ANIMAL PRODUCTION IN TROPICS

TROPICAL BOVIDS HUSBANDRY GUIDELINES

Introduction

Magdalena Miřejovská
Tersia Needham
INTRODUCTION
What is the course about?
Animal Husbandry
■ menti.com

= Science of breeding, feeding, and tending domestic

animals
■ controlled cultivation, management and production of
domestic animals
– Animals are bred and raised for utility (e.g., food, fur), sport,
pleasure and research
– Includes improvement of the qualities considered desirable
by humans by breeding

What is…
 Livestock
■ Any domesticated mammal intentionally reared in an
agricultural setting for the purposes of profit or subsistence,
whether for food, fiber, dairy, draft, breeding, sport purposes,
or other product or labor
■ Livestock: domestic animals
– except poultry (not always)
■ Domestic animals:
– Cattle, buffaloes, horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, sheep,
goats, camels, llamas, rodents, birds
■ Non-domesticated:
– Deer, antelope, elephant, reptiles, snails

Who ?
Distribution of primary livestock species
http://www.fao.org/gleam/results/en/
 Use
• menti.com
Species Products Contribution
1. Buffalo Meat, milk Human nutrition
2. Cattle Meat, milk Human nutrition
3. Goats Meat, milk Human nutrition
4. Sheep Meat, milk Human nutrition
5. Chickens Meat, eggs Human nutrition
6. Ducks Meat, eggs Human nutrition
7. Pigs Meat Human nutrition
8. Goats, sheep, camels, yak Fibre Wool , hair
9. All ruminants, camels Skins Skins, hides
10. All ruminants, camels, yak Traction Traction, haulage, threshing, packing
11. All animals Fertiliser Dung, urine
12. All animals Capital Wealth accumulation, insurance
13. All ruminants Conservation Grazing, ecology
14. All animals Sport, recreation Prestige, pets, fighting, religion, racing, shows
15. All animals Horns, bones, fats, tankage Handicraft

Why ?
 Milk & milk products
■ Last 30 years world milk production increased more than 50 percent
– India largest milk producer (18 % global production), followed by
the USA, China, Pakistan, Brazil
– Expansion in milk production in South Asia
– Africa is growing more slowly: poverty, adverse climatic
conditions
– Some African tribes: only protein source
■ Highest milk surpluses:New Zealand, USA, Germany
■ Highest milk deficits: China, Italy, the Russian Federation
■ GHG emissions: Methane 52 % & nitrous oxide 30 - 40 %
■ Cattle (66 %), buffaloes, goats, sheep, camels
■ Fresh milk x tropical climate = unique products from fermentation &
ghee
– Diseases…
 Meat & meat by-products
■ World meat production is projected to double by 2050 (vs 2017),
the most in developing countries
■ Malnutrition and under-nourishment:
– 20 g of animal protein per person per day or 7.3 kg per year
■ Vast range of species
■ By-products:
– Hides and skin
– Meals and fertilizers
– Hoofs, horns, bone, blood
– Casings (small intestines for sausages skin)
Eggs
■ Egg production in 50 years increased from 15 to 81 million tonnes
– Asia is the largest egg-producing region (60 %)
– China world’s largest egg producer (40 %)
■ Poultry is raised by 80 percent of rural households in developing countries
■ Chickens provide 92 percent of world egg production
– At regional level, non-chicken poultry species lay 13 percent of eggs
in Asia, 1 percent in the Americas (with 3 percent of that in Latin
America), 0.6 percent in Oceania and 0.9 percent in Europe
■ Egg production from poultry other than chickens is almost non-existent in
Africa
Animal fibres/ natural fibres
■ Wool production decreased by one-third from 1990 to 2009
– Production of cotton, natural and artificial fibres
– Sheep, goats, alpaca, llama, yak, guanaco, camels, bison
rabbits, silkworms….
■ Wool in highland areas
■ Short, soft, hollow (medullated), undercoats > medium, crimpy, solid
> long, slick
■ Problems in tropics:
– Bacteria
– Hot weather & humidity
Work
■ When an animal uses energy to pull or carry loads over distances then it produces work
■ In developing countries:
– 250 million work animals provide draft power for cultivation of about half the total cropland in developing
countries
– 15% (camels) to 70% (mules) used for work
– Oil prices, foreign exchange shortages and numerous failed tractor
– Animal traction as a viable alternative with economic, environmental and social benefits

■ Latin America - animal traction now promoted as being less expensive, more flexible and more
environment friendly than tractor use
■ Saving on foreign exchange and animals can still provide meat for human consumption!
Consumption of animal products
■ ↑ incomes = ↑ demand for greater food variety, particularly developing countries
– Higher value items: meat, eggs, milk
■ Developing countries:
– Calories derived from cereals: 60 % in 1961/63 vs expected 50 % in 2030
– Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, plantains and other roots: 10 % in 1961/63 vs 6.2
% 1997/99
– Animal products second major source of calories 10.6 % (per capita consumption 1/3)
■ Industrial countries:
– Cereals: 34 %
– Animal products: stable at around 23 %
■ ↑ consumption per year from 1997/99 vs 2030:
– Meat: 25.5 to 37 kg per person vs 88 to 100 kg
– Milk & dairy: 45 kg/ person/p.a. to 66 kg vs 212 to 221 kg
– Eggs: 6.5 to 8.9 kg vs 13.5 to 13.8 kg
Consumption of animal products
■ Regional & country differences in quantity & type of animal products consumed
– Availability, prices & taste preferences
– Traditional & religious and taste preferences
■ sub-Saharan Africa: low consumption levels of meat & changed little over the last
30 years (5 % per capita calorie consumption)
– Milk contribution per capita remained constant = ↑ total milk availability
equivalent to population increases
■ Near East and North Africa: contribution of animal products to high calorie
consumption is small (8.7 % vs 11.4 % in 2030)
– Primarily poultry meat & milk

Storage of animal products can be a problem in tropics!!!

Consumption of animal products
■ Latin America & Caribbean (excluding Brazil): consumption of animal products (meat)
historically higher than in other developing countries, & increasing.
■ Brazil: unusual in terms of its large & increasing dietary contribution of animal products (18.8
% in 1997/99), to reach level of industrial countries by 2020.
■ South Asia (excluding India): slow but steady growth in animal product consumption (mostly
milk & poultry)
– Consumption of eggs well below average of other developing countries.
■ India: relative contribution of animal products to diets predicted to increase up to 2030
largely (milk & dairy products)
■ East Asia (excluding China): steady increase in the contribution of animal products to the diet
(predominantly pork)
■ China: rapid rise in the contribution of animal products to dietary energy (15 to 20 %; pork &
poultry)
– Per capita consumption of milk is very low, and will likely remain so
– Egg consumption a is very high - more than double the average for developing countries

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 Tropics & subtropics
Tropics
■ Area surrounding the equator
■ Area between Tropics of Capricorn & Cancer
Subtropics
■ Zone between the tropics and temperate zones

Where ?
Tropics and subtropics
■ Over 50% of the human population
■ Climate
– Tropics: warm to hot and moist year-round
– Subtropics: hot summers and mild winters with
infrequent frost (humid vs Mediterranean)
■ Ecosystem
– Tropics: tropical rainforests, seasonal tropical
forests, dry (often deciduous) forests, spiny
forests, desert
– Subtropics: semi-deserts, deserts
■ Challenges
– Heat, humidity, soils and plants, parasites…
Husbandry issues specific to tropics &
sub-tropics
■ 20 000 animal species, 20 species used in tropics
– Genetic resources are poorly characterized
– Production levels & suitability to the different feeding and production systems are
virtually unknown
■ Animal production largely extensive:
– Influenced by poor grazing
– Heat stress!!!!
– Alternative feedstuffs
■ Tropical diseases and parasitoses are poorly studied, including the control mechanisms,
vaccination strategies
■ Lack of availability of pharmaceutical companies to invest in novel veterinary drugs, aiming
tropical diseases
■ Political and societal conditions unstable
■ Global warming and climate change may bring all these problems to the temperate regions
 Livestock & climate change
■ All livestock are homeotherms
– Mammals: 37-39 °C
– Birds: 40-44 °C
Normal body temperatures of domestic animals (& humans)
Animals Temperature °C
Average Range

Dairy Cow 38.6 38.0 - 39.3

Beef Cow 38.3 36.7 - 39.1

Pig 39.2 38.7- 39.8

Sheep 39.1 38.3 - 39.9
Goat 39.9 38.7 - 40.7
Horse 37.9 37.2- 38.2
Chicken 41.7 40.6 - 43.0

Human 37 35.6-38.3
Thermoneutral zone
■ Depends on species and other factors…
– European Cattle: 4 – 24 °C
– Zebu Cattle: 15 – 27°C
Thermoneutral zone
Thermoregulation (temperature
management)
■ Interaction between temperature and animal
■ Regulation of body temperature is multifaceted
■ Endocrine:
– Short term temperature changes (adrenalin)
– Long term or seasonal temperature change (thyroxine)
■ Central nervous system (reflex by skin/blood temperature):
– Posterior hypothalamus (response to cold)
■ Heat conservation
– Anterior hypothalamus (response to heat)
■ Heat dissipation
 Thermoregulation: mechanisms of heat
exchange
■ Requires a temperature gradient!
■ Non-evaporative heat loss:
– Radiation, convection & conduction
– Important in cold environments
■ Evaporative heat loss:
– Sweating, respiration
– Important in hot environments
 Thermoregulation: mechanisms of heat
exchange
■ Responses to gain or lose heat:
– Behavioural response: seeking shade/shelter, activity
– Physiological response: panting, food intake, shivering
– Morphological response: hair, subcutaneous fat, dewlap
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Heat stress & anatomical
adaptation
■ Bergman 1847:
– Body size and heat loss
■ Allen 1877:
– Length of expenditures, body shape & distance from core
■ Wilson 1857:
– Coat cover (colour, thickness), skin thickness & fat layer
■ Gloger 1833:
– Colour & climate; pigmentation & sebum release

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Heat balance within different animals
■ Cannot change metabolic heat production
■ Horses: well-developed sweat glands
■ Rabbits & poultry: no sweat glands
■ Cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats & pigs: minimal sweat glands (poor sweaters)
– Breed differences in cattle
■ Options for “poor sweaters”:
– Respiratory (relies on ambient temperature & humidity)
– Dietary (food & water intake)
– Behaviour (posture, grazing period)

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 Management of heat stress in tropics
■ Aim: production (reproduction, growth, milk production):
– Major effect on reproduction (sperm quality; embryo survival’ milk composition)
■ Species/breed choice: pigmented skin; coat density/colour; tolerance; behaviour
■ Build facilities with maximal air movement:
– Use of fogging
■ Manage water temperature, quality and availability
■ Feeding:
– Grazing period (early & late…BUT late various, when animals often restricted)
– Feed choice/quality (dry season)
– Walking = increase expenditure, water reqs & heat prod

Essentially what we will focus on!!!

Livestock production and climate
change
Global warming and climate change may bring all these problems to the
temperate regions
■ Consequences:
– Changes in parasite & disease transfer
– Adaptation to heat stress
– Changes in behaviour (need good/changes in management to facilitate this)
■ Livestock supply chains emitted an estimated total of 8.1 gigatonnes CO2-eq in 2010
– Methane = 50 %
– Nitrous oxide & carbon dioxide = 24 & 26 %
■ Cattle are the main contributor to the sector's emissions (62 %)
– Beef and dairy cattle generate similar amounts
– Pigs, poultry, buffaloes & small ruminants have much lower emissions (7-11 %)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221209631730027X
Thank you for your attention!