Agribusiness Commons^™

Vegetable Budgeting Handbook Manjimup Region 1986-87, Peter Eckersley

Horticulture published reports

This handbook is designed as a guide

i) to help growers cost out or budget for their own or alternative enterprises, and use correct methods for calculating benefits and costs of alternative actions. production, and

ii) to help advisers and lending agencies prepare and review budgets.

WARNING - The budgets herein do not purport to represent the average profitability of each crop. It is the reader's responsibility to use the information in them correctly.

The Manjimup region here includes Pemberton, Nannup, Bridgetown and Donnybrook.

Unit production costs vary widely within any farming district. Low-cost production requires the right levels and …

Contribution To A Concept Of Behavioral Abnormality In Farm Animals Under Confinement, U. A. Luescher, J. F. Hurnik

Agribusiness Collection

Farm animals housed in close confinement often engage in activities that do not occur with animals maintained in traditional and more complex environments. Many of these activities consist of species-typical motor patterns directed towards unsuited or inappropriate objects, or performed as vacuum activities. For example, piglets fed from a trough from day 2 to day 21 after parturition display much nosing. of penmates and ear sucking (DeBoer and Hurnik 1984). Similarly, confined veal calves in crates may lick their pelage excessively, or, when housed in groups, may suck the naval area of penmates; laying hens and broilers often engage in …

The Case For Intensive Farming Of Food Animals, Stanley E. Curtis

Agribusiness Collection

Our world is still a hungry place. At the same time, the number of people worldwide who grow food for themselves continues to dwindle. Most U.S. citizens have never set foot on a farm or harvested one mouthful-let alone a lifetime's worth-of daily bread. Yet our farmlands and climates and our agricultural and food industries are this nation's ultimate resources. By increasing productivity, our farmers and the scientific and business endeavors that support our nation's food production, processing, and distribution have proved to be able and reliable husbands of these precious resources. But make no mistake: The challenge to increase …

The Case Against Intensive Farming Of Food Animals, Linda D. Mickley, Michael W. Fox

Agribusiness Collection

The well-being of American agriculture is indeed a complex subject, fraught with interrelationships, predictions, recriminations, and at times, high emotionalism. In this paper, we will be concentrating on several aspects of the entire picture that we feel are fundamental to the issue of animal welfare in modern agriculture. First, we will take a brief look at two farm animal species maintained in very restrictive systems, that is, battery-caged laying hens and tethered and/or crated brood sows.

Next, the human costs in terms of occupational diseases and consumer health hazards will be considered. Finally, some humane alternatives to the factory systems …

Horsebreakers, Tamers, And Trainers: An Historical, Psychological, And Social Review, Sharon E. Cregier

Equines Collection

To my knowledge, there has been no organized synthesis describing the historical development of horse handling, management, lore, and training. This discussion offers, in capsule form, some of the historical, psychological, and social considerations which might be taken into account when evaluating horse-handling skills.

First, I would like to describe the natures of the emotional and psychological bonds between man and horse. I will also look at the consequences of various types of bonding on horsemanship or management. We can increase our understanding of the role of the horse in our history and lives by thus seeing how the animal …

The Psychology And Ethics Of Humane Equine Treatment, Sharon E. Cregier

Equines Collection

The effect on animals of man-induced stressors, such as the disruption of herd bonds, stabling, medication procedures and the like, has been the subject of increasing investigation. Obvious and shocking abuses against animals, bullfighting, certain training practices in the racehorse industry, and rodeo events such as wild horse races, steerbusting or calf-roping, are readily recognized and have, in some instances been stopped. (Steerbusting refers to roping, from horseback, of running cattle in such a manner as to flip the animal backward or jerk it down, knocking the wind out of the animal and occasionally breaking ribs, vertebrae, and neck.)

However, …

The Attainment Of Humane Housing For Farm Livestock, D.G.M. Wood-Gush

Agribusiness Collection

In discussing animal welfare it is very easy for the discussion to become bogged down by misunderstandings. Commonly the first misunderstanding arises over the definition of animal welfare. In the content of this article we will take it for granted that any definition includes the physical well-being of the animal as well as ensuring that the animal can fulfill much of its genetically controlled behavioral repertoire. The second misunderstanding arises when the political and scientific assessments of the subject are meshed together. In a scientific assessment, the aim should be to examine welfare problems strictly from what we know about …

Cardiac Arrest Stunning Of Livestock And Poultry, Temple Grandin

Agribusiness Collection

A stunning method that will reliably render an animal insensible to pain and sensation prior to hoisting and bleeding is essential to prevent suffering. Cardiac arrest stunning is more effective than conventional electric stunning. In cardiac arrest stunning, an electric current is passed through both the brain and the heart to produce permanent insensibility. Since the animal is killed by the electricity it cannot revive during hoisting, bleeding, or slaughtering procedures. In contrast, conventional electrical stunning induces reversible insensibility for a short period of time.

The Definition, Current Knowledge And Implementation Of Welfare For Farm Animals--A Personal View, Ron Kilgour

Agribusiness Collection

Being humane to farm animals (welfare) must include (1) having a sound knowledge of their normal and anomalous behavior responses in a farm context and heeding this in a practical way and (2) adopting handling procedures which elicit minimal distress in the species concerned. Building up an ethogram of predictable responses and recording the patterns of behavior during key events, mating, birth, and care of the young are essential. There are still gaps in the recorded ethograms offarm animals. Objective measurements of distress, including an index of its seriousness, are also a priority.

The results from animal preference tests can …

Hsus Exposes Livestock Transportation Cruelty

Close Up Reports

After a massive investigation covering nine months, twenty states, and more than 20,000 miles, The HSUS has documented that every day and every night, thousands of cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and other animals are being crowded, beaten, electrically shocked, trampled--or even killed--during miserable journeys that ultimately end at the slaughterhouses of this country.

Animals are injured during loading, then forced to negotiate dark truck interiors, steep ramps, narrow doorways, sharp turns, and slippery flooring. They are loaded so hurriedly that they knock down or climb onto those animals ahead of them and are crowded so tightly that they injure or …

Economic Feasibility Of Electricity Generation On Cage Layer Operations, The, Boris E. Bravo-Ureta, Glen V. Mcmmahon

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

No abstract provided.

Stereotype Behaviour In Sows And Gilts Housed In Stalls, Tethers, And Groups, Judith K. Blackshaw, J. F. Mcveigh

Agribusiness Collection

Observations of sows and gilts in tethers, stalls, and groups showed two distinct types of behaviour: pre-feed behaviour when pigs were anticipating food, and after-feed behaviour. Sows and gilts tethered for the first time do not show pre-feed excitement, but this develops in 42 days which suggests that pre-feed behaviour is not stereotype, as suggested by the literature, but is a conditioned reflex.

The question of the importance of after-feeding behaviours which are often called stereotypies is examined. The total time occupied by these behaviours over 24 hours by tethered sows is 14.5 to 29.0%, by tethered gilts 1.4 to …

Evils Of Modern Stables, James Irvine Lupton

Equines Collection

Portions of veterinarian James Irvine Lupton's book on horse management that deal with the problems of confinement husbandry practices have been selected as a significant historical record of humane concerns that were documented one hundred years ago. While the author's descriptive prose may lack scientific "objectivity," it does express a common sense morality and the subjective and intuitive observations and conclusions of an experienced veterinarian who clearly respects and understands the horse. His words bespeak of a bygone era where the care or husbandry of animals was both an art and a science, a discipline based upon empathy, compassion and …

Aquaculture--Now, Factory Fish Farming, Michael W. Fox

Aquaculture Collection

"Aquaculture 1983" was the title of a 5-day symposium and industry exhibit held in Washington, D.C., on january 9- 13,1983, sponsored by World Mariculture Society, Catfish Farmers of America, Fish Culture Section of the American Fisheries Society, U.S. Trout Farmers Association, Shellfish Institute of North America, and National Shellfisheries Association. While ecologists, economists, futurologists, and others have touted the virtues and potentials of intensive fish and shellfish farm- · ing, this growing industry in the U.S. may become blighted by the same problems that have come to afflict agribusiness' "factory farming" of crops, livestock, and poultry.

Psychological Aspects Of Slaughter: Reactions Of College Students To Killing And Butchering Cattle And Hogs, Harold A. Herzog Jr., Sandy Mcgee

Human Health Collection

This study examined the reactions of college students involved in slaughtering cattle and hogs as part of their jobs on a college work crew. The 27 students were surveyed on attitudes containing items toward slaughtering animals and toward different uses of animals. Nineteen were later interviewed. Some aspects of slaughtering were reported to be more bothersome than others. There was a relationship between the amount of experience of the subjects in slaughtering and also their general attitudes toward various uses of animals and their responses to several of the items on the questionnaire. The perceived benefits of the slaughtering experience …

The Behavior Of Confined Calves Raised For Veal: Are These Animals Distressed?, M. Kiley-Worthington

Ethology Collection

The behavior of 12 calves confined in crates was recorded at 1-minute intervals for 12-hour periods. These recordings were made at fortnightly intervals from approximately 2 to 16 weeks of age. In all, 864 hours of observations were recorded.

The activities that were performed and the amount of time spent doing each are outlined. Circadian rhythms were controlled largely by feeding time, although there was a difference between diurnal and nocturnal behavior. Individual calves vaned tn how they adapted to the restricted environment. Individual personality profiles and data on the ontogeny of behavior under these conditions are presented.

At 10 …

Ethologic And Economic Examination Of Aviary Housing For Commercial Laying Flocks, D. W. Fölsch, Chr. Dolf, H. Ehrbar, T. Bleuler, H. Teijgeler

Agribusiness Collection

The result of our work shows that appropriate housing is necessary for intensively kept hens and that the housing has to correspond to the vital needs and the nature of the animals.

This is important for two reasons: a) the innate needs of the birds must be satisfied; b) for the proper development of the animal and successful egg production.

The housing facilities should allow the following functional cycles without restrictions:

Social organization: the structuring of a group or unit of animals.

Locomotion: walking, running, fluttering, flying.

Feeding behavior: search for food and water, food and water pecking, ground scratching, …

Forecast Of Farm Animal Numbers And Feed And Fertilizer Requirements To 1990 For Connecticut And New England, Tsoung-Chao Lee, Stanley K. Seaver

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

No abstract provided.

No Need To Be Boxed In: Group Pens And Grain For Veal Calves, Michael S. Mosner

Agribusiness Collection

My family has been in the wholesale veal business for 30 years. The basis of this business has been various breeds of female beef calves that are slaughtered at less than 500 lb. These calves are allowed to suck from cows and graze until they are ready for market. Beef calves, however, tend to vary in quality and quantity depending on the tjme of the year that they are purchased and raised. Generally, calves become scarce in the spring, when feeders are buying calves to put out on pasture. Then, in the summer and fall, large numbers of calves usually …

The Economics Of Farm Animal Welfare, A. J. F. Webster

Agribusiness Collection

The number of ways that one can be nice or nasty to animals are legion. This article will consider only one very specific aspect of farm animal welfare, namely, those systems of intensive animal production in which the system itself, irrespective of the quality of the stockmanship within the system, appears to restrict the normal behavior of farm animals to an unacceptable degree. The systems that were considered by the House of Commons Select Committee on Agriculure (1981) include egg production from hens in battery cages, production of veal from calves deprived of solid food and isolated in wooden crates, …

Hsus Veal Campaign Takes Off

Close Up Reports

Through our action packet, which includes a fact sheet describing how veal calves are raised in this country, an action sheet showing what you can do to help, and bright yellow cards to leave when you dine out explaining why you didn't choose veal, you can help get the word out.

It is clear that our efforts to reform milk-fed veal production methods in the U.S. are already producing results. Shortly after our New York Times ad appeared, a large farm group paid to have its own ad published in response. Agricultural trade papers have warned their readers against our …

Feasibility Study For A Beaver Reservoir Agricultural Water Supply Volume I, James Ferguson, Robert Shulstad, William Bateman

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

An irrigation district of approximately 30,000 acres has been proposed to be located in Washington and Benton Counties in Northwest Arkansas utilizing water from Beaver Reservior. This report on the economic benefits of such a district is done under contract No. DACW03-81-C for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arkansas.

Feasibility Study For A Beaver Reservoir Agricultural Water Supply Volume Ii, James Ferguson, Robert Shulstad, William Bateman

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

An irrigation district of approximately 30,000 acres has been proposed to be located in Washington and Benton Counties in Northwest Arkansas utilizing water from Beaver Reservior. This report on the economic benefits of such a district is done under contr

Shade Management In Subtropical Environment For Milk Yield And Composition In Holstein And Jersey Cows, R. J. Collier, R. M. Eley, A. K. Sharma, R. M. Pereira, D. E. Buffington

Management and Monitoring of Farm Animals Collection

Forty-eight cows were assigned randomly to shade (15 Holsteins, 8 Jerseys) or no shade (16 Holsteins, 9 Jerseys) for 102 days beginning 12 June 1977 to examine effects of solar heat load on milk yield and composition. Rectal temperatures, respiration rates, and rumen contractions/min were monitored between 1200 and 1700 h on 20 randomly selected days. Morning and evening milk weights were recorded daily. Once weekly, morning and evening milk samples were collected from each cow and analyzed for fat, protein, acidity, freezing point depression, and somatic cell number. Black Globe temperature, rectal temperature, and respiration rate were elevated in …

Projecting Regional Market Shares For Selected Florida Fresh Market Vegetables, Wayne H. Howard, Arden W. Colette

Agribusiness

Growers of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and green peppers in Florida have exhibited concern about their market share in the U.S. winter fresh vegetable market. Several studies have looked at the affects of changes in tariffs and Market Orders on Florida's market share from 1962-1979 using regression and time-series analysis. Florida produce dominates the market in the eastern regions during the winter and spring season. Even though the market shares fluctuate, Florida has historically had a smaller share. The market shares have stabilized after the shocks. Forecast market shares, based on the time-series models, show Florida's producers maintaining their dominance in …

Farm Animal Welfare: Some Economic Considerations, Frances Turner, John Strak

Agribusiness Collection

Farmers, just like other businessmen, attempt to produce a saleable product at the least possible cost to themselves. In this way they hope to assure themselves of some profit, and hence to earn a living. In itself this profit motive cannot be criticized, but in attempting to maintain their profits, farmers have adopted more intensive systems of animal production. In turn, the benefits from farmers using these new techniques have accrued to consumers in the form of relatively less expensive food. Clearly, by restricting the use of factory farming methods (which are associated with lower unit costs of production) there …

Farm Animal Welfare: Some Opinions, Michael W. Fox

Agribusiness Collection

The subject of farm animal welfare has evoked a wide range of responses from those involved in the livestock industry and those concerned about the humaneness of intensive husbandry farming practices. Books have been published on the subject as well as a large number of articles in professional and popular magazines. Three international symposia dealing with animal rights have been held in the last two years and a major European conference dealing with farm animal welfare and involving veterinarians, farmers, animal scientists and animal welfare groups was held in Amsterdam in 1979.

In the U.K., a governmental Farm Animal Welfare …

Euthanasia Of Day-Old Male Chicks In The Poultry Industry, Walter Jaksch

Agribusiness Collection

Humane killing of animals implies a painless death (euthanasia). This depends on the rapidity with which unconsciousness is achieved and the maintenance of this state until death occurs. Euthanasia methods for day-old chicks must also be economical and should not interfere with the use of the carcasses for animal food or fertilizer. Manual decapitation or dislocation of the neck are the best available manual methods of euthanasia. For larger numbers of birds, the literature recommends homogenization in a crusher. In the author's own experiments, the destruction of day-old chicks was most effectively carried out by poisoning with carbon dioxide (CO …

One Answer To The Confinement Pig Problem, Arthur Nehring

Human Health Collection

A new design for an intensive hog finishing operation is presented. The "maze deconfinement" system consists of a series of 4-walled concrete pens arranged in a T-maze within a confinement building that is designed to utilize solar energy. In addition to low cost and efficient use of energy, the system has the following advantages: higher feed conversion rate; less fighting among and injuries to hogs; some freedom for hogs to exercise and explore; decreased labor. The system has been in use on the author's farm since the end of 1976.

Productivity And Farm Animal Welfare, Michael W. Fox

Agribusiness Collection

In the search for and debate over objective indices of farm animal welfare, productivity is regarded by many animal scientists and others in the livestock industry as the most reliable measure of an animal's overall well-being and adaptability. On the surface, this would seem to be so, as productivity--in terms of growth rate, milk yield, feed-conversion and egg production--can be easily quantified. However, there are serious flaws in this assumption.