Livestock Production & Management

Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber, and labor. Livestock farming is the rearing of animals for food and for other human uses. The word `Livestock' applies primarily to cattle or dairy cows, chickens, goats, pigs, horses and sheep. Today, even animals like donkeys, mules, rabbits and insects such as bees are being raised as part of livestock farming. The livestock sector provides us with meat, dairy and eggs, as well as wool and leather. There has been rapid global expansion of production and consumption of animal products which is expected to continue to grow. While traditional livestock systems contribute to the livelihoods of 70% of the world's rural poor, increasingly the emerging large-scale operations with sophisticated technology and international trade cater for the rapidly growing markets for meat, milk and eggs. Livestock production currently accounts for one third of the global crop land which is used to produce feed for animals and competes for land, water, energy and labor, and is being challenged by the vagaries of climate change and socio-economic pressures. Increasing productivity - making the most efficient use of the production inputs - throughout the whole livestock sector will be fundamental if the sector is to meet the growing demand for quality livestock products whilst minimizing its impact on the environmental and the world's natural resources. The livestock sector globally is highly dynamic. In developing countries, it is evolving in response to rapidly increasing demand for livestock products. In developed countries, demand for livestock products is stagnating, while many production systems are increasing their efficiency and environmental sustainability. Historical changes in the demand for livestock products have been largely driven by human population growth, income growth and urbanization and the production response in different livestock systems has been associated with science and technology as well as increases in animal numbers. In the future, production will increasingly be affected by competition for natural resources, particularly land and water, competition between food and feed and by the need to operate in a carbon-constrained economy. Developments in breeding, nutrition and animal health will continue to contribute to increasing potential production and further efficiency and genetic gains. Livestock production is likely to be increasingly affected by carbon constraints and environmental and animal welfare legislation. Demand for livestock products in the future could be heavily moderated by socio-economic factors such as human health concerns and changing socio-cultural values. There is considerable uncertainty as to how these factors will play out in different regions of the world in the coming decades. This Text presents outlook on livestock production systems evolution over the coming decades and some of the key uncertainties.