Animal Husbandry and livestock 
पशुपालन और पशुधन

Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. As such it is a vital skill for farmers and is as much science as it is art. Animal husbandry deals with the care and breeding of livestock like buffaloes,
cows, pigs, horses, cattle, sheep, camels, goats, etc., that are useful to humans. Extended, it includes poultry farming and fisheries. 
Fisheries include rearing, catching,selling, etc., of fish, molluscs (shell-fish) and crustaceans(prawns, crabs, etc.). Since time immemorial, animals like bees, silk-worm, prawns, crabs, fishes, birds, pigs, cattle, sheep and camels have been used by humans for products like milk, eggs, meat, wool, silk, honey, etc.
 

Management of Farms and Farm Animals:
A professional approach to what have been traditional practices of farm management gives the much needed boost to our food production.
Let us discuss some of the management procedures, employed in various animal
farm systems.
1. Dairy Farm Management:
Dairying is the management of animals for milk and its products for In dairy farm management, we deal with processes and systems that increase yield and improve quality of milk. Milk yield is primarily dependent on the quality of breeds in the
farm. Selection of good breeds having high yielding potential (under the climatic conditions of the area), combined with resistance to diseases is very important. For the yield potential to be realised the cattle have to be
well looked after –

I)They have to be housed well, should have adequate water and be maintained disease free. 
II)The feeding of cattle should be
carried out in a scientific manner – with special emphasis on the quality and quantity of fodder.

III)Besides, stringent cleanliness and hygiene (both of the cattle and the handlers) are of paramount importance while milking, storage and transport of the milk and its products.
IV)Nowadays, of course, much of these processes have become mechanised, which reduces chance of direct contact of the produce with the handler. Ensuring these stringent measures would of course, require regular inspections, with proper record keeping. It would also help to identify and rectify the problems as early as possible. V)Regular visits by a veterinary doctor would be mandatory.

2) Poultry Farm Management:
Poultry is the class of domesticated fowl (birds) used for food or for their eggs. They typically include chicken and ducks, and sometimes turkey and geese. The word poultry is often used to refer to the meat of only these birds, but in a more general sense it may refer to the meat of other birds too.
As in dairy farming, selection of disease free and suitable breeds, proper and safe farm conditions, proper feed and water, and hygiene and health care are important components of poultry farm management.

3)Animal Breeding:
Breeding of animals is an important aspect of animal husbandry. Animal breeding aims at increasing the yield of animals and improving the desirable qualities of the produce. Animals related by descent and similar in most characters like general appearance, features, size, configuration, etc., are said to belong to a breed. Find out the names of some common breeds of cattle and poultry in the farms of your area.
I) Outbreeding: When breeding is between animals of the same breed it is called inbreeding, while crosses between different breeds are called Outbreeding.
II)Inbreeding : Inbreeding refers to the mating of more closely related individuals within the same breed for 4- 6 generations. 
The breeding strategy is as follows – superior males and
superior females of the same breed are identified and mated in pairs.
The progeny obtained from such matings are evaluated and superior males and females among them are identified for further mating. A superior female, in the case of cattle, is the cow or buffalo that produces more milk per lactation. On the other hand, a superior male is the bull, which gives rise to superior progeny as compared to those of other males. Thus inbreeding is necessary if we want to evolve a pureline in any animal.
Inbreeding exposes harmful recessive genes that are eliminated by selection. It also helps in accumulation of superior genes and elimination of less desirable genes. Therefore, this approach, where there is selection at each
step, increases the productivity of inbred population. However, continued inbreeding, especially close inbreeding, usually reduces fertility and even productivity. This is called inbreeding depression. 
Whenever this becomes a problem, selected animals of the breeding population should be mated with unrelated superior animals of the same breed. This usually helps restore fertility and yield.
III) Out-breeding : Out-breeding is the breeding of the unrelated animals, which may be between individuals of the same breed but having no common ancestors for 4-6 generations (out-crossing) or between different breeds (cross-breeding) or different species (inter-specific hybridisation).
IV) Out-crossing: This is the practice of mating of animals within the same breed, but having no common ancestors on either side of their pedigree up to 4-6 generations. The offspring of such a mating is known as an out-cross. It is the best breeding method for animals that are below average in productivity in milk production, growth rate in beef cattle, etc. A single outcross often helps to overcome inbreeding depression.
V) Cross-breeding: In this method, superior males of one breed are mated with superior females of another breed. Cross-breeding allows the desirable qualities of two different breeds to be combined. The progeny hybrid animals may themselves be used for commercial production. Alternatively, they may be subjected to some form of inbreeding and selection to develop new stable breeds that may be superior to the existing breeds. Many new animal breeds have been developed by this approach. Hisardale is a new breed of sheep developed in Punjab by crossing
Bikaneri ewes and Marino rams.
VI)Interspecific hybridisation: In this method, male and female animals Controlled breeding experiments are carried out using artificial insemination. The semen is collected from the male that is chosen as a parent and injected into the reproductive tract of the selected female by the breeder. The semen may be used immediately or can be frozen and used at a later date. It can also be transported in a frozen form to where the female is housed. In this way desirable matings are carried. Artificial insemination helps us overcome
several problems of normal mating.
Often, the success rate of crossing mature male and female animals is fairly low even though artificial insemination is carried out. To improve chances of successful production of hybrids, other means are also used. Multiple
Ovulation Embryo Transfer Technology (MOET) is one such programme for herd improvement. In this method, a cow is administered hormones, with FSH-like activity, to induce follicular maturation and super ovulation – instead of one egg, which they normally yield per cycle produce 6-8 eggs. The animal is either mated with an elite bull or artificially inseminated. The fertilised eggs at 8–32 cells stages, are recovered non-surgically and transferred to surrogate mothers. The genetic
mother is available for another round of super ovulation. This technology has been demonstrated for cattle, sheep, rabbits, buffaloes, mares, etc.
High milk-yielding breeds of females and high quality (lean meat with less lipid) meat-yielding bulls have been bred successfully to increase herd size in a short time.
5) Bee-keeping:
Bee-keeping or apiculture is the maintenance of hives of honeybees for the production of honey. It has been an age-old cottage industry. Honey is a food of high nutritive value and also finds use in the indigenous systems of medicine. Honeybee also produces beeswax, which finds many uses in industry, such as in the preparation of cosmetics and polishes of various kinds. The increased demand of honey has led to large-scale bee-keeping practices; it has become an established income generating industry, whether practiced on a small or on a large scale.
Bee-keeping can be practiced in any area where there are sufficient bee pastures of some wild shrubs, fruit orchards and cultivated crops. There are several species of honeybees which can be reared. Of these, the most common species is Apis indica. Beehives can be kept in one’s courtyard, on the verandah of the house or even on the roof. Bee-keeping
is not labour-intensive.
Bee-keeping though relatively easy does require some specialised knowledge and there are several organisations that teach bee-keeping.
The following points are important for successful bee-keeping:
(i) Knowledge of the nature and habits of bees,
(ii) Selection of suitable location for keeping the beehives,
(iii) Catching and hiving of swarms (group of bees),
(iv) Management of beehives during different seasons, and
(v) Handling and collection of honey and of beeswax. Bees are the pollinators
of many of our crop species (see chapter 2) such as sunflower, Brassica, apple and pear. Keeping beehives in crop fields during flowering period increases pollination efficiency and improves the yield–beneficial both from the point of view of crop yield and honey yield.
6) Fisheries:
Fishery is an industry devoted to the catching, processing or selling of fish, shellfish or other aquatic animals. A large number of our population is dependent on fish, fish products and other aquatic animals such as prawn, crab, lobster, edible oyster, etc., for food. Some of the freshwater fishes which are very common include Catla, Rohu and common carp. Some of the marine fishes that are eaten include – Hilsa, Sardines, Mackerel and Pomfrets.Fisheries has an important place in Indian economy. It provides income and employment to millions of fishermen and farmers, particularly in the coastal states. For many, it is the only source of their livelihood. In order to meet the increasing demands on fisheries, different techniques have been employed to increase production. For example, through aquaculture and pisciculture we have been able to increase the production of aquatic plants and animals, both fresh-water and marine. This has led to the development
and flourishing of the fishery industry, and it has brought a lot of income to the farmers in particular and the country in general.