BREEDING
What
the meaning of breeding? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, breeding is
the reproduction, that is, producing of offspring, usually animals or
plants. There are many type of breeding, but we want to focus on stockbreeding.
Stockbreeding is a group of animals used for purpose of planned breeding.
Usually, we do stockbreeding to be marketed or sold. Stockbreeding is also to
contribute raw meat to all people. There are many animal use in this
stockbreeding such as cow, goat, sheep, chicken, fish, and so on. The most
common animal that involve in this stockbreeding is cow, goat, chicken. This
activity not just can produce meat to make food, it also can produce milk from
cow, feathers and egg from chicken, wool from sheep and so on.Breeding animals
have always made a major contribution to the welfare of human societies by
providing food, shelter, fuel, fertilizer and other products and services. They
are a renewable resource, and utilize another renewable resource, plants, to
produce these products and services. In addition, the manure produced by the
animals helps improve soil fertility and, thus, aids the plants. In some developing
countries the manure cannot be utilized as a fertilizer but is dried as a
source of fuel.
Food is, by far, the most important contribution of
breeding animal, although they rank well behind plants in total quantity of
food supplied. Plants supply over 80 percent of the total calories consumed in
the world. Animals are a more important source of protein than they are of
calories, supplying one-third of the protein consumed in the world. Meat, milk
and fish are about equal sources of animal protein, supplying, respectively,
35%, 34% and 27% of the world supply of total protein.There are many who feel
that because the world population is growing at a faster rate than is the food
supply, we are becoming less and less able to afford animal foods because feeding
plant products to animals is an inefficient use of potential human food. It is
true that it is more efficient for humans to eat plant products directly rather
than to allow animals to convert them to human food[1].
At best, animals only produce one pound or less of human food for each three
pounds of plants eaten. However, this inefficiency only applies to those plants
and plant products that the human can utilize.
Robert Bakewell, an English animal breeder of the
18th century, is considered the founder of systematized animal breeding. He was
the first to emphasize the importance of accurate breeding records, introduced
the concept of progeny testing to evaluate the genetic potentials of young
sires, and applied inbreeding to stabilize desired qualitative traits. He also
promoted concepts such as "like begets like,""prepotency is
associated with inbreeding" and "breed the best to the best."
Bakewell and his contemporaries in Europe pioneered the development of diverse
breeds of beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, hogs and horse.
The fact is that over two-thirds of the feed fed to
animals consists of substances that are either undesirable or completely
unsuited for human food. Thus, by their ability to convert inedible plant
materials to human food, animals not only do not compete with the human rather
they aid greatly in improving both the quantity and the quality of the diets of
human societies.Today, many livestock breeders enter their animals in livestock
shows, which are held in most an area of the world. Livestock owners engage
their animals to various ways of breeding method because they would like to
take the step to the next phase of such profession. Animal farm owners slot in
their animals to these breeding processes, first off, as a consequence of the
extra earnings they might earn. The healthier the certain animal would be, the
larger the profit would be if it were sold. Also, no livestock owners want a
weak animal in his farm and the better way to avoid that is to mate their
animals with healthier animals and of good quality and breed. An animal farm
would die down if the animals residing in it is unhealthy and always sick. So,
it is just important to maintain health inside an animal farm because the
possible diseases that may occur there could infect not just other animals but
also people.
Livestock breeders select certain animals for
reproduction. Such livestock may be picked out as they have a rate of growth or
produce large sums of meat, eggs, or milk. This practice, called, selective
breeding, allows farmers to continually increase their livestock. Farmers
select only healthy and fertile animals for breeding purposes. The majority of
the offspring of such animals inherit the traits of their moms and dads. There
are three ways of selective breeding and these are random mating, inbreeding,
and outbreeding[2].
Random mating is the simplest sort of livestock
breeding. Livestock producers place selected males and ladies of one species in
the same area and allow them to mate at random.
Farmers practice inbreeding by mating animals that
are closely linked to each other. This method produces a pure variety of
livestock. Livestock owners select animals for inbreeding by studying their
pedigrees, which list the traits of animal’s ancestors. Livestock that are
closely linked to each other have similar genes, which are transmitted to their
offspring. These offspring may have a superior concentration of the parents’
favorable genes. Even so, inferior genes, which weren’t visible in the moms and
dads, may surface also strongly in the young. Consequently, inbreeding may
produce a tiny animal that lacks immunity to illness.
Outbreeding is the mating of
unrelated animals. Outcrossing and crossbreeding are the two techniques of
outbreeding that are frequently used by farmers. Outcrossing is the mating of
unrelated animals of the same breed. Farmers utilize this technique to
introduce a preferable trait into a line of livestock. Crossbreeding is the
mating of animals of different breeds.
Breed differences in performance
characteristics are an important genetic resource for improving efficiency of
beef production. Diverse breeds are required to exploit heterosis and
complementarity through crossbreeding and new composite breeds and to match
genetic potential with diverse markets, feed resources and climates. Healthy
and well-fed animals, properly reared and genetically selected will grow faster
and produce more and better quality yields. Based on this simple but important
principle, actions should be focused on integrated programmes that address the
efficient use of locally available feed resources for feeding the animals in a
sustainable manner, the selection of superior animals for improved reproductive
and productive efficiency, the alleviation of fertility constraints, the
implementation of artificial insemination (AI) programmes, and the prevention
and control of infectious diseases, with emphasis in transboundary diseases.The
science of animal breeding is defined as the application of the
principles of genetics and biometry to improve the efficiency of
production in farm animals.
Robert Bakewell, an English animal
breeder of the 18th century, is considered the founder of systematized animal
breeding. He was the first to emphasize the importance of accurate breeding
records, introduced the concept of progeny testing to evaluate the genetic
potentials of young sires, and applied inbreeding to stabilize desired
qualitative traits. He also promoted concepts such as "like begets like,""prepotency
is associated with inbreeding" and "breed the best to the best."
Bakewell and his contemporaries in Europe pioneered the development of diverse
breeds of beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, hogs and horse.
Most livestock breeds with pedigree
herd books and breed associations were established between the late 18th
century and the second half of the 19th century. Colour, conformation,
geographical origin and some production characteristics were the main factors
that differentiated these breeds. Wide geographical redistribution of animal
populations was also an important factor in the formation of new breeds, as
invading armies, migrating people and traders transported livestock to new
lands.
The first three seconds from the
time of Islamic slaughter as recorded on the EEG did not show any change from
the graph before slaughter, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any
pain during or immediately after the incision[3]. For
the following 3 seconds, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep -
unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood gushing out from
the body. After the above-mentioned 6 seconds, the EEG recorded zero level,
showing no feeling of pain at all. As the brain message (EEG) dropped to zero
level, the heart was still pounding and the body convulsing vigorously (a
reflex action of the spinal cord) driving a maximum amount of blood from the
body thus
resulting in hygienic meat for the consumer.
resulting in hygienic meat for the consumer.
One of the main legislations in
regards to the permissibility of meat is that it must be slaughtered according
to the mandates of the religion. Forbidden is any type of animal if it dies of
natural cause, strangulation, due to a violent blow, a headlong fall, by the
goring of horns, and that which has been partially eaten by wild animals[4].
Rather, in order for meat to be made permissible to eat, it must be slaughtered
by a cut through the neck, reaching through the trachea, esophagus, the jugular
veins and carotid arteries, without severing the spinal cord. This method is
indeed the most humane method to slaughter an animal to make use of its meat.
Allah had said about this in al-Quran:
Forbidden
to you is Carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine and that over which any
name other than God's has been invoked, and the animal that has been strangled,
or beaten to death, or killed by a fall, or gored to death or savaged by a
beast of prey, save that which you yourselves may have slaughtered while it was
still alive.
(Surah
5, Al-Maidah, verse 3)
In a study entitled Attempts to
Objectify Pain and Consciousness in Conventional (captive bolt pistol stunning)
and Ritual (halal, knife) Methods of Slaughtering Sheep and Calves’, carried
out by Professor Wilhelm Schulze and his colleague Dr. Hazim at the School of
Veterinary Medicine, Hanover University, Germany, several electrodes were
surgically implanted at various points of the skull of all animals, touching
the surface of the brain. After the animals were allowed to recover for several
weeks, some animals were slaughtered in the Islamic manner mentioned
previously, by the cutting of the trachea, esophagus, the jugular veins and
carotid arteries. Other animals were stunned first before slaughtering. During
the experiment, an electroencephalograph (EEG) and an electrocardiogram (ECG)
recorded the condition of the brain and the heart of all animals during the
course of slaughter and stunning. The following results were recorded:
The first three seconds from the
time of Islamic slaughter as recorded on the EEG did not show any change from
the graph before slaughter, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any
pain during or immediately after the incision. For the following 3 seconds, the
EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep - unconsciousness. This is due to the
large quantity of blood gushing out from the body. After the above-mentioned 6
seconds, the EEG recorded zero level, showing no feeling of pain at all. As the
brain message (EEG) dropped to zero level, the heart was still pounding and the
body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action of the spinal cord) driving a
maximum amount of blood from the body thus
resulting in hygienic meat for the consumer.
resulting in hygienic meat for the consumer.
All Muslims will agree that it is simply not enough
to slit the animal's throat in the halal manner in order to consider the meat
halal. As supported by the Qur'an and the Hadith, the care and welfare of the
animals before they are killed are just as important as the way in which they
are killed[5]. The
Qur'an does not view animals as mere resources but as individuals and
communities in their own right. Two prominent examples follow:
"Seest thou not
that it is Allah Whose praise all beings in the heavens and on earth do
celebrate, and the birds (of the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its
own mode of prayer and praise, and Allah knows well all that they do."
(Sura 22:41)
"There is not an
animal that lives on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but forms
part of communities like you. Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they
all shall be gathered to their Lord in the end." (Sura 6:38)
Significantly, the Qur'an uses the same Arabic word
wahy when referring to God's revelations to prophets and to animals, and many
examples of kindness to animals are to be found in the Hadith. Muslim reports,
"The Holy Prophet (SAWS) forbade the beating or the branding of animals
�" The Prophet (SAWS) also forbade cutting off animals' tails and other
mutilations. But these abuses exist in the treatment of Indian cattle who are
killed and sold as halal. One glaring example of this is the broken tail to be
found on almost every cow and buffalo slaughtered in India. This painful
procedure contradicts Muhammad's (SAWS) humane teachings.
It
is God who provided for you all manner of livestock, that you may ride on some
of them and from some you may derive your food. And other uses in them for you
to satisfy your heart's desires. It is on them, as on ships, that you make your
journeys.(Qur'an 40:79-80)
Finally, it should be noted that Islam encourages
acquiring knowledge and benefiting from the universal laws set by Allah for His
creation in a way which achieves benefit or repels harm, and provided it does
not contract Allah's laws. Allah Knows best.
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