling
• Horses then became effective for war tactics
• Horses began using horses for riding

Coat Colours and Disadvantages in Horses

• Colours with selective disadvantages exist
• Some colours result in negative pleiotropic effects (gene that effects more than 1 system)
• Grey horses have melanomas
• Silver horses have MCOA- eye disorder
• Leopard Spotting horses have CSNB
• Overo Pinto horses have OLWFS
• Splashed white horses have deafness
• Overo horses have deafness
• White horses are embryonic lethal
• Roan horses are embryonic lethal

Detrimental Effects of Horse Specialization

• Breeding for small size can cause dwarfism
• Breeding heavily muscled quarter horses can cause periodic paralysis
• Breeding for speed can propagate fragility
• "Popular sire" can lead to a disequilibrium between detrimental genes and performance genes

Domestic Pig Information

• Domesticated in China (490 B.C) and England (800 B.C.)
• Latin name: Sus scrofa domesticus

Canadian Swine Breeds

• Yorkshire are 42% of the herd
• Landrace are 32%
• Duroc are 25%
• Others: Hampshire, Lacombe, Pietrain, Berkshire

Swine Production System Terms

• Swine = pig
• Pork = pig meat
• Sow = mother pig
• Gilt = of breeding age, but hasn’t had piglets
• Weaning = is the removal of young ones from their mother
• Hog = pig ready to be processed
• Process/harvest = slaughter for meat
• Boar = adult male pig kept for breeding purposes
• Farrowing = act of parturition in pigs

Pork Production in SK

• Saskatchewan accounts for 8.5% of all pig production and is the 5th largest producer of hogs

Swine Operation Changes

• Advances in technology and transportation
• Economies of scale

Dog and Cat Trends

• Cat ownership is greater than dog ownership
  • 8.5 million cats are kept as pets in comparison of 7.9 million dogs

Pet cost

• Pet cat cost ≈ $2,542
  • Pet dog cost ≈ $2,500 + $1,000
• Ontario = 770 pet stores in 2021 (brick and mortar stores are declining, as online purchases increase)

Domestication of Cats and Dogs

• Dogs started with hunter-gatherer societies, descended from unknown wolf, started as mutual co-existence then companionship.
• Changed the way dogs look and behave
• Increased ability to digest carbohydrate-rich diet through amylase enzyme increase.
• Cats =are more recent, cats aren't as dependent on or responsive to humans as dogs.
  • Domestication HAS NOT changed the way cats look and behave
  • Easily revert to feral
  • Diet preference and metabolism have remained roughly unchanged from wild cats.

Benefits of Health through Pet owernship

-Social support -Companionship

• Improved health Motivates exercise
• Assisted therapy and activities
• Empathy/ social skills

Risks of Health through Pet Risk

• Infections
• Parasites
• Allergies
• Bites/ injuries
• Psychological events of death
• Neglect

Contrasting assisted therapy and animal assisted activities

• The first is part of treatment, and includes emotional and cognitive challenges. In which each session has goals, there is an administration, and schedules
• The second is involved in causal activities that may include a typically volunteer run

Supply Management

• Involves management to design the demands of Canadians, within imported products
• Quantity and control is made for each Province.

How are dairy cattle managed

• Bred every 365 days, calves are bread earlier between 13 to 15 months
• Breed/have first calf around months 22 to24

Other Major management

• Colostrum management or passive transferees can also manage the yields overtime using cows within an comfort environment.

Achieves for genetic potential

• Achieves by a healthy environment with calm handling

Key Aspects for management of Dairy Cattle

• Take if or lose it

Review of Indigenious Principles

Distinctions exist between 'First Nation', 'Metis', and 'Inuit', each of which involve a complex interplay of culture, history, practice of sustainable agriculture.

Indigenous principles for sustainable practice

Transparency with FN and other Nations Economic responsibility

Differences between Aboriginal/Non-Aboriginal

Includes the need for culture/spiritual aspects of unique connections within the land, and resources in concern

Learn about the degrees of domestication in animals and how traits change as a result. Explore Belyaev's fox experiment, which researched the role of temperament. Discover the traits that make some animals more suitable for domestication.